Woohoo, it’s a record Harvest Monday for me

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Lou Murray, Ph.D.

I was hoping for a mere 2/3 lb of harvest on Sunday to make it a record harvest week of over 10 lbs, but my tomatoes did me proud. The plants provided us with 5 lbs 12 oz. of tomatoes on Sunday. With green beans, a bell pepper and a cucumber, I went way over the top. I can hardly wait to add it all up. But first, some photos.

We got more than tomatoes this week. Here are a package of green beans, an eggplant and some male squash blossoms (that went into scrambled eggs).

Sunday's harvest included green beans, a Tendergreen cuke, an orange bell pepper that looks like the tomatoes, four Black Krim tomatoes, and assorted other tomatoes.

The driveway garden in pots is doing nicely, with German butterball potatoes nearing harvest readiness. Don't know about the sweet potatoes. Maybe they'll make some harvestable tubers next month.

I thought that this Red Kuri winter squash was going to give me something, but it's just sitting there and not getting any bigger.

I'm pinning my hopes for summer squash on my Gold Rush zukes in a pot. Here are unopened male and female flowers.

The first female flower bud is showing on one of my two Amish pie pumpkin plants. But I planted them late in the season (July 21) and it remains to be seen if I'll get a pumpkin.

The rhubarb made only a very few pencil thin stalks this year. Maybe next year I'll have some rhubarb to harvest.

My strawberries in a pot responded to fertilizing by setting more berries.

My first planting of Tendergreen cukes gave me only enough cukes for one large jar of dill pickles and a cucumber granita. So I replanted Tendergreens, hoping for more.

The first Summertop cucumber has set fruit. It will be a long Japanese cucumber.

I grow green bunching onions in pottery bowls from seed that I save from the previous crop. Looks like I sowed this one a bit too thickly.

My first planting of Blue Lake pole beans in a raised bed is producing spectacularly. A planting of Kentucky Blue hybrids failed. Here I have more Blue Lakes in the background and my first Cherokee Trail of Tears in the foreground.

The Black Krims are finally getting ripe. I like their taste best of all, but my husband prefers Celebrity. The tomatoes in the photo below are Mortgage Lifters.

I can hardly wait to see what these Mortgage Lifters taste like.

These Brandywines are really poking along. I still don't have a ripe one. They're supposed to be the best tasting heirloom. We'll see.

And we can't forget the egg harvest. Henny Penny, our older Black Sex-linked hen, actually laid a decent egg on Sunday. Most of her eggs are breaking.

For those who missed it, here is our new patio furniture. And wouldn't you know it, the set was on sale this weekend for a price that was even lower than the sales price I paid. Harumph.

And now to add up the total harvest from the week ending August 22, 2010.

FRUIT

0

VEGETABLES

2 oz. Bell Pepper, orange

6 oz. Cucumber, Tendergreen

10.5 oz. Eggplant, Japanese Long

2 lbs 5.5 oz. Green Beans, Blue Lake pole

5 oz. Onions, Red

4 oz. Onion, Yellow

1 oz. Squash blossoms, male

12 lbs 3 oz. Tomatoes

TOTAL 16 lbs 5 oz. produce plus 9 eggs

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Heading for a record harvest week!

Posted on August 21, 2010 by Lou Murray, Ph.D.

It’s Friday and I’ve already harvested over nine pounds of produce from my three little raised beds and the Smart Pots in the driveway. This is shaping up to be a record harvest week. Of course it’s mostly tomatoes and green beans, but there’s nothing to complain about there.

Another day, another bunch of tomatoes.

As I was making a big pot of spaghetti sauce last night, I couldn’t help but think of Thomas at A Growing Tradition, Daphne’s Dandelions, and Annie’s Granny and their incredibly large tomato harvests. Annie’s Granny harvested a whopping 80 lbs of tomatoes last week. I, on the other hand, had just enough leftover sauce to freeze two cups for winter use. I’m planning on freezing some green beans today, since I picked 1 lb 6 oz this morning and still had beans in the crisper.

Huevos Rancheros with eggs from our hens and homemade salsa

My wise-guy husband has caught on to the fact that we’re getting record numbers (for us) of tomatoes. After Huevos Rancheros for breakfast and salad Nicoise for lunch, he asked how we’re having our tomatoes for dinner. Last night it was spaghetti with Italian sausage and marinara sauce. Tonight it will be penne pasta with eggplant and Italian sausage with marinara sauce. And by then another batch of tomatoes will have ripened and I’ll make some gazpacho. All I need is 2/3 lb more produce this week and I’ll have topped 10 lbs for the first time. And that’s without any squash!

My raised beds in mid-August

I think I’ll be able to find 2/3 lb of produce somewhere in there.

Komatsuna, Green Boy hybrid from Kitazawa Seed Company

I could pick some komatsuna for a stir-fry. Or I could harvest the two ripe Tendergreen cucumbers and a couple of bell peppers for gazpacho. And I’m sure that by Sunday I’ll have more green beans and tomatoes. Woohoo, record harvest, here I come.

My Blue Lake pole green beans are producing a LOT of beans this summer.

Yesterday's tomato harvest included my second Black Krim of the season.

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A late Harvest Monday (on Wednesday)

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Lou Murray, Ph.D.

I’ve been too busy trying to keep up with my own garden and raise funds to start up the new Huntington Beach Community Garden to make my Harvest Monday post. I got a detailed budget worked out for the community garden, and we’re going to need about $25,000 each in materials and labor for a total budget of $50,000. We already have pledges for in-kind donations of about $14,000, plus we’ve raised several thousand dollars already by selling laser-engraved bricks, so we’re on our way. I hope to get that garden up and running late this fall, and plant some winter crops there in December. But, oh what a lot of work is going to need to be done before then.

Well, on to my own garden at home. I have both male and female flowers on my Summertop cucumbers. They are the best cucumber vines I’ve ever grown, so I’m hoping for some good cukes yet this season. My Boston pickling cukes were a bust. The Tendergreens in a pot gave me very few cukes. Go Summertops.

A green Savoy cabbage is heading up.

My winter cabbages didn’t do much, but these that I grew from seed and planted in spring may give me some cabbages yet. I have three of them surviving. Other than that, I didn’t get around to taking any photos, so on to the harvest, which was mostly green beans and tomatoes. Not that I’m complaining.

Harvest Monday August16, 2010

FRUIT

6.5 oz. Lemon, Meyer

9 oz. Peach

Subtotal Fruit 11.5 oz.

VEGETABLES

4 oz. Eggplant, Japanese Long

1 lb 7.5 oz. Green Beans, Blue Lake

2.5 oz. Kale, Scotch Blue Curled

0.5 oz. Onion, Green

7 oz. Onion, Red

4 oz. Onion, Yellow

2 oz. Pepper, Bell

1 oz. Sorrel

5 lbs 1.5 oz. Tomatoes

Subtotal Vegetables 7 lbs 14 oz.

TOTAL PRODUCE 8 lbs 9.5 oz. plus 11 eggs

If you had a harvest, visit Daphne’s Dandelions and post it on Mr. Linky.

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WordPress Weirdness

Posted on August 15, 2010 by Lou Murray, Ph.D.

I don’t know what happened, but almost all of my sidebar content disappeared a couple of days ago. I didn’t do anything or make any changes that would have precipitated this. All of a sudden, I got a new look and I didn’t like it.

What distressed me the most was losing the widget that shows a map of the world with red dots showing the locations of visitors to my blog. By clicking on the map, you can see a list of all of the countries where my visitors live. The number had grown to an impressive count and I didn’t want to start all over again.

After spending a bit of time in the WordPress forums, I learned that there is an “inactive widget” section on my “dashboard” where unused widgets are saved. I hoped that my sidebar content had inexplicably landed there. I looked, and sure enough, all of the missing sidebar content had moved there. It took me a short while to rebuild my sidebar. So now the archives are back, the tag cloud is back, the links are sorted again, and most importantly to me, the countries where my visitors live is back.

I decided to check the “country count” of where my visitors live, and was shocked to see that the number has grown to 149 countries. I didn’t know that there were that many countries, but my husband says that there are about 175 recognized countries. So I have a way to go before the whole world has seen my blog. Or at least a representative sample of the whole world.

Some of the surprises (to me) are that I’ve had 102 hits from Iran and only one hit from Iraq. What’s up with that? I’ve had as many hits from Turkey as from France. The number of hits from Croatia and Malaysia (92 and 87 respectively) doesn’t surprise me, as I have readers from those countries. Naturally, most of the hits are from English speaking countries.

I’ve had only four hits from the Maldives, which disappoints me. One of the reasons why I battle global warming is to keep that island nation and other low-lying areas from going under water. This past decade has been the warmest ever recorded. It may be cool this summer in Huntington Beach, but that’s weather, not climate. The climate is definitely warming. Yes, a few glaciers and ice sheets are growing, but the vast majority are melting. When you look at the global picture, it’s a scary one. So let me close this post by thanking all of you who are eating what is in season, eating locally grown food, and growing your own food, at least some of it. That reduces use of fossil fuel in transporting food from 1500 miles away. SAVE THE MALDIVES! And the rest of the world while you’re at it. Peace out.

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Whining for Brandywines

Posted on August 14, 2010 by Lou Murray, Ph.D.

I use my garden like a larder. I see what's ripe and then decide what to have for lunch. This kale, eggplant, tomatoes, red onions, garlic and oregano from the garden all went into an Italian stir-fry along with whole wheat penne pasta and ripe olives.

Well, the Celebrity, Better Boy, Roma, Early Girls, Yellow Pear, (all transplants) and mystery volunteer tomato that sprang from my compost are all producing nice tomatoes. Lovely tomatoes. Best tomato harvest I’ve ever had.

Stir-fry the veggies in a skillet, add the cooked penne pasta and a can of ripe olives, top with Parmesan cheese, and you have lunch from the garden.

But the Brandywines, Black Krims, and Mortgage Lifters that I grew from seed are not producing. They are lovely, vigorous plants with a few green tomatoes on them.

The few Brandywines that have set fruit are still tiny and green.

But the tomatoes aren’t getting ripe and no new fruit is setting. In frustration, I sprayed all of their blossoms with Blossom Set, a plant hormone that increases fruit set. Almost the only tomatoes on the plants are the result of the early season spray that I gave them. I love Blossom Set. It has really increased my tomato and bell pepper success.

Come on, Mortgage Lifters. Get ripe.

Now if the weather will only cooperate, I should get some more tomatoes setting fruit. We’re due for hotter weather next week. While I won’t like it, the tomatoes will.

Hey, Black Krims, get ripe. I want to eat you.

Just to show you how bad my garden is, I’m not even getting any squash. I had to accept some from a fellow gardener. That is the ultimate humiliation for a home gardener. But gift zucchini are better than no zucchini. The Lebanese-type zucchini was fabulous dipped in a batter of egg and flour and fried in olive oil. Yum, yum.

A lovely Lebanese-type and Ronde de Nice zucchini.

We’ll have the Ronde de Nice zucchini today, probably cooked Sicilian-style by sauteeing it along with some garlic in olive oil and finishing it with a splash of basalmic vinegar and topping with Parmesan cheese.

My second planting of Lebanese Clarinette zucchini is off and running in a plastic nursery pot, and may produce some zukes before the season is over.

My Gold Rush zukes are three weeks old, and doing well in a nursery pot.

My mini Kuri has set fruit. I'm guessing that this will be a green Kuri, but it might be a red.

It's too soon to tell if these female Kuri blossoms will set fruit. The one on the right isn't even open yet. But I have high hopes.

My two Amish pie pumpkin plants are growing gang busters in a big Smart Pot. I can see tiny buds of male flowers on them. The question is, did I plant them too late in the season to get any pumpkins. Time will tell.

And that’s how my garden grows this week.

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Harvest Monday, August 9, 2010

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Lou Murray, Ph.D.

My Blue Lake green beans are finally coming in. I picked the first of them on Saturday, over a pound, and another half pound today. The tomatoes are ripening at just the right rate for us to eat them all fresh, with none to freeze or can so far.

Some days I get eggs and tomatoes from the garden.

Some days I get green beans and tomatoes and forget to photograph the eggs.

I've been making scotiatta (double-crust Sicilian pizza with mozzarella inside and Parmesan on top) with chard or bell peppers inside. Super yummy.

Salad Nicoise and scotiatta makes a nice lunch.

I add spent brewers grain and used coffee grounds to my compost bin and am getting a LOT of worms and black soldier fly larvae. I feed this bounty of protein to the chickens.

We have several Southern Alligator Lizards in our yard. This one likes to visit the compost bin to eat some of those nice worms and larvae.

One of the Lutz Greenleaf beets that I planted last year overwintered and grew to an impressive size, 5 lbs 4 oz.

I entered it in the "Largest Beet" category at the Orange County Fair. It took second prize, so I'm pretty pleased.

Harvest for the week ending August 8, 2010

FRUIT

0

VEGETABLES

1 lb 4 oz. Beans, Green Blue Lake

5 lbs 4 oz. Beet, Lutz Greenleaf

13 oz. Bell Peppers

8.5 oz. Onions, Red

3 lbs Tomatoes

 Subtotal 10 lbs 7.5 oz. Vegetables

TOTAL 10 lbs 7.5 oz. produce plus 11 eggs

Woohoo, this is a weight record for the year for weekly harvests. Maybe it’s cheating to count the 5 lb beet, since it was a beet grown for competition, not for eating. But I’m counting it.

If you had a harvest this week, visit Daphne’s Dandelions and log in on Mr. Linky so we can all enjoy seeing what you grow.

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Race against the calendar

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Lou Murray, Ph.D.
First we had May Mist. Then June Gloom. Fine. We expect that here on the coast of southern California. But next we had a gray July. Now we’re into August, and it’s STILL cold and foggy. I’m not complaining about the lack of heat from the perspective of personal comfort, but without any sunshine, I’m wondering if I’ll ever get any squash. I mean, what kind of gardener am I if I can’t even grow squash?!?!?

I planted plenty of squash seeds at the right time, but alas, my crops have failed. I tried two zucchini transplants in late January, a bit early in the season. I wasn’t surprised when they died without having made a squash.

I planted three heirloom patty pan squash on March 8 from a mix of white, yellow, and green patty pans. One of them produced four white patty pan squash and quit. The plant isn’t quite dead yet, so I’m holding out hope for another patty pan or two. The other two plants died without offspring.

 I planted two each Gold Rush, Clarinette Lebanese and Early Prolific Straightneck from seed on April 17. They sprouted, made a couple of leaves, and then most of them died. One surviving Early Straightneck is now the size of my palm. I’ve never seen a tinier squash plant in my life. It is just now thinking about producing its first male flowers. Ditto the one surviving Clarinette. Pathetic. I’m too embarassed to even post a photo.

Three 2-month-old mini winter squash in a Smart Pot.

I didn’t get around to planting any winter squash until June 2. I planted three seeds from a mix of mini red Kuri, mini green Kuri and mini blue Hubbard in a Smart Pot in the driveway. All three seeds sprouted and are doing well. Hurray.

Halleluah, the first female flower on my winter squash!

With the first female flower now getting ready to open, there is hope of getting at least one winter Kuri or mini-Hubbard. But I didn’t plant any pumpkins when I should have. I kept hoping that the Huntington Beach community garden would be up and running sometime this summer. Ha! We don’t have a lease yet from Southern California Edison, and can’t set foot on the property yet. And we still need to raise the money to pay for installation of irrigation, etc.

I finally gave up on the community garden for this year’s summer crops and planted three seeds of Amish pie pumpkins in a big Smart Pot in the driveway on July 20, really late in the season. I thought that these were going to be like New England pie pumpkins, cute little things that are just big enough to make one pie. Then I read the seed packet. Ack, they’re supposed to grow to 90 lbs each. Ohmygod, I just have to hope that they really won’t do that. Our driveway isn’t big enough. I suppose starting them this late will preclude getting a pumpkin crop anyway.

Amish pie pumpkin plants at two weeks old. So cute and little.

Not having any summer squash to speak of, I’m trying once more to grow some this season. I planted seeds for Clarinette Lebanese and Gold Rush zucchini in plastic nursery pots in the driveway. Our driveway gets more sun than any other part of our yard, so I have hope of possibly getting some summer squash yet this year.

Three Clarinette Lebanese planted July 21 have sprouted.

Two Gold Rush zucchini planted July 21 have sprouted.

It’s really late in the season to be starting summer squash from seeds. And I didn’t get those pumpkins planted in time for them to set fruit either, given normal weather. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.

In these times of global weirding climate change, it seems that we can’t predict the weather. My strategy for homegrown food security is to grow as wide a variety of crops as possible, starting them at different times.  I push the seasons at both ends, hoping for the best.

We’re living in a climate that humans have never lived through before, with carbon dioxide levels higher than any in the past 400,000 years. Part of this “global weirding” climate change is increased intensity and frequency of storms, overall hotter temperatures (just not here this summer) and unpredictable weather. We live in interesting times.

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Elements of Outdoor Living

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Lou Murray, Ph.D.

After moving my potting operation to the side yard, I moved the grill to the side of the deck to make room for the two swivel rockers.In coastal southern California, we enjoy outdoor living year round. Our houses are the size of dog kennels, but with our great bug-free weather, we spend a lot of time outdoors. What that means is that we tend to set up living space outside.

The major elements of today’s outdoor living are someplace to cook, someplace to eat, someplace to sit and relax, and something to do.

After moving my potting activities to the side yard, I moved the grill to the left side of the deck and moved the swivel rockers from the other deck to this one.

A charcoal or gas grill constitutes someplace to cook. Some people have multi-thousand $$$$ setups, but a simple Weber charcoal grill will suffice. If you use charcoal, be sure to use a chimney starter instead of a liquid petroleum product. The charcoal will smell better and you won’t be putting toxins into the environment and onto your food. We have a three-burner Kenmore grill on which I can grill meat and vegetables. I even bake on indirect heat on the center burner.

Beyond the bistro table and two chairs, we have the chicken coop, a small water garden, and our herb garden with birdbath.

We put a bistro table and two chairs onto our concrete patio about three years ago. I also got an outdoor rug made of recycled plastic. Looks like fabric, but I clean it by hosing it down a couple of times a year. (Wish I could do that indoors too.) So we were set for a place to eat. We often have breakfast or lunch on the patio.

For us, something to do isn’t going to be a game of volleyball in the backyard. No space, and no interest. My idea of entertainment is watching my radishes sprout and listening to our hens as they go about their day in the coop. I figure that watching the wild birds come to the feeders and seeing a huge variety of butterflies and other insects flit about in my organic garden is plenty of entertainment.

I love watching my raised bed vegetable garden grow.

I set up a small water garden in the back yard last winter, and it attracts dragonflies and provides a fresh water source for the birds as well.

Our yard is a certified National Wildlife Federation backyard habitat. All it takes to get certified is providing food, water, and cover for wildlife. With seed and hummingbird feeders, a bird waterbath as the focal point of our herb garden, and another one under the fruit trees, there are ample scenic spots where the eye can roam and rest, even in our baby’s playpen sized yard.

We have two 20-year-old vinyl strap swivel rockers where we could sip wine of an afternoon, and a fountain for ambiance. We were set for outdoor living. But our setup was adequate for only two people! With the hens and our lovely vegetable garden in raised beds now ready for show, we wanted to have people over to enjoy our yard. That meant that we needed more seating.

With the swivel rockers moved to the other side, that left space for our new deck seating.

Today’s outdoor living spaces often feature more formal furniture than the old web strapped furniture of yesteryear. Modern outdoor seating has big comfy cushions and looks more like indoor furniture.

We love our new deck seating. The furniture is very comfortable.

As an environmentalist, I do very little shopping. I’m not much of a consumer. We tend to make do and get by. But I decided to add a new outdoor patio set to upgrade the outdoor experience, and so we could have guests over to enjoy our farm in the city.

As I was looking at my two small decks and small concrete patio, I realized that somehow one of the decks had degenerated into a potting area and place for junk storage. Sometimes you just have to look around at your own space and take stock of what is going on. I got a small storage shed for the sideyard, and moved my tools and potting stuff back there out of sight.

Tool and pot storage has been moved to the side yard, where I make compost and store rainwater.

I moved the swivel chairs over to the BBQ side, and set up the new furniture by the fountain. Now we can sit on the deck in style, listening to our hens talk to each other while we watch our tomatoes turn red. Where’s that bottle of wine?

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Harvest Monday August 2, 2010

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Lou Murray, Ph.D.

My "driveway garden" has Amish pie pumpkins, sunchokes, German butterball potatoes, eggplant, and three mini winter squash growing in Smart Pots.

One day’s varied harvest: red and yellow onions, komatsuna, a Valencia orange, eggplants, peaches, tomatoes, a lemon, eggs, and purple broccoli.

This was a good week in the garden, with both harvesting and summer planting. I’m way behind in my summer planting I’m afraid. I have some Amish pie pumpkins that I just now started in Smart Pots. They take 90 days to harvest and can weigh up to 90 lbs. Given my late start (they should have been planted in June), I kind of doubt that I’ll get a pumpkin. But if I don’t plant the seeds, for sure I won’t get a pumpkin. Hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

My late-planted miniature Red Kuri, Green Kuri, and Mini Blue Hubbard squash are showing their first female flowers, so I have some hope of getting a winter squash or two.

For planting tiny seeds like carrots, I put down a row of toilet paper, sprinkle the seeds on top, fold it over, cover with dirt and water. The seeds stay in place and I'm getting better germination with this techique.

My second planting of Blue Lake pole beans is up. I planted Cherokee Trail of Tears black pole beans, a new variety for me. In front of the beans, I planted some late carrots and beets.

Scarlet runner beans

Is anyone else out there growing sweet potatoes? This is my first year growing them and I don’t know when to harvest them. Do I wait until the vines die back like with white potatoes?

blackberries

Blueberries

A small handful of blackberries and a small handful of blueberries every few days may not seem like much, but when I put homegrown berries on my cereal, that’s a day when I don’t use a banana shipped up from Central America. Every little bit helps combat global warming.

This Mediterranean buffet feast features tabbouli, a Sicilian double-crust pizza filled with potatoes, chard, onion, garlic and mozzarella, salad Nicoise and pita with hummus.

We had friends over for a vegetarian Mediterranean feast that used a lot of my garden produce: eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, green onion, chard, garlic, lemon, mint, and parsley. I’m out of lettuce and my green beans weren’t quite ready yet, so I used store-bought for the salad Nicoise.

Here’s the week’s harvest for the week ending August 1, 2010.

FRUIT

2 oz. Blackberries

0.5 oz. Blueberries

10.5 oz. Lemon, Eureka (1)

4 oz. Orange, Valencia (1)

12 oz. Peaches (3)

Subtotal fruit 1 lb, 13 oz.

VEGETABLES

4 oz. Broccoli, Purple (1 head)

9 oz. Chard

5.5 oz. Cucumber, Boston Pickling (2)

10 oz. Eggplant (Millionaire and Pingtung Long) (3)

1.5 oz. herbs (mint and parsley)

4 oz. Komatsuna

12 oz. Onions, Red

2.5 oz. Peppers, Bell (2)

1 lb 4.5 oz. Tomatoes (13)

Subtotal vegetables 4 lbs 6.5 oz. (69 oz.)

TOTAL PRODUCE  6 lbs 3.5 oz. plus 9 eggs

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Harvest Monday July 26, 2010

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Lou Murray, Ph.D.

One day's tomato harvest

One day’s harvest from my thornless blackberry vines.

How can another whole week have gone by so fast? I don’t seem to be able to make a post more often than once a week these days. I swear, the older you get, the faster time goes.

My two-year-old thornless blackberries are more productive this year than last, but I’m still underwhelmed with the number of berries that they produce. Still, having some berries is better than having none. I ate all of this batch in a bowl of cereal with some homegrown blueberries.

Cereal with homegrown blueberries and blackberries

I harvested a couple of Tendergreen cucumbers grown in pots this week. I made dill pickles from the first harvest, but made my first cucumber granita from this smaller harvest. I looked at several recipes and came up with my own version.

Cucumber granita makes a fine close to a light summer meal.

My husband was skeptical, but ate it all. I was surprised by how nicely it turned out. Here’s my recipe.

Chile-Lime-Cucumber Granita

 

2 C      cucumber, peeled, seeded and cubed

¼ C     lime juice

2/3 C   sour cream

½ tsp   chili powder

1/3 C   honey

4          sprigs of mint

 

Put all ingredients except mint in a blender and pulse until smooth. Pour into a 9” x 13” baking pan and freeze for about an hour. Break up the partially frozen granita and put back into the freezer for another hour. Break up the granita, and stir until fairly smooth but not melted. Serve in small bowls with sprigs of mint. Serves 4-6.

And I suppose that this is a good time to mention that I’m working on a book. The working title is “Grow It, Cook It, Eat It.” I was inspired by fellow newspaper columnist Chris Epting at the Huntington Beach Independent to finally get going on a book about green living, which I had been planning for some time. It’s turning into a cookbook, but that’s OK. Bottom line is that I’m having fun with it.

This has been a good summer for tomatoes so far. I was so discouraged by the lack of tomatoes from our garden last year that I planted 18 tomatoes this year. What was I thinking?

This is my first year with square foot gardening, so I planted some of them a bit close by mistake (live and learn), but most of them are doing fine. I have:

1 Better Boy

4 Black Krim

4 Brandywine

1 Celebrity

2 Early Girl

2 Mortgage Lifter

2 Roma

1 Yellow Pear

and 1 volunteer that sprouted from compost. I have no idea what variety it is, but it’s making nice tomatoes.

I just harvested the first Roma and a tiny Yellow Pear, and one Black Krim. The Mortgage Lifters and Brandywines aren’t ripe yet. I grew them and the Black Krims from seed, so I’m exceptionally proud of them. Most of the harvest so far is Better Boy and Celebrity, which I planted earliest, back in February, from nursery transplants. I used all of the tomatoes in the photo above to make spaghetti sauce with an eye of round from bison. Boy, that was good.

 Here’s my harvest for the week ending July 25, 2010.

FRUIT

 1 oz. blackberries

2 oz. blueberries, Sunshine

1 lb 1 oz nectarines, Panamint (last of crop)

Subtotal 1 lb 4 oz. fruit

VEGETABLES

11 oz. chard

9 oz. cucumber, Tendergreen

1 oz. onions, green

6 oz. onions, red

 3 oz. peppers, bell

6 lbs 4 oz. tomatoes

Subtotal 8 lbs 6 oz. vegetables

TOTAL 9 lbs 10 oz. produce plus 14 eggs

Wow, that’s almost 10 lbs of produce this week, a record high for the year. Not bad for my tiny yard.

If you had a harvest this week, link to Daphne’s Dandelions so we can all enjoy it vicariously. Happy gardening!

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