Just Finished the Season by Digging Up Carrots and Celery

I wasn't sure if I was going to get that many carrots since the season didn't look very promising in the very beginning of 2014.  It was a relief when I finally dug up my carrots and saw that many of them were large in size as compared to what I had received last season.

Last year I got more carrots, but they were not as big as they were this season.  I would rather have larger carrots of high quality rather than quantity.  This is what organic gardening is all about and is why I subscribe to this particular way of thinking.

Here are some carrots that I took pictures of while digging them out of the ground.

I collected about a basket full of these vegetables.  Once I cut the tops off and placed them on the scale they weighed about 33 pounds.  Very good for a season that didn't look too good.  I was definitely happy with this harvest of carrots.

Two pound carrots were also picked up that I thought I would share with you.

Both of these carrots on the left each weighed over two pounds making them the largest carrots of this season.










Celery was also another vegetable that I collected towards the end of the season when they began to stop growing.  They looked like they were ready for harvest so I picked them just before I did the carrots on Thanksgiving day.

I didn't collect much celery because of the seeds that didn't grow in the garden earlier this year.  I was happy just to collect any celery as you can see from the picture.  These were a couple of the larger ones that I got and totaled six pounds.








This season is now over and nothing is left in the garden except for some flowers that will last through most of December depending on the temperatures that we get during the month.  I will probably be writing less frequently until 2015 rolls around and it is time for another garden season.

Some More Pole Beans and All Pumpkins Harvested

I decided that I would wait until the day before Halloween to pick all the pumpkins that I grew this summer.  They usually are able to last through the outside elements due to their tough skin.  This past Thursday I went outside and picked all six of them and it wasn't that difficult.  The plants were dead at this point and all I had to do was break them of the vine.

I also carved a couple of them for the holiday using a simple tracing pattern that you can purchase in any store.  I think they came out pretty good.

Today I also picked the very last of the pole beans that have been producing beans until the end of the season.  I was surprised that they would last this long since they started out very poorly in the very beginning of the season.

The plants are dead so I am sure that I will not be getting any more beans.  Here you can see for yourself.

The Last of The Season for Pole Beans and The Garden

Last week I picked some more pole beans that have been growing over the past month or so.  Most of the small beans that had started growing in the beginning of October have finally reached a good size for them to be harvested. 

I actually didn't think there was going to be enough to fill up one container since the previous harvests of pole beans didn't yield as much.  To my surprise four containers were needed to collect all the ripe pole beans that were ready for eating.  This pretty much marked the end of these beans for the season.  Now it is time for cleaning up the garden.

It was more like three and a half containers that were completely filled of pole beans.  They weighed over ten pounds and there was about a few hundred of them that needed to be canned for the Winter season.  Now I can enjoy them all the way up to next years harvest.

Cleaning has began a couple days ago with the removal of tomato plants and stakes.  This usually doesn't take that long and only a couple of hours at the most. 

Most of the stakes from my tomatoes and the plants have been removed.  I placed all the plants in the totes for them to be discarded or used for compost for next season.

As you can see in the background I still have my pumpkins out in the garden and haven't yet picked them.  I will most likely pick them before Halloween which is coming up this Friday.  I always like to have at least one pumpkin that will be carved and placed on the windowsill.  This is something that I like to do every year.

Cabbage plants are what I am going to be doing this fall.  Many of them are growing quite well for the lack of attention that I gave them this year.  Usually in the summer you just have to keep the soil moist for the most part.  Once the cooler weather comes then watering usually doesn't become a problem.

With the continuous rain that we have got this past month I will not have to water them for the rest of the year or until I harvest them in November hopefully.  It would be great if I could cut them at the same time that I dig up my carrots near Thanksgiving.

Just Another Harvest of Eggplants

Another harvest eggplants was completed today and with four left I was deciding whether to just pick the rest of them to end the season for them.  Unfortunately one of them was still ripening and I didn't want to pull it prematurely.

Instead I just took three of them that were done for the year.  Now there is just one that is still on the plant ripening at this moment.  I might pick it sometime later in the week, but for now I will leave it there for at least a few days.

They weighed in at about four and a half pounds making them a little bit smaller than the last two, but still a pretty good size for any garden.  I am definitely happy with them especially when they started growing flowers late and were the last plants to be added to the garden soil.  I try to look at the positive things when it comes to gardening.

Pole beans are also the news for today although I didn't harvest any of them.  I was looking at them and I wasn't sure if I should pick them today or wait another day.  Since I picked three eggplants I decided to wait since many of them were not going to go to seed anytime soon.  Tomorrow I will pick some pole beans that are ready and hopefully I will get more than I did during the last harvest.

Here you can see more beans growing along with the flowers.

Just wanted to give you a quick update on my cabbage plants that are growing in the garden.  They are growing good because of the cooler temperatures that they love and thrive in.  Take a look at them and within a couple of months they should be ready for harvesting.

Collected More Pole Beans and Two Eggplants This Week

This past week had been quite uneventful with all the rain that we received and my plants desperately needed.  After the rain they usually grow quite well and I checked out the garden and found that my plants were doing just that.

My pole beans are producing many flowers even in the cooler month of October and they are creating many more beans which I will pick by the end of this week as long as the weather cooperates.  It is supposed to be sunny so I hope that I can pick some more pole beans to make a meal into like I did today.

Here I took a picture of the few pole beans that were ready today.

Just think a couple months ago I was harvesting about five of these per week.  Now the vines have slowed down mainly due to the weather because now it is getting cooler for them especially at night when the temperatures drop into the high 40's. 

Eggplants are still growing and now they are basically in the ripening phase.  Most of them are pretty much done, but I am leaving them out there so that I don't have to have five of them in the refrigerator.  When I use one then I will pick another one and so on.

I picked the one above today and the one below this past week when it wasn't raining.

Cucumbers are Now Done for the Season

The last cucumber was picked this week and that means once I finish eating this last cucumber I will have to wait till next year to eat delicious, home grown, organic cucumbers.  This happens every single year and this makes me look forward to the next season.

Although the cucumber season is coming to a close that doesn't mean that the entire garden is completely done this year.  I still have plenty of food that needs to be harvested such as eggplants, pole beans, carrots, some celery, pumpkins, peppers, and some regular and Roma tomatoes.  It is not completely over until the first frost comes.

Here is the last cucumber that I was able to harvest today.

Here is a look at the pepper plant that is still growing flowers even right now.

Eggplants are also still growing quite well and I have six of them that should be ripening within the week and I will pick them very soon.  I am not getting flowers on them and if I were it would be too late for the plant to produce another fruit.  Right now I have six and it looks like it is going to stay that way till the end of the season.

Sunflower Heads The Last to be Harvested

This is probably the last summer plant that needs to be harvested if you plan on using the seeds for various reasons.  I like to bake some of them and eat them while the rest is going to be turned into compost for next season nutrients.

I was able to cut a few of them down that I had growing in the garden.  All of them were pollinated correctly by the bees that just love them.  Once they were pollinated and some of them were ready for picking birds and squirrels took many of the seeds.  Luckily this only happened to a couple of heads and the rest were still fine.

You can see some of the damage on this sunflower head here.

You can see on the left side that some of the seeds are missing.  That is where most of the damage occurred, but still plenty of seeds to use were left.

Here is a head that was supposed to be left on the stalk a little bit longer, but I didn't want them to be eaten by the birds.  I could have covered it, but they tend to collect insects and fungus when I do that.  Once they start being eaten then I know it is time for harvesting.

The Last Zucchini and Pole Bean Harvest

Today was a nice cool day with bright sunlight and I took a look at my bean plants and saw that it might be time to pick them once again.  Some of the plants were still producing many flowers and it looks like they might be in time before the first frost appears.

I picked as much as I could today and did not get as many as I thought I had.  Many of them were small and not very big which is to be expected since the temperatures are dropping in the area.  The first frost will not probably come until October unless we get one earlier than normal which can definitely happen.

My zucchini plants are well done and most of the plants have died and will not be producing any more fruits or flowers this season.  They did produce much fruit this season so I am not very surprised that they are finished for this year.  I was able to get three of them average size today.  I can still use them for my stuffed zucchini recipe.

Eggplants will probably be the last thing to pick in the garden besides the carrots and the cabbage which happens every year.  I have several eggplants that are growing from a single plant.  I am not sure how or why this happened, but I am not complaining because they are all a decent size and this is all that matters when growing these vegetables.

This is just the latest on the garden and I will let you know when the garden is officially over and the first frost has come.  I will also keep you up to date on the cabbage which I am going to take care of for the fall season as well as digging up the carrots in a couple of months.

Cantaloupe and Eggplant are Finally Harvested

I had been discussing my cantaloupe and recently my eggplant that I have been watching for the past week and I had been hoping to pick them soon.  I was surprised when my cantaloupe was done because I wasn't certain that it had completed the ripening process.

The eggplant I picked this week was something that I was going to do real soon and I couldn't let it sit there any longer and decided that it was time to pick it and eat it.  That is what I did today with my eggplant and had it for dinner.  It was very delicious even though eggplants don't have a tasty flavor, but with my own recipe I was able to easily make it a delicious food once again.

I could have had my cantaloupe for dessert to eat both of the new harvests in the same day, but I think I am going to save it for tomorrow or sometime this week.  It will most likely not last long since it was a smaller cantaloupe than I had hoped for, but I am still happy with the results.  I have some pictures below for your viewing, but for more you can check out my latest blog post right away.

Second cantaloupe on the way.

Eggplant

Beans and Corn Again?

Yes that is right it seems that my corn and pole beans are the best harvest that I am having this season at the moment.  It doesn't look like anything else is as productive as these two are.  That is great for me because I love beans and corn and I always grow them every season and enjoy it whenever they are around.

Summer comes just once a year here and it is important that I get as much out of my garden as possible.  This way I will have no regrets or disappointments at the end of the year.  So far this garden season is turning out quite well.  I can't complain about the small things that have been happening and I always try to take the good out of each season.

I check my corn at the beginning of this week and only a couple looked like they were ready to be picked while many others were still at the stage of ripening.  When I checked this past weekend many of them had become ripened and ready to be used for dinner.

Here are 24 ears of corn that were picked just yesterday.

I still have some left over from other harvests that I will have to eat first, but in time these will be used for the same reason and I am looking forward to this time.

It can be a tedious process to pick all the beans that I have received this year, but it is definitely very rewarding to see all the work I put into it was worth it.

The beans are very large and the vines are looking very healthy which means I might be getting more beans in the very near future again.

There are also a couple of plants that are starting to end the season early.  The zucchini had a good run and only a few are left still producing some fruit.  These will be small for the most part, but still edible.  I also am seeing some cucumber plants dying off and no longer producing any new leaves, flowers, or fruit.  A couple of them are still looking healthy, but for the most part they were not good as last season.

Getting A Record Amount of Pole Beans This Season

Yesterday and today were very interesting days in the fact that I had to pick pole beans that I didn't think I had.  What I mean is that I didn't know that this many pole beans were in the garden.  I only planted a couple of rows in hopes of getting a decent harvest.

In hopes of getting pole beans I planted them a second time to make sure that I would get enough.  Even with all the thinning out that I did I still was able to get an incredible amount of beans.  Between today and yesterday I got over thirty pounds.  To be exact I got 25 yesterday and 8 today which comes out to 33 pounds of pole beans.

I had an idea that I would get quite a bit, but I didn't think that one row would fill up six containers quite easily.  That's right one row was able to fill up six large containers.  That is why I had to stop yesterday because I had ran out of large containers to use.  After hours of picking these beans I decided that it was best to finish it today.

That is exactly what I did this afternoon.  Finished off the second row and filled up on one container and got 8 pounds from them.  I will eventually have more to pick, but for the moment the plants can continue to grow and produce even more flowers.

I also gained some more Roma tomatoes as well this week.  I know it is harvest season and there will be many things to pick including melons, peppers, eggplants, and so much more.  I decided on picking some of the Roma tomatoes early and place them in the window to ripe so that I don't have to worry about them in the future.  They are just for some tomato sauce that I will use throughout the Winter.  Nothing special will come of them.  Since they are meaty fruits this is perfect use for them.

Some Roma tomatoes on the windowsill.

I ended up picking up some corn as well since it had been a few days since the last batch that I picked.  Many of them were starting to ripen real quick especially with all the sun that we have been getting this entire month of August.  I took a look at a few of them and finally picked about 17 of them today.

They are average in size and I can't complain about the amount of corn that I am getting on a consistent basis.  I would like to have them a little bit bigger, but they are a great size for the most part.  I will have to keep this in mind for next year and make sure that I do some things a little bit different in order for larger ears.

I Now Have Corn of my Own That I can Eat and Enjoy

Corn has finally arrived in time before the season starts winding down.  I knew I was going to get corn, but it all depended exactly when this would happen for me.  A few weeks into the month of August I was able to collect the corn that I needed for the summer.

Yesterday is when I did this fun and easy task of removing and checking the ears for ripe corn.  I didn't just want to go out there and start cutting down all the ears on the stalks because chances are that I would likely remove some there were still ripening.

The one thing that I did was check them pretty much every day until yesterday, so I knew that the corn would be coming out very soon.  Once I had pollinated them I could then wait a few weeks for them to develop and once they had reach their full size I could then look at them and wait until they were ripe.

Only 24 were cut from the stalks yesterday and weighed in at 15 pounds.  I was happy with this and I wasn't so worried about the weight and size as I was with the taste.  I cooked them like usual and they came out to be incredibly delicious.  Tender and sweet just like all corn should be.  Here are some photos that I took of the corn harvested yesterday.

Just Picked The Most Green Beans Ever in a Single Day

As I mentioned before I was waiting for my pole beans to become mature and ready for harvesting.  I did do a small one earlier and that was definitely a good sign of more to come.  Well that time came today with an incredible amount of pole beans that needed to be collected today.

I was shocked when I had filled up one of the containers I use for harvesting in just a few short minutes.  When this happened I got real excited that I would have many more beans to pick and more for me to enjoy even through the Winter once I start preserving them.

I even collected some peppers today along with other tomatoes that I haven't picked just yet.  I am finally getting some Roma types beginning to ripen and I will be using them for making sauce so that I can easily store them for the Winter as well. 

Three peppers were picked today along with my beans.

Take a look at the new Roma tomatoes I gathered today.  These will be perfect for sauce that I will most likely be making later in the season.  Once I collect enough I then will start production on sauce.

Larger Cucumbers are Finally Coming From My Plants

It is about time that my plants have started to produce cucumbers that are large in size or at least much bigger than what I have been picking up.  Sometimes it just takes my cucumber plants some time before they can get the much larger fruit to start producing.  The earlier ones were small, but now they are getting bigger which is a good sign and means that the season is not over yet.

As you can see these three are pretty good sizes and I would definitely take more of them like this.

Not only are the cucumbers bigger, but I picked a very large tomato yesterday that was a good red color perfect for cutting up and placing on a sandwich.  The steakhouse tomatoes were supposed to be larger than the average tomato.  I am not surprised that these have grown to an enormous size.  In this case I am very pleased with the outcome.

Time To Harvest Pole Beans

It was very exciting today to finally pick my pole beans that I thought I would not get when the season started this year.  It was close that I would even get them at all, but in the end I still was able to get them in a reasonable amount of time.  I could have picked them earlier, but I am not going to complain because I am lucky that I got them at all.

With two rows of these beans I have plenty to choose from.  I was able to get three pounds today and I definitely feel that I will be getting more as the season goes on.  There were still many that I couldn't pick because they hadn't reach full maturity.  I love large beans and the fortex beans that I grow usually get to very large sizes that you will not find in any store.

Here are the beans I picked today.

This is how long they actually are.

I also had some cherry tomatoes that I though were good enough to be removed from the plant and be ready for consumption.  These are my favorite so I always have to make sure that I plant at least one of them for myself.  Check out the size of them they are almost as big as some roma tomatoes.

There are still plenty of cherry tomatoes and others out in the garden and I should be able to pick them until the end of the season.

Harvesting Cherry, Roma, and Steakhouse Tomatoes

This is what I did this week and has been somewhat busy in the harvesting part of gardening.  My tomatoes are ripening at this moment and getting the needed water that they crave.  I had one Roma and a couple of steakhouse tomatoes that were looking very good and I had to pick them before a caterpillar or other pest got to them.  I also had a dozen or so cherry ones that looked very good.

I also had a large cucumber harvested this week after watching it everyday for the past couple of weeks.  Watching them grow each day is very exciting because when I thought it was done growing it kept getting bigger.  I love cucumbers and cutting them up and putting salt and pepper on them is great to have with your lunch.

This is the biggest one for this season.

I have a couple other plants that have cucumbers that are about this size and I hope they reach their peak just like this one did.  With some tender loving care I can get them to very large sizes and you can too.

I also have some news on my eggplants as well.  As you know I had about one eggplant that was growing to a good size and soon I will be harvesting it.  I also discovered another one that has been pollinated and is growing at this moment.  It is on a different plant and I am looking forward to seeing how big this one will get as compared to the first one I have.

Here is the new one that started to grow sometime this week.