What I Got From My Corn Stalks and Tomato Plants This Week

I actually was able to get quite a bit from both my corn stalks and tomato plants, specifically my Roma tomato plants.  These have been doing good for the entire year and I have only had to throw out a few of them because they began to rot or because fruit flies started going after them.  Today I picked all the ones that were still good and ready to be turned into sauce.

I actually needed five bowls to carry all the tomatoes inside and I should have just used one of the large totes that I use for harvesting corn.  This probably would have made it much easier instead of filling up five bowls.  In the end I was able to collect plenty of Roma tomatoes that are now being cooked into sauce.  This means more sauce for the Winter.

Here you can see how large many of these tomatoes actually were.

Many of them were so close to being the two pounds that I was hoping that they were.  One and a half is just as good and is actually three times the weight and size of a normal Roma tomato.

Now that I have discussed my tomatoes I also have corn that was harvested during the week as well.  I think I picked them at the end of the day on Thursday.  I got about 39 ears and cooked most of them to eat them whenever I get the urge. 

I will probably eat them as fast as possible so that they don't get too hard from being in the fridge.  They should be fine for the most part since I did cook them before hand.  I only have a few left on the stalks which will be dealt with in the next couple of days or so.

Time For Picking More Beans and Cucumbers

I have beans hanging on the trellis that are very large and size and should be harvested right away.  That is what I saw this morning and is the single reason for picking both fruits and vegetables this morning.  I only got nine pounds, but this is still enough to start canning for the Winter.

With cucumbers growing left and right from most of my plants I thought that it would be a good thing to go through them to see if there are plenty of cucumbers that are ripe to pick.  There were five that I thought were ready to be harvested and good for eating now or later.  They last much longer than the ones in the store and can keep for quite a while.

Cherry tomatoes were another thing that I planned on harvesting because some of them fell due to the previous day of rain that we had.  When they start falling that means that I need to pick them right away.  Getting them from the ground will be okay as long as they don't stay on wet ground for too long because they could begin to decay quite rapidly.  Not as fast as steakhouse tomatoes, but definitely fast enough to eventually be no good.

Harvesting Twenty Two Ears of Corn and Seven Steakhouse Tomatoes

These are just two things that I didn't plan on doing today, but it ended up working in the end once I went into the garden to take a look at my plants.  I knew that the corn was probably ready to bring inside and eat immediately.  What I didn't know was how much there was to pick and how many ears I would have to cook. 

Twenty two was the total amount of corn that I picked this evening.  I decided on removing the covering from the ears and cook them for dinner.  They were definitely worth all the work that I gave them and all the rain recently was definitely a big help.  You can see for yourself how good the corn came out this season.

Tomatoes were also ripening and mainly the steakhouse ones.  The Roma tomatoes will most likely be picked in the very near future such as during this week sometime.  I didn't get as many steakhouse tomatoes as I usually do because of the amount of plants that I grew this season.  I planted less than normal thinking I would still get plenty to eat.  The fact is that I got enough for a summer season and as long as they last a couple of weeks I will be happy.

Largest Bean Harvest Along With Ripe Cantaloupes

I had some cantaloupes that were growing in the garden that I thought were perfect for harvesting because of their ripe color.  Most of the time melons are very simple to know when they are ripe.  All I do is wait for the stem to start peeling from the plant or just completely fall off.  Either method works and that is how I determine all melons when they are done growing.

This year I have already picked six of them.  Two came earlier in the week and maybe last weekend at the earliest while just a day ago I picked four more.  They sometimes need to be left out to get somewhat soft.  Once that happens I place them in the refrigerator to prevent them from going bad quickly.  The hotter and humid is can increase the rate of decay.

I had some beans to pick this week and I wanted to pick them around wednesday to thursday, but I had to plant my fall crop during these days.  I picked them yesterday and this was the largest crop so far with a weight of 20 lbs.  I think this will be the largest harvest of the year.  From now on the crops of beans will be getting smaller.

As I mentioned above I planted my broccoli and cabbage into the garden which needed to be done as soon as possible.  There was going to be some rain which they could really benefit from if they were in the ground. 

Just one pepper and three more cucumbers were also picked this week along with all the above.  I will be picking some corn soon as well and I probably should have been picking them this entire week or at least some of them.  Hopefully they are not overripe and are still tender enough to be eaten.  I have been a little late this year in picking corn.

A large pepper this week.

Corn and Cantaloupes are Finally Ready for Harvesting

This is just a quick post about some of the new food I was able to pick today.  I saw that many of my melons were starting to ripen and begin turning to a slight orange color and producing the webbing which covers the fruit as well.  Two of them came off fairly easily and that is usually a sign that they are pretty much ready. 

I will leave them out for a day or two in order to get them just a little softer which will be good for cutting and eating.  I probably will cut the first one in a day or two.  It shouldn't take that much time for them to get soft.  Take a look at my melons below.

Both of them were exactly three pounds and that is good for me and as long as they taste good I could care less how big they are.  Obviously the bigger they are the more goodness to come from them hopefully.

Corn was another new harvest for today that I thought I would tell you about.  I didn't pick a large bucket full of them like I have in the past, but I did pick the first one of the season which signals that many more are ready to come.

I did not weigh it or even take a picture when I picked it.  Instead I peeled off the husk and placed it in a pan of water and began cooking it.  It made a great addition to my lunch this afternoon.

I have tons of tomatoes that are almost ready outside, but today I only picked the ones that were just ripe.  I only got over 20 pounds!  This is probably the most Roma tomatoes that I have ever picked in just one season.  Granted I planted more Roma tomatoes than the others so that I could make more sauce with them. 

Let's take a look at all those tomatoes I picked up today.

 Not one, not two, but three containers filled with Roma tomatoes.

These were the larger harvests of today.  I even collected five more cucumbers which can be added to the already large amounts that I have picked previously.

Today is the Day for Several Harvests

A couple days after a rain storm I thought would be the perfect time to do several harvests.  A good rain always increases production of most plants especially in ripening.  After the rain it has been sunny as well which made the tomatoes turn red much faster.  They are now ready to be picked.

I love picking tomatoes because I can do quite a bit with them.  The 13 pounds of cherry tomatoes are great for salads and eating them whole.  The 26 pounds of Roma tomatoes are perfect for sauces because they are more meaty than cherry or steakhouse.  The three steakhouse tomatoes I picked today are great for sandwiches and are the perfect size for them.

Beans are not ripe type plants, but instead when they reach the desired size and stop growing then it is time to pick them.  They were quite big and that is exactly how I like my pole beans.  14 pounds today is what I collected.  At first I didn't think I was going to pick that much, but once I went through the entire row I was able to locate more beans and picked up the pace.

Again more cucumbers were ready today and I got only five of them.  They were about average size for them and nothing to big or fancy.  These will be good for cutting up and eating them as is or placing slices in some apple cider vinegar.

How The Entire Garden is Progressing

I wanted to write a simple post about the production of my plants that I have in my garden.  Since most of them are growing fruit I thought it would be good to give an update on all my plants.  This would include corn that is starting to grow, clusters of Roma tomatoes, cantaloupes ready to harvest, and eggplants that have finally started to grow.

I was outside today and I wanted to pick most of my vegetables and fruits, but instead I just picked up many cherry tomatoes that had fell to the ground.  Yesterday it rained and with it lots of wind which knocked down and few plants and many cherry tomatoes.  I will go outside tomorrow and pick all the rest of the fruits and vegetables that are ripe.

I have eggplants that are beginning to grow this season and it will probably take them some time to grow to full size.  They usually mature late in the season as compared to other plants.  They are similar to melons and take quite a while to produce fruit, but when they do they get bigger each day.  I will document them from the beginning until I harvest them.

Next on the list is corn.  I wanted to let you know that the corn is going good and this goes for the stalks that have produced silks with ears of corn ready to mature.  So far I have a few that are growing well and I will be harvesting them soon as long as the weather cooperates.

Pole beans are doing good and are continuing to grow flowers which is a great sign of more beans to come.  Potassium is how you can get more flowers on your plants especially when it comes to beans.  They need this nutrient in order to get all the flowers possible and reach its maximum potential yield.

Pumpkins are done for the season and I could probably pick them now if I wanted to, but I will wait as long as possible and pick them as close to October as I can.  This is when I like to cut them open and take out the seeds and bake them in the oven.

I thought zucchini was done a month ago, but after I gave them some wood ash and manure they have started getting newer leaves and more vegetables.  They are not done yet and I think I will be getting many more as long as I keep feeding them what they need.

The Silks on Corn Stalks are Beginning To Finally Appear

It is that time of the year where corn silks appear and I have to pollinate them using the pollen collected from many of the corn tassels.  This pollen on the tassels is how I like to pollinate my corn and is very simple to do once you know what to do.  I like to hand pollinate corn because this allows me to know when they are pollinated and is just a much more reliable means to ensure my corn will start growing.

Once I get the pollen from the tassels I then place it right on top of the silks.

That is all there is to it.

Now I have picked some Roma tomatoes today in order to make enough sauce to fill up a few glass mason jars.  It was not much, but I only used Roma tomatoes instead of using every tomato that I collected from the garden this season.  This was the whole reason why I decided on growing more super sauce tomato plants this season.  Right now it is starting to pay off.

These were just the tomatoes from today.  I had picked others earlier this week and some last week and they too were used for the sauce.  I think I ended up using about 12 of them for the sauce.  Hopefully I will continue to get more Roma tomatoes which means more sauce for the Winter.

The third harvest of pole beans was completed today.  There were plenty that were not quite ready and will probably be picked on a later or the next harvest.  I got nine pounds of beans which was the same as the one from a few days ago.  I am looking to get more than nine pounds from my vines soon.  I still am picking enough that I will have to begin canning them soon.

Cucumbers is one vegetable that has been surprisingly very productive.  Some seasons they are productive and others they are just not.  I am definitely happy with how they are growing and can't wait to collect more of them this season.  I have six more that I need to add into the refrigerator in order to keep them as long as possible.

Its Time for Another Harvest of Pole Beans

The second harvest is one I always look forward to because this is where I get an increase and start yielding many more beans that the first time.  From looking at my plants and how they are growing it looks like that I should be receiving plenty more of them in future harvests.  I am not sure how much more, but only time will tell exactly what I will get.  Hopefully it will be close to last years harvest.

Some more tomatoes, cucumbers, and one zucchini were picked up today as well.  I am getting many more tomatoes and most of them are at full size, but they are still green and will probably begin ripening all at once.  I did pick up a two pound Roma this afternoon which is the biggest Roma I have picked this season and I hope there are many more.

Here are some more tomatoes I picked today.

Three more cucumbers.

Last, but not least one zucchini.

I just want to mention that my onions are still drying, but only for a few more days they will be left outside and then I can begin to use them.  I have already brought in the first set of onions that were dry and I should begin using them very soon.  I am hoping that these onions will last the rest of the year.  Last year I didn't plant as many but was able to use them all the way up to the beginning of December or end of November.  This time I want them to last all the way to January first.  That was my ultimate goal with onions this season.