I Think My Eggplants and Pole Beans are Ready for the First Harvest

So far I have harvested mostly all types of my tomatoes I planted such as cherry, Roma, and beefsteak.  I have also been picking peppers as well.  Recently I have started with my pole beans which have been ready for quite some time.  I actually started picking sometime at the end of August and consistently through the month of September.  Melons were another fruit that I started picking from the garden and have eaten three cantaloupes and one honeydew melon.  The last and most recent vegetable that was ready for picking were my eggplants.

The first one I started picking a few weeks ago were my cantaloupes which had fallen of the vine and is a good indication that they are done and fully ripe for consumption.  They were definitely a decent size and all of them were ripe and very juicy.  I still have one left out in the garden which I am hoping will be ripe sometime this month.

I then worked my way to my pole beans which had plenty of beans and many flowers that were eventually going to turn in more beans for harvesting.  Most of my vines are producing plenty of beans and are still growing flowers even though the days are getting shorter each day.  I think I will have a few more harvests before the vines stop producing or at least slow down.  I have canned many of them and have frozen several beans and have used fresh ones for a few meals at the moment.

The last vegetable on the list that has yet to be picked are my eggplants.  I planted many of them this year as compared to other years and there many plants with multiple eggplants that are a good size which may take a little bit of time to go through all of them.  I am not worried because there are a few good recipes that you can use with them.  I have picked a total of five eggplants over the past couple of days and there are many where they came from.  I will probably start picking them on a weekly basis depending on weather conditions.
 

Ending the Garden Season on a High Note

Although it is not the end of the season and I would say that it will not end until the real cold weather arrives I wanted to get a good last harvest from my Roma tomatoes.  I had plenty of them on the plants that I was just waiting for them to ripen fully.  Today I think I picked the most I have ever in just one day.

It just happened that many of them were ripe on the same day.  Since most of them grew at the same time it makes sense that they would also ripen at a similar time.  I did leave some of them on the plant because they were just not quite ready and some of them still had green tomatoes on them as well.

Only a couple were continuing to produce tomatoes, but for the most part production of tomatoes is pretty much over for all the types of tomatoes that I grew this season.  The rest of them will be picked at a later date sometime in the near future.  There was 70 pounds worth of Roma tomatoes which will be turned into thick red sauce.

On a side not some cantaloupes were picked this week.  This makes two types of fruits that were picked this week.  This is usually the time when I start to pick my melons and watermelons are always last to be harvested.  Just four more cantaloupes to enjoy for as long as possible until other melons are ready to be picked.









 I also have one honeydew plant which is the only one to survive during the cooler month of May and it has one fruit on it that is hopefully going to ripen this season.  I hope that it ripens soon before the cool weather harms the vine and it won’t be able to fully ripen.  It has finished growing so right now it is working on the ripening phase of the fruit.

More of the Same Harvests With an Eggplant

For the most part I have been picking mostly tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, and cucumbers.  I did pick most of them this morning and got another good harvest from them.  I did pick quite a large steakhouse tomato that was just about two pounds by itself.  It was just as large as my hand.

I also managed to pick the first eggplant for the season today.  I wasn’t going to pick it today, but it wasn’t growing anymore and it felt ripe to pick it.  A little bit small, but I can still find a meal to use it for and hopefully enjoy its unique taste.



I just wanted to let you in on the progress of my melons especially cantaloupes.  They should be ready real soon and will be the first melons to pick for the season.  My watermelons are doing well, but they take a little bit longer to ripe and produce the sugars they need inside the melon.  Since cantaloupes are smaller they will not need as much time to ripen.

Corn looks like it is done for now and I don’t think there are that many left to pick.  I was able to get about eight more last week and now most of them are done.  I will be removing the stalks from the ground and start using them as mulch or just chop them up and burn them.

First Watermelon Harvested for the Season

This week was a little exciting with the first watermelon picked.  Although I did pick the smallest of the four that are growing in the garden it still was a pretty decent size.  The other three are much larger and I am definitely looking forward to picking them sometime in the near future.

I also had some cantaloupes that were ready for picking and I picked two of them which only leaves one more left in the garden to harvest.  I had a good crop of cantaloupes this season even though they were medium sized they still were very delicious.

Got the last beans of the season this week as well.  They were done a little bit earlier than past years, but still picked enough to store for the winter months.  I also had another harvest of cherry tomatoes and some peppers that are still growing in the garden.

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.

Melon Plants Starting to Produce Fruit

One of the most important things that I check in my garden is if my vine plants are producing fruit or at least flowers that will lead to having fruit.  For example I noticed that some of my melons are producing flowers, but still don't have any fruit that has been pollinated.  On the other hand I have a couple of vines that do have some fruit that should continue to grow each day.

Here are some cantaloupes and watermelon fruits that are beginning to grow as of today.

This is just one cantaloupe that I have on my vines.  I have three total and if you count the watermelon that that means I have four melons total.

This is one watermelon that I have so far.  With just two plants I should hopefully be able to harvest two watermelons.  The one below is from the first plant that was transplanted early in the season.

Cucumbers are also growing quite well and a few more that will be ready by this weekend are just waiting to be harvested.  I ate the first one today and it tasted real sweet and no bitterness at all.  This is what I hope for every garden season.  Check out all the cucumbers that will be picked very soon.

Aside from melons and cucumbers I am getting some beans starting to grow as well.  I happened to get them earlier than last season, but this is just one plant that has a bean.  When a large enough harvest comes I will be sure that I let you know.

Some peppers are coming through as well.

What are Some More Fruits, Vegetables, and Flowers You Can Grow Indoors?

For those people looking to start growing more plants in their home or greenhouse, then this simple post is for you.  There are many plants that you could start growing inside to get them their headstart, but only a few are best since they make take some time to grow.

A few that I chose to grow recently would include cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and cantaloupes.  These three plants are what I decided to cultivate indoors because I find melons take a while to grow outside and can take longer if you don't have any bees pollinating the fruits.  I like to make sure that I have some extra time just in case these things happen.

To help in attracting bees you will need to make certain that you have the right flowers growing at the same time as well.  This time I chose cosmos, calendula, and amaranthus.  These are just a few more plants that you can easily start growing at home beginning today.