Looking Forward to Start Digging up My Potatoes

 Although I have been picking many vegetables from my garden including tomatoes, corn which is done for the season, peppers, zucchini, and even eggplants  I am still waiting for my potato plants to start turning brown.  When the plants are turning yellow or brown is the perfect time to start digging them up and begin using them in delicious meals and dishes.  I love potatoes and when they grow like they should they end up being one of my favorites vegetables to cook with.  

I am hoping that these new potatoes I planted this season are at least a decent size, but I will not know until I start digging them up.  The soil is beginning to crack from the potatoes and must make certain to keep them covered otherwise they will not be able to be eaten.  Always make sure that your potatoes not the plant are covered throughout the season.

Eggplants and zucchini are the latest vegetables to be harvested from the garden the past couple of weeks.  A couple of weeks ago I got the very first zucchini from the garden which I did not think I would get any this year because of the late seed planting.  These are plants I like to start inside, but due to the cold weather in May I was unable to start them in pots.  Instead I had to hope for enough room in between the tomato plants and enough sunlight in order to get them to sprout.  Luckily they did and so far I have picked two zucchinis this season.

Eggplants on the other hand I did start them inside and very early because they need plenty of time similar to watermelons which also require an adequate amount of time.  I saw a couple of plants that had some good sized eggplants that were almost ready to pick a week or two ago.  I took a look at them this week and decided that it was time to begin harvesting.  I harvested four eggplants with three over them are some of the largest eggplants I have ever grown.  I can't wait to make them into some eggplant Parmesan meals or possibly eggplant pizzas which are also very delicious.

 

More Vegetable Harvests Coming in the Near Future

 So far the main vegetables I have been harvesting over the past couple of weeks and months have been cucumbers and tomatoes.  Mostly cherry and beefsteak tomatoes have been harvested the most while my roma tomatoes are still green and will take some time to ripen.  With the amount of sunlight the garden has been receiving I thought that my romas would ripen about the same time as my others, but that is not the case.  I am sure within a couple of weeks or so they too will start ripening and I will then begin to harvest them along with all the others.

My spring crop plants are still up and producing a decent crop even though the weather is quite hot during this summer especially the last couple of weeks.  As long as the soil is kept cool and free of weeds they should thrive all the way through until the fall and possibly late in the year.  While they are producing I am continuing to pick leaves, broccoli, and soon brussel sprouts as long as they weather doesn't harm them.

Eggplants have also started to grow on a couple of plants in the garden.  Most of the plants look good, but only a couple that actually have some pollinated eggplants hanging from the plant.  I wouldn't be surprised if they were ripe enough next week or possibly earlier.  I don't think they will be ready this week, but I will probably start picking them sometime this month and hopefully by then all my other plants will begin producing large eggplants as well.

I am still picking cucumbers while my vines are still producing fruit.  They have been producing since mid June and I love picking and eating them.  Along with cucumbers cherry tomatoes have also been quite steady with the harvesting and they are perfect for salads.  unfortunately or fortunately my cherry tomatoes are quite large this season and have had to cut them in order to eat them.  They are just too large to eat whole, but there are a few that I find that I am able to eat whole.  I have also picked a couple of beefsteak tomatoes recently and can't wait to slice them up for delicious sandwiches.

 My zucchini seeds were planted quite late this year and I am finally beginning to see some production and fruit from some of the plants.  Most of the plants are still too small to begin flowering and I probably will not be able to get much from them.  There is one that is showing some hope and I hope that the vegetable flower has been pollinated so that I can have at least one zucchini for the season.  I would like to have a few, but with the late planting and lack of room I would be happy with at least one good sized zucchini.

It is All Over for the Onions and The Start of Fall Planting

 Mid July is about when the onion stems start falling and turning brown and this is the time when you need to dig them up because they are not going to get any bigger.  The heat is usually what gets to your onions and leaving them in the ground too long is something you want to avoid.  I always like drying them completely before I store them indoors whether it be a garage or in a basement.  A cool dry place is where you should put them to prevent fungi from growing on them and going bad.  If you dry them properly they should last a long time and I have had onions that have past the new year into the month of March.

 

Potatoes are another plant that I will have to dig up, but at the moment they are nowhere close to harvesting.  I would say about mid August they might be ready because right now they are starting to flower which is a good sign that harvesting might be right around the corner.  I don't have that many plants this season because many of them didn't sprout for whatever reason.  I am hoping that the ones that survived will produce a very decent crop as long as the weather doesn't end their season prematurely.  

Some of my eggplant plants are beginning to flower so that is something to look forward to in a month or two.  Peppers are also starting to produce more flowers and fruit.  My sweet peppers are the only ones that are looking good while my habaneras peppers are growing, but not thriving as much as my sweet peppers.  In fact I will probably start harvesting these peppers this week or next at the latest.

 

I have also started planting seeds for my fall crop into small pots and some in peat pots.  I have decided to grow radishes, peas, and testing another crop of red onions.  This would be a good time to start a crop of carrots in peat pots, but with very little room in the garden at the moment I will hold off on planting them right now or for the season.  If my potatoes are done early, then I might be able to plants some carrot seeds.  This all depends on various factors.  For now I am sticking with radishes and snow peas for the fall season.

 

A Good End to The Summer Garden Harvests

Eggplants this season was more prominent than any other summer or spring crop.  I had planted close to thirty eggplant plants and received at least one or more from each plant.  I picked some of the last eggplants a couple of weeks ago just before a frost ended the season for most of my plants.  Close to a dozen were picked in this last harvest
 

The frost ends the season for all my summer plants and starts the season for harvesting my fall crops that include broccoli and brussel sprouts.  Carrots will also be harvested during the fall season as well, but that will be a little bit later in the month. 

My last tomato plant that was still growing after most of them were done for the season has finally finished growing the most tomatoes that it could during the time that it had.  It grew some of the best beefsteak tomatoes this season and some of the best that I have ever grown.  This year I grew a different variety of tomatoes and still focused on beefsteak, but instead of a large type I decided to grow a basic type of tomato.

 

 Now on to my fall crop which I am very much looking forward to.  I have actually started harvesting both my broccoli and brussel sprouts.  I have only begun to harvest just the large heads of my broccoli plants, but soon I will be harvesting the side shoots that come after cutting off the head.  So far I have just cut a couple of large heads that were ready earlier than many of the others.  I would say that the next couple of weeks most of the heads will be removed from my broccoli plants.
 

I wasn’t sure if it was time to start picking my brussel sprouts, but the plant had stopped growing and most of the brussel sprouts looked like they were pretty much ready for consumption.  Instead of picking the whole plant I just started with about have of them and the rest I will get later in the fall season.

It is Almost the end of a Season for 2019 Until Fall Crops are Ready for Harvesting

At the moment fall crops are not quite ready for harvesting, but I would say in the next couple of weeks the first broccoli heads or the first kale leaves will be ready for consumption.  I also have a brussel sprout plant that is just about ready for harvesting which I may do either this weekend or sometime next week.

Now that my fall crops have been growing quite well I also am still harvesting various vegetables that I grew this summer.  Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and some beans are what is left of the summer harvest right now.  

My beans are probably done for the year and they have not been producing any more flowers.  There might be some that are hidden within the leaves, but I think it is safe to say that they have given their all. 

My tomatoes are also going the way of my beans and are done with producing new flowers for new fruits that can be harvest.  Luckily there is one beefsteak tomato plant that doesn’t want to give up and is still growing tomatoes.  As for flowers I think it is done, but the plant still has fruit on it that I will be harvesting sometime this month and hopefully before a frost.

 Peppers are another vegetable that I am still harvesting through the month of October.  These plants grew quite well this season and I have probably picked several dozen throughout the year using them for various things including a couple of batches of homemade tomato sauce.    There are still a few on these plants that I will be picking this week, but once I pick these last ones that will most likely be it for them.

 Last but not least are my eggplants that have grown the best out of most of my garden plants.  This could be due to the fact that I grew over 20 eggplants in the garden.  It was just a numbers game that I will have many eggplants to pick.  I have been picking them on a regular basis and I still have plenty out in the garden to harvest.  I would say that this is the largest harvest of eggplants I have ever received.

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.
 

Some of The Last Plants That Will be Growing Until the First Ground Freeze

Right now most of the garden plants are done with the exception of cool weather plants and a couple of eggplants.  I have picked an eggplant from each of my plants this season, but I am getting a second crop from a couple of my plants.  Since this week a frost may occur I might have to pick them prematurely before the cold ends the summer season for good this year.

I am also growing a cool weather crop for the fall including some broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts, and a few plants of celery.  I even have rhubarb which I started this season which will hopefully last through the winter once I place some straw over it for protection from the freezing cold.

The only plants that I added into the garden this fall was my kale.  Although kale can be grown in the spring I have found that growing them in the fall is much easier and there is much more room to grow a couple of rows of this delicious plant.  Since they are easy to freeze and store it makes them the perfect leaf for any season.
 

All the other plants were planted in the springtime and have endured the hot temperatures that came during this summer.  Since I plant a sun king hybrid of broccoli they are able to withstand the heat and still produce good sized heads and side shoots.  Right now I am working on two broccoli plants and I have been harvesting broccoli from them since sometime in late July or August.  They are still good and both plants are continuing to supply me with more broccoli each week.

Brussel sprouts and celery I have not harvested yet even though they were planted all the way back in the springtime.  I will have to plant them a little bit earlier and probably start both of them inside in small pots or possibly peat pots. 

The good news is that the heat did not damage them and I still might be able to pick them once they are ready for harvesting.  My celery might be ready in a couple of weeks and my brussel sprouts might soon be ready for picking.  At least my brussel sprout plant is producing sprouts on the stem and in-between the leaves.  I can’t wait to start harvesting all these fall crop plants

Season Cooling off With Very Little Summer Crops to Harvest

The weather here has been getting cooler over the past couple of weeks and those hot humid days are probably over for this year.  I don’t expect to get much more summer crops this year except for some beans, cherry tomatoes, steakhouse tomatoes, peppers, and maybe decent sized eggplants.  What I have in melons is it for this year and now is the time to start picking them off the vines.

At the moment I have picked one crimson sweet watermelon and two honeydew melons from their vines this past week.  None of the other melons were ripe yet and have not fallen off the vine which is an indication that they are ripe enough to be eaten.

Although weather is cooler I am still seeing flowers on my eggplants and one of them actually is producing a few vegetables on the plant.  I am not certain how big they will get with the lack of sunlight and warm weather, but I am happy that I could get a few more from this season.  As long as a frost doesn’t occur for some time I could get a couple of decent sized eggplants.

Peppers and cucumbers are also still producing flowers, but I think that they are pretty much done for the year.  I think the last cucumbers are on the vines right now and are probably ripe enough to be harvested.  Peppers are done producing flowers and a couple of them have fruit on them that I will have to pick either today or sometime this week.

 I will soon have to cover my strawberries for the winter, but I am going to wait a little bit and put straw on top of them most likely in October.  I will also have to cover my rhubarb this season since it is the first winter for these plants.  I probably could pick some of the stems, but I want to wait until next season in order to prevent from picking too many stems this year and possibly harming the plant.  Plus rhubarb needs at least one cold winter to produce tasty stems for cooking

Kale Ready for Second Picking While Last Watermelon Harvested

This week was actually a little eventful even though most of the garden is done including the last of the summer crop.  Some of the last vegetables I picked would include eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes.  This was the last from the summer season and now it is on to the fall season. 

Before I talk about my kale and broccoli I wanted to mention the last watermelon that I picked last week.  This one was the largest watermelon that I have grown and it was time to pick it before it went bad by being outside.  Once the vine died I knew it was time to pick it right away.  The melon weighed 46 pounds which is a personal record for me and I hope to break that next year. 

Today was a good day for picking kale and taking a look at some of my broccoli plants.  The heads are beginning to grow on most of them and one of them actually looks like a good size and I might be picking it real soon hopefully.  For now just my kale is ready for harvesting and I should be picking some of my cabbage soon as well.

Getting the First Two Eggplants Picked Today

One of the first vegetables to be picked today were my eggplants.  They seemed okay to be picked and I could have left them on the plant, but since they were no longer growing I didn't want them to begin to decay and start getting soft and mushy.  That is why I decided to pick them today and both of them had been on the plant for over a month.

Along with eggplants I did pick some cherry and Roma tomatoes.  I only got three Romas today, but the good news is that there are plenty of them on the plants.  I see very large ones that I can't wait to pick once they turn ripe and red.  Once I pick enough I can then work on making tomato sauce which is something I like to do with these tomatoes.  I got another 73 cherry tomatoes today too.

One last vegetable I want to discuss are my peppers that I picked today.  They were quite big and definitely a good size that I can use in any meal that I would like.  The larger the pepper the better which also goes for most vegetables and fruits in the garden.

Seeing More Vegetables Growing on My Plants

Just thought I would write a quick post about some of my plants that are beginning to produce some flowers and vegetables.  First of all my corn stalks don't produce flowers, but they are starting to grow ears of corn which will be picked hopefully sometime this month.  I am also seeing eggplants and peppers that are beginning to fill up the plants with vegetables.  These I hope to also pick this month.

I also had some more cherry tomatoes and cucumbers that were ripe enough to be picked.  Don't worry I have plenty more cherry tomatoes and cucumbers that I should have some more harvests before the end of the season.

Using Fluorescent Lights for More Indoor Planting

Now that my spinach plants no longer need fluorescent lights to continue growing I can now use this light for different seeds.  I do the same thing every and once my spinach are just about ready to stay outside all night I can use these lights for the bulk of my garden.

Although the bulk of the garden is in the form of tomato plants I like to think that the ones I planted today are the second part of my garden.  These will make up the second half of the garden not including corn, beans, and carrots. 

The one thing I want to mention before I discuss the various seeds I planted this evening is the one new plant I added this season.  I normally grow the same thing each year, but I always like to add something new to the garden.  This year I am going with planting another melon.  Honeydew is going to be the one fruit I will be focusing on this season.  I though it would be a good addition because you can make a great fruit salad using watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew.

Honeydew seeds on the left and cantaloupe seeds on the right.

I didn't think I needed to add too many seeds for my honeydew, but I thought my cantaloupe might need an extra one.  This is just in case some of them may not sprout.  Hopefully they will all sprout because there is always room to remove some of them.  This is only in case more than one of them grow in each pot.

Peppers, cucumbers, and eggplant are other seeds that I planted today.  They are quite simple and since they are a little bit older than my melon seeds I needed to plant several seeds in each pot.  Four for cucumbers, five for eggplants, and six for peppers.  I have found that older peppers do not sprout well and that is the big reason for adding many into one single container.