Yesterday the HH and I headed out the garden to check on the vegetables and blueberry patch and boy were we surprised when we got out there! Finally, something more exciting than Swiss chard and turnips were ready to harvest. He had to set up a ladder just to harvest the beans. I’ve always preferred growing pole beans over bush beans and for the first time ever, our beans plants reached over 8 feet tall. HOLY COW. Maybe next year I need taller poles.
Parisian cucumbers? Yes please! Those go for a pretty penny at Costco…. Now we have our own supply. And the polka dot glasses? They are totally dorky, I know. But they fit so snug on my face I can’t help but wear them all the time. Maybe they’d look better if I was tan, and wearing all black?
There is something so satisfying about pulling an onion out of the ground. Who needs cable tv when you can pull stuff out of the ground? Seriously.
First tomato harvest. I couldn’t resist plucking a few green zebra tomatoes off the vine…. There are so many out there, these can ripen on the windowsill.
First quart of blueberries. The HH lost interest in picking berries after about 8 seconds. Said they were too much work. 😉 Whateva. I’m stashing them in the freezer until I have enough for jam.
I’m thinking a cold beet salad might be on the menu for later this week.
Oh, and the cucumbers…. I guess pickling season is right around the corner. I might can some relish with this batch!
The backyard vegetable garden tally of 2018:
Beets 14 pounds 11 ounces
Blueberries 1 pound 10 ounces
Cucumbers 12 pounds 2 ounces
Green Beans 1 pound 2 ounces
Green Onion/Scallions 12 ounces
Lettuce 11 ounces
Onions 3 ounces
Peppers 5 ounces
Sugar Snap Peas 1 pound 2 ounces
Swiss Chard 5 pounds 14 ounces
Tomatoes 2 pounds 3 ounces
Turnips 9 pounds 3 ounces
Zucchini 1 pound 13 ounces
Herbs
- Basil 1 pound 9 ounces
- Chives 4 ounces
- Mint 2 ounce
- Oregano 13 ounces
Total Food Harvested in 2018 54 Pounds 7 Ounces
Total Eggs Collected in 2018 {with 7 hens} 0 {the ladies are just 14 weeks old}
Total spent growing 54 pounds 7 ounces of food this year $811.00 {about $15.00 a pound so far!} 😉 The goal is to get this down to $1.00 a pound or less by the end of the season. What did I spend my garden money on this year you ask? Well, $399 on Manny and the rest on seeds, compost, grow light bulbs and small garden tools/supplies.
Are you growing a vegetable garden this year? If so, what are harvesting these days? When do you expect your tomatoes to be ready? Curious minds want to know.
Have a great day everyone,
~Mavis
If you are new to gardening or just want to learn more about organic gardening, my #1 favorite garden book is The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food
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Deborah says
As for the green tomatoes, why not make fried green tomatoes. They are so good. I just fixed us some last week. Fried them in butter flavored Crisco. I fixed 3, and there was enough for three of us with no leftovers.
Deborah says
If you need to know how to fix them, let me know.
Mama Cook says
Yes please! Other curious readers want to know!
Deborah says
Wash and slice the green tomatoes. Let them sit in a bowl. In a bowl, mix some cornmeal and a little salt (and any other seasonings you desire), and mix well. Place several slices of the tomatoes in the cornmeal, and coat well. Fry in oil until brown on one side about 5 minutes, flip over and brown the other side. Drain well on paper toweling. These are so good!
Mama Cook says
Yummy! Thanks!!!
Margery says
To make you laugh, when my oldest daughter had moved out and had her own garden. She called me all upset she had checked all the garden places and seed stands and couldn’t find green tomato plants. When I stopped laughing I explained everything to her.
Pam Favorite says
For your daughters garden next year, she can order “Green Giant” from Baker Creek. I’m growing it for the first time and the plant is HUGE with tomatoes that are large.
Sarah says
We are still harvesting zucchini, lots of green beans, peppers, cucumbers and we are just starting to get red tomatoes!
Stephaniez says
So far I have harvested 280 cups of raspberries, 19 bunches of lavender and 51 garlic heads plus tonnes of lettuce, chard and kale.
Mavis Butterfield says
WOWZA!!!!
Emily Brower says
Drooling with jealousy…all those RASPBERRIES! Yum!
Rebecca in MD says
My garden this year includes:
Tomatoes – 5 varieties – still waiting for them to ripen
Cucumbers – have canned 10 pints and 2 quarts of relish so far
Okra – harvested just a handful so far
Zucchini – producing steadily
Summer squash – producing steadily
Basil – have been drying it for use throughout the year
Parsley – have been drying it for use throughout the year
Garlic – have harvested half of it and need to get the rest out
Onions – not quite ready for harvest
Cabbage – some harvested and eaten – fermented 3 quarts of sauerkraut for later
Sweet bell peppers – Just a few harvested so far
Jalapeno peppers – not very hot this year – not enough sunshine!
Pepperoncini – not very hot this year – lacking sunshine
Cherry bomb peppers – very spicy, but not many harvested thus far
The cloudy and rainy weather has really delayed the tomatoes. I am so looking forward to my harvest for making sauce and canning whole, peeled tomatoes for use all year.
Christa H. says
One of my favorite beet salads. Cut recipe in half if necessary:
Tupelo Honey Pickled Beet Salad
2 pound(s) beets (raw)
1 large Vidalia onion
2 clove(s) garlic
3/4 cup olive oil
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup tupelo honey
2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
Peel and trim the beets and onion. Slice very thin, using a mandoline of food processor, and transfer to a large bowl. With the flat side of a knife, crush the garlic cloves and add whole to the beet and onion mixture. In a medium bowl, combine the olive oil, vinegar, honey, salt and white pepper. Pour over beets. Mix well, cover and refrigerate overnight before serving.
More good ones:
https://tupelohoneycafe.com/blog/category/recipes/
Mavis Butterfield says
Sounds good!!! Thank you Christa H.
Elise in the SF Bay Area says
My own garden is SO small, but it’s better than nothing 🙂
in 18 sq ft (2 2×2 and 1 2×5), we have:
2 potato plants (we just cut up a sprouting organic potato from the grocery store, 3 of the 5 pieces did well, but we had to thin one out) – these have finished blooming and should die back soon – we’ll see what we get from planting about 3 oz of potato!!! (planted 10 weeks ago)
raspberries (compact bush type in their 2nd year in our garden) – harvested about 20 raspberries (compared to a dozen last year)
These were all planted 7-8 weeks ago:
16 pea plants (almost ready, and we’re leaving for a week on Saturday, so we’ll see how that timing works…)
16 String Bean plants that are going GREAT, but SOMETHING (I think a rat – at night) has been nibbling on the shoots as they reach the top of the vining structure (it has a 90 degree turn at the top to run flat over the bed, like an arbor, but square). I’ve covered that area with bird netting and nothing has gotten them since then…
2 mystery pumpkins (not sure what variety – and I planted several saved seeds from the same jar and the 2 plants are pretty different…)
beets – I planted 18 beets and about 4 are close to ready (about 2 inches?), but I’m going to leave them in longer. I also re-seeded beets, so we’ll have about 2-3 at a time several weeks apart.
Also 2 strawberry plants that are doing GREAT!! No fruit, but lots of leaves and spreading with shoots.
Carolina says
I respectfully disagree that your glasses look “dorky” as you say. I noticed them right away and thought, wow, Mavis has graduated from those plain black oversized frames. The new look shows off your eyes more and they are awesome!!!
Teri says
I think your glasses are adorable!
Susan Henline says
I have gradually been expanding vegetable plants among our flower beds. I have orange and red cherry tomatoes as well as other varieties (10 plants total). I find chicken wire attached to metal posts make great vertical support for mountaineer Half runner beans and cucumbers. I planted lettuce basil radishes cilantro and potatoes in pots. Rhubarb is behind the hosta. I also used chicken wire to support black raspberry vines. I picked over a gallon this year. I love how you keep track of how much everything works per pound. Wish I had thought of that!
Stephanie says
Gorgeous! This is the first year we’ve planted anything, and my husband kind of took over everything in the beginning and did it in a sort of haphazard way, so we’ve got about 374823479832749382 tomato plants, some basil, two pumpkin vines, a patch of green onions, *maybe* a watermelon, some scattered carrots, and I think that’s it. And they’re all clumped together in a corner of the yard where I can’t easily get to due to my back. Hmph. He says that next year, we’ll expand the garden and space things out better, so I’m already looking forward to that. We’ve harvested some tomatoes, two batches of basil, and some green onions already. 🙂
Lissa says
10 cherry tomatoes here :). But lots more coming as are the green beans. Lots of basil.
How ya feeling about recently buying green beans hahaha. You’ll be swimming in them soon.
Ellen in Clackamas says
I only have two small raised bed gardens –4×8. In one I have Lemon cukes and have havested 4 so far. Two kinds of hot peppers–there are about 8 on the plants that need picking and 6 summer type squash–two are ready. In the other bed I have 9 tomato plants–2 of which died off for no apparent reason (so really 7 plants). There are 4 cherry/pear tomato plants and I have gotten a couple of dozen ripe ones so far. The regular tomatoes are slowly coming along…I can see redness under the leaves. It doesn’t look like there will be an abundant yield but I can’t wait for my first tomato sandwich of the year!.
Marybeth says
Amazing!
Emily says
I want to share my favorite blueberry freezing tip in case you don’t already know it. Wash and dry the blueberries then freeze them on a cookie tray before transferring them to a bag or container. This way they stay individual and you can pour out however many you need at a time later without them freezing into a big clump.
Thanks to the miracle of chicken wire (to keep out the deer and make life harder for the ground hogs) I was able to harvest sugar snap peas, raspberries, blueberries, tomatoes, and strawberries this evening. All together my harvest might fill a cereal bowl, but it still makes me smile.
Mavis Butterfield says
Freezing berries on cookie sheets is a great tip Emily!
Heather says
So far we have gotten lots of zucchini, a couple of containers of raspberries, a few garlic, a few Colorado peppers and some blackberries. No ripe tomatoes yet. I may need to make a green tomato recipe soon.
Susan Geier says
I do not use chemical on my garden. This year I am inundated with cucumber and squash beetles. Any suggestions???
Mavis Butterfield says
I’m all too familiar with squash bugs {UGH!}. They are nasty. But lucky for you, through my trial and error, I’ve discovered a thing or two that works. I wrote a post all about How to Deal with Squash Bugs that might help you. https://www.stage.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/ask-maivs-how-to-deal-with-squash-bugs/
Christa H. says
Flip the leaves over and on the backside where you see the egg clusters, use a q-tip to smother the eggs with petroleum jelly. Also look inside the flowers for cucumber beetles and grab them out with the petroleum jelly covered q-tip and smash them.
Stephaniez says
I hand pick the cucumber beetles using a needle nosed tweezer as they are tricky and tiny. They are often mating so I get both of them at the same time. I drop them in sudsy water to drown. At some point I win the battle but remain vigilant. I find it best to check the zucchini plants early in the morning before heading to work while the flowers are open. Then I check the rest after work.
Torry says
My fried green tomato recipe is different:
Green tomatoes, sliced
flour in a bowl
black pepper
butter or margarine
Dredge tomatoes in flour, sprinkle with pepper to taste and fry in butter or margarine until brown and crispy.
We don’t think it needs salt; however, you decide for your taste.
Kathy says
Here in my SW WA town of Kalama, I picked my very first zucchini! I have 3 plants, 2 different plantings of green beans so first planting should be starting soon, strawberries which are done now, potatoes also 2 plantings, and 1 heritage tomato that was gifted to me and is going great guns at making tomatoes but none ripe yet.
Randini says
Fun to see your first harvest!
I am growing carrots (just put in 5 more rows), kale, romaine and leaf lettuce, pole beans (also my favorite-but they are also a huge favorite of slugs {miss the NW Mavis?!}), snap peas, lemon cucumbers, rhubarb, apples, basil, cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, mystery tomatoes (3 volunteer plants) and one mystery squash -maybe a seed from the Halloween pumpkins that didn’t get all the way composted.
The most surprising plant this year is the globe zucchinis. Apparently i did not read the plant tag well. Round zucchini’s instead of the long ones was a surprise.
Mavis Butterfield says
I found my FIRST baby slug of the season under the chicken coop yesterday and just had to smile. So glad not to have them in the veg patch anymore. Although I’d gladly trade slugs for ticks any day of the week.
Thelma says
Have been harvesting cherry tomatoes since the middle of July, the slicer tomatoes are also ready now! Have harvested broccoli, cauliflower, lots of lettuce and arugula, cucumber, garlic scapes and garlic bulbs, elephant garlic, basil, oregano, thyme, shelling peas, snow peas. new potatoes, a few peppers, broad beans, zucchini and zucchini blossoms which i have stuffed and fried! Eggplants, celery, beets and figs are ready to harvest! I also have Meyer lemons and Bears Limes that are ripening! Sugar baby watermelons are sizing up , along with cabbage, runner, pole and bush beans! Onions are also pretty much ready. We are also growing , apples, thornless blackberries. So much more going on….Carrots, Parsnips, Turnips, Cabbage and Chard , fall squash, along with several herbs, summer savoury, cilantro, silva, cilantro….and more…that I’m missing at the moment 😉
Mavis Butterfield says
Wahoooo! I love it. So much variety Thelma.
Debbie - MountainMama says
So far we have harvested just lettuce, beets, peas, one cucumber, one zucchini, and lots of beans and herbs. The cherry tomatoes are green and plentiful, the larger tomatoes are small. The peppers are teeny, there are tons of baby cukes and squash, both winter and summer, and baby eggplant. Onions and garlic are growing in with the herbs this year, hopefully they will do well. Berries all got eaten by the birds, except for a handful of raspberries. That’s quite the harvest you pulled in!
Julia Park Tracey says
We have spaghetti squash going nuts. We have eaten one and given one away, but there are about 10 more to go. I was thinking it might make a great Pad Thai — have been looking at recipes and think I will just use my basic go-to from my recipe binder. I will wait a few days and sprout some mung beans first for fresh, crunchy bean sprouts! I never buy sprouts of any kind from the store because they are always having salmonella recalls. Better to grow them at home.
SO far our lettuce and baby beets are doing well. Our peas and edamame (soy beans) were small crops. Beans– I planted bush beans by mistake and have been bitterly disappointed in their low yield. I also planted only one zucchini and have had literally one so far. Sad clown!
Cucumbers and tomatoes are revving up for a brilliant explosion soon. My sunflowers are doing well. Amaranth was a bust; I had hopes of growing my own chicken feed, but at least I’ll have sunflower seeds to give them.
Our plum crop was 8 plums (boo hoo) but so many wild blackberries that I’m making jam, freezing whole berries, and making shrub to drink later in winter. My fingernails are purple.
Cheers, my friends!
Susan C Howard says
I loved reading this blog! For those wishing to find a great source for unique and heirloom veggies, try Nichols Nursery http://www.nicholsgardennursery.com/
Tell them Sunny sent ya!! They were my main supplier of seeds when I was gardening in Alaska.