November 9, 2012

Last of the Summer Harvest

Although we haven't had an official first frost yet, I did discover frost damage on the tomatoes and okra the other day. I figured it was time to bring in the rest of the summer harvest.

Amish paste tomatoes

I got about two gallons of tomatoes, mostly green mostly small. If they were larger I would can more sliced green tomatoes for frying. That was a yummy way to preserve them. Being small, I'll either make more green tomato jam or a sweet pickle.

Orange bulldog pumpkins

Two pumpkins! I got two pumpkins. Pretty ones too. Not very big, but better than years past.

Hales best cantaloupes

I found two more cantaloupes. They didn't get very big because cold weather is closing in on us and they like heat. Amazingly they were pretty tasty anyway. I've already saved some cantaloupe seed, so the chickens got these scoopings.

Vardaman sweet potatoes

This is not even half of the sweet potatoes. I didn't get many white potatoes, and so am thankful for these. We eat some, the goats get some, and I give some away.

Lastly, rugosa rose hips.

Rugosa Rose Hips

I harvested the first hips a couple months ago and laid them out to dry in the pantry. Unfortunately, pantry moths demolished them! Hopefully this batch will do better.

[UPDATE 12 Nov] I was pulling out amaranth stalks in the garden this morning and remembered I didn't include a photo of my amaranth harvest. Here it is...

Golden Giant amaranth

I didn't get a lot, but it's enough for treats for the chickens.

Now I'm waiting for the fall garden to come in. We haven't had much rain for the past month, so it's been slow. More on that soon.

Last of the Summer Harvest © November 2012 

15 comments:

CaliforniaGrammy said...

It's finally getting to be cooler weather here too. Even raining tonight.

What a great harvest of sweet potatoes. Wish I lived close enough to get on on some!

I love your new header . . . so homey and inviting.

MacLab said...

I'm glad to see that at least you got a couple of pumpkins!

Rachel~At the Butterfly Ball said...

We adore eating pumpkins and really any kind of squash. But I have never had any success in growing them... vine borers and squash beetles beat me to them every. single. year. Ughh! Sometimes we manage summer squashes for a month or two of harvesting before the bugs kill them off, but winter squashes never get enough time to grow. Any tips, short of things I don't want to spray on my garden? We've tried letting chickens, and ducks wander though, but they generally ignore the bugs deep inside the plant's crowns and just eat the easy to reach ones, so not much help at all.

Anonymous said...

You are lucky you haven't had the colder weather yet. Since Sandy went through, we have been down in the low 30's most nights, and can't get much above 45 with the wind chill (the wind won't stop blowing). Thankfully, for a few days this weekend, we will actually get near 70 :)

Leigh said...

Janice, thank you about the header. I figured it was a way to start showing off some of the details in my new kitchen. :)

MacLab, (Cecilia, is that you?) love those pumpkins! I'm so pleased and can't wait to try one in a pie. If I'd planted earlier I would have gotten more. Better luck next year.

Rachel, I wish I had some tips, but I have the exact same problems as you! Next year I'm hoping to tackle some of these issues. This year, because of the kitchen remodel, gardening was neglected. I'm just happy for what I got. :)

Stephanie, brr. Sandy didn't effect us, but it has been down in the upper 30s. I think we're looking forward to that same warm front you are!

DFW said...

Leigh,

That's a lovely final summer harvest.

Ellen from Georgia said...

Your pumpkins look good, my sweet potato are still in the ground. We haven't had a frost here yet. I live in north east Georgia, still have plenty of hot peppers producing. Jack beans still on the green vines, over the chicken run and up a tree. Well have to get a ladder or wait for the vine to die.

* Crystal * said...

Green tomato jam! That's a new one to me, but now it's on my "wanna try" list!!

And all those sweet potatos!!

Nice looking haul, especially for this time of year :)

Wish the weather was doing what it should.... It's November & we've had some chilly early mornings, but only a few.... Currently sitting at 85° & we wore shorts trick or treating because it was so warm!

Michelle said...

I like sweet potatoes/yams ever so much better than white potatoes anyway! "A Veggie Venture" just emailed out a recipe for simple sweet potato salad made almost like regular potato salad that I want to try. Since I don't always have celery, I'm thinking water chestnuts (which I have in cans) should work.

Leigh said...

DFW, I think so too!

Ellen, we haven't had a frost yet either, but I was a bit worried about those sweets. I like your idea of having beans vine up and over the chicken run. Excellent! I may have to try that next year.

Crystal, ah but that's Texas. :) I remember celebrating Christmases in Houston in the 80s!

The green tomato jam is yummy!

Michelle, ooo, that sounds really good. I think the water chestnuts would be an excellent substitute for the celery. Maybe you'll post the recipe?

Tami said...

I have GOT to get with the program! Why didn't I plant sweet potatoes this year? I think I was using the space for the pupmkins and the squash that DIDN'T happen thanks to all the SVB's.

Next year is goona be a sweet potato year! I'm commited! I know you probably start your slips from the taters you have now but do you have any advice for the new kid? Did you buy your slips? When to plant? How much space?

Thx Leigh!

Nina said...

That's a pretty fabulous last harvest. We had a problem with pantry moths. We cleaned and tossed every possible food stuff that was contaminated. It seems to have gotten rid of them. They are quite destructive in food contamination and do it quickly! I love the colour of the rose hips.

* Crystal * said...

LOL- Yea Leigh... It is Texas... Heaven forbid the weather be "normal".... Few years ago we had 3ft of snow (a lot for us) on the ground Thanksgiving morning! This year.. Who knows?

Dunno if you got my response back to you on my last blog post.... Your comments were going to SPAM & I just saw 3 of them.... So sorry. Didn't want you to think I was ignoring you :(

The Stay @ Home-Gardener said...

Nice Amaranth! :) The variety I grew this summer was a deep burgandy. What do you do with it?

Leigh said...

Nina, a dyer's delight. :) Lucky you to get rid of your moths. With all that homegrown grain and beans, I'd have to toss the bulk of our food to get rid of them. :(

Crystal, I think Blogger doesn't like it when I use Opera as a web browser. That's when my comments seem to go to spam!

Cloud, good to hear from you. I'm going to try one of those burgundy varieties next summer. So far I've only fed my amaranth to the chickens. Seems a bit tedious to fix for us. :)