Saturday, July 4, 2015

June 2015 Harvests

Looking back on my June veggie and fruit harvests, I can see it was a very productive month.  Of course, I don't need to look at the pictures to figure that out.  I can just open my fridge to see it overflowing with cucumber and tomatoes to see that I have more produce than my household can consume.

I was especially proud of my blackberry harvest.  I planted 6-7 blackberry plants about three years ago, and didn't get a single blackberry harvest until this year.  Unfortunately, only one of my plants survived the last few hot and dry summers, but I still got a decent harvest from the one plant.  I planted another three plants this year, which seem to really be taking off, so hopefully I'll get some good harvests in the coming years, maybe even enough to make some jam.


With our continued heavy rainfalls, I've only had to supplement watering about once or twice this season, which is drastically different from prior years, when my garden required daily watering.  I recently learned from a Central Texas Gardener episode that some stress on plants by not getting daily watering is actually good for them and makes them more productive, so I now only water the garden about once or twice a week, if there is no rainfall.  The garden seems to be doing well with that method.

I am constantly cooking old and new recipes with the produce.  I use as much as I can fresh, as well as dabbled in some of my first canning attempts.  And my family, friends, and co-workers are willing to let me unload any excess produce on them.


Here are some of the ways I've been using my produce:

Breakfast
  • Tomatoes and peppers chopped and added to egg dishes
  • Blackberries on top of cereal or with yogurt and granola for a parfait
Lunch
  • Tomatoes and cucumbers added to every sandwich
  • Cucumber soup
  • Caprese salad, with fresh basil from the garden
Snack
  • Sliced cucumbers dipped in hummus
  • Blackberries with crackers, cheese, and charcuterie
Side Dish
  • Tomato and cucumber salad with lemon juice, salt and pepper
  • Fresh babaganoush with garden eggplant
Dinner


Here are the June 2015 harvest tallies (37 lbs 7.8 oz total)!:
  • 1 lb 13.5 oz blackberries
  • 10 lb 10 oz pickling cucumbers (19)
  • 7 lb 6.7 oz slicing cucumbers (14)
  • 2 lb 10.3 oz Black Beauty eggplant (3)
  • 1 lb 6.8 0z Ichiban eggplant (5)
  • 4.5 oz Blue Lake green beans
  • 0.8 oz Cayenne peppers
  • 4.3 oz Gypsy peppers (3)
  • 12.5 oz Beefmaster tomatoes (1)
  • 7.5 oz Better Boy tomatoes (1)
  • 6.2 oz Brandywine tomatoes (1)
  • 3 lb 1.3 oz Celebrity tomatoes (8)
  • 3.5 oz Cherry tomatoes
  • 1 lb 13.5 oz Early Girl tomatoes (8)
  • 1 lb 1.6 oz Grape tomatoes
  • 1 lb 9.2 oz Juliet tomatoes
  • 2 lb 7.8 oz Pear tomatoes
  • 15.8 oz Roma tomatoes (7)



2015 total harvests to date (68 lbs 2.0 oz):
  • 1 lb 13.5 oz blackberries
  • 1 lb 1.2 oz broccoli
  • 5 lb 13.9 oz Fordhook chard
  • 5 lb 13.2 oz Ruby Red chard
  • 7.1 oz cilantro
  • 6 lb 10.3 oz Flash collards
  • 10 lb 10 oz pickling cucumbers (19)
  • 7 lb 6.7 oz slicing cucumbers (14)
  • 3 lb 7.9 oz Black Beauty eggplant (3)
  • 1 lb 6.8 0z Ichiban eggplant (5)
  • 7 colanders salad greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula)
  • 2 lb 0 oz Blue Lake green beans
  • 3 lb 13.9 oz kale
  • 1 lb 2.9 oz Meyer lemons (5)
  • 6.5 oz parsley
  • 0.8 oz Cayenne peppers
  • 2.4 oz Flavorburst yellow pepper (1)
  • 7.1 oz Gypsy peppers (5)
  • 0.8 oz Mariachi pepper (1)
  • 2.9 oz Pablano pepper (2)
  • 7.5 oz Cherry Bell radish
  • 4.0 oz spinach
  • 12.5 oz Beefmaster tomatoes (1)
  • 7.5 oz Better Boy tomatoes (1)
  • 6.2 oz Brandywine tomatoes (1)
  • 3 lb 1.3 oz Celebrity tomatoes (8)
  • 3.5 oz Cherry tomatoes
  • 2 lb 15.2 oz Early Girl tomatoes (12)
  • 1 lb 3.4 oz Grape tomatoes
  • 1 lb 9.2 oz Juliet tomatoes
  • 2 lb 12.0 oz Pear tomatoes
  • 15.8 oz Roma tomatoes (7)

4 comments:

  1. You'll be heading to the Farmer's Market in no time - to open your own stall. My hat is off to you - those are respectable totals by anybody's standards. I think you need to change your blog descriptor to read "Enjoying a green thumb in Central Texas"!

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  2. You'll be eating well! It's amusing to those of us where blackberries are a plague on the landscape to hear of people actually planting and pampering them. Even blackberry pies do not compensate for their evil ways.

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  3. Look at you and that harvest veggie and fruit goodness! When is dinner?

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  4. Wow this is quite a nice harvest....with all our rain we have not had to water the beds much either...not at all in June or July!

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