Final Large Harvest

This past weekend saw our first dip to near freezing weather. While it wasn't a killing frost, the lawn was a frosty white Saturday morning and the bird bath was frozen solid. With that in mind, I harvested the last of the "tender" crops earlier in the week. Top on my list was my one and only "Lambkin", a Piel de Sapo melon from Spain. After I finished planting all of my dahlias in early July, I still had a bit of bare garden left. And of coarse I couldn't let that stay that way! So I picked up two "Lambkin" melon plants at the Farmer's Market. I knew it was pretty late in the year and that part of the garden is fairly shady, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I was rewarded for my optimism with one - yes one! - set melon. It has been growing and slowly maturing. Finally this week the mottled green skin began to turn yellow. It was time for a harvest! It was quite aromatic and had a very interested solid white flesh.

• "Lambkin" melon - (1) 1 lbs. 10.9 oz

The cooler temperatures also meant that it was time to harvest the Winter Squash. I had only three plants this year, down from my normal 6. Two of the plants were "Waltham" Butternut, which I was able to plant the earliest. My other Winter Squash was one bush "Delicata" plant. It was planted late and struggled to ever get really settled and happy. But it all turned out to be an interesting experiment in plant numbers, garden space, and production. I have always grown 2 "Butternut" plants but they have always had to share their growing space with 4 other winter squash plants. This year, for the most part, these two plants had the whole area to themselves. The result was huge vines that produced like I have never had a Butternut produce before. Each vine easily reached over 15' in length and just kept setting fruit. I ended up harvesting 12 mature butternut from them and there were three more that were full size but still green. 15 large squash from 2 plants! By comparison, last year, when there were 6 Winter Squash, my two Butternut plants gave me 3 total squash. There might be something to be said for a little elbow room.

• "Waltham" Butternut Squash - (12) - 39 lbs. 6.0 oz.
• "Delicata" Squash - (1) 11.6 oz

The nightly temperatures have fallen enough that the large tomatoes are no longer ripening. But the smaller varieties and the cherry types keep plugging along. A nice harvest for mid-October.

• "Galina" - (57) 9.9 oz
• "Blush" - (58) 2 lbs. .7 oz
• "Chef's Choice Orange" - (1) 5.8 oz
• Wapsipinicon Peach" - (7) 9.2 oz

Harvesting Before the Rains Return

Some much needed rain is in the forecast for the next few days. It will be our first substantial rainfall since the first two weeks of June. While the rain is desperately needed to help put out the fires raging all over the West, it does cause some concern in my garden. First in mind were my dry bush beans. So Saturday night I went down with a bucket and harvested all of the dried pods. I am guessing about 1/4 of the beans have yet to dry, but I am really happy to have 3/4 of the crop already harvested and stores for the Winter before the first rainfall. It makes the job so much easier.

• "Titus" Cannellini Dry Bush Bean; 1 lbs. .8 oz

I am learning that the "Pride of Wisconsin" melon go from ripe to over-ripe very quickly. I need to do a better job next year really looking at the skin color and giving them a few gentle squeeze now and then. I am afraid I have lost 2-3 as they are now overly mature and splitting open. But I was still able to harvest 4 good melon this week. I have also been saving all of the seed, with the hopes of growing my plants from my own seed next year. This week's harvest:

• "Pride of Wisconsin" ; (4) 7 lbs. 10.8 oz

I was pleased to be able to harvest the first of my "Black Krim" tomatoes this week. "Black Krim" always takes a long while to set and mature here in Oregon. And more often than not, almost all of the fruit ripens within about 20 days, so you end up with a lot of it at once. 

• "Black Krim" ; (17) 5 lbs. 13.8 oz

The rest of the tomatoes are also rolling right along.  I am really enjoying the beauty of the "Blush" cherry tomatoes. I love the conical shape and the bold yellow color, splashed with red, is really pretty. One of my co-workers has declared this one her favorite tomato this year.

• "Blush" ; (25) 11.5 oz
• "Galina" ; (58) 9.6 oz.
• "Chef's Choice Orange" ; (1) 2.6 oz
• "Ukrainian Purple" ; (38) 5 lbs. 10.1 oz
• "Wapsipinicon Peach"; (25) 1 lbs. 7.6 oz

Bean and Melon Harvest Time

I can't begin to write about this week's harvest without first mentioning all of the smoke and heat in our area. Like all of the West, we had a very warm August that sparked fires all across Oregon. There are major fires burning in my county and many others in nearby counties. As the winds shift, our air quality drops and more smoke moves in. The picture above was taken at 2:00 PM yesterday. Our air quality dropped from Very Unhealthy to Hazardous in that hour. While it is making gardening and all outdoor activities nearly impossible, my thoughts go out to the firefighters working around the clock and the poor folks who have been displaced or lost their homes. We desperately need some rain.

I did make it outside to work in short one-hour increments this weekend. On Saturday I picked all of the dried pods from my bush "Titus" cannellini beans and shelled them inside. It would guess a little over 1/2 of the pods were fully dried on my three rows, so I think I will be able to match this harvest again in a few weeks.

• "Titus" Cannellini Bean - ( 3 cups) 1 lbs. 4.6 oz

It wasn't just dry bush beans that were ready for their first harvest of the year. My very late planted "French Emerite" pole filet beans were also ready to pick this week. It wasn't a huge harvest, but I wasn't sure I would get anything this year with such a late sowing date. They also aren't loving this current heat wave, so this might be the largest harvest that I have this year.

• "French Emerite" Pole Bean - (43) 8.9 oz.

Continuing with my theme of "first of the year" harvests, I picked my first melon last night. I am growing a small patch of "Pride of Wisconsin" melon this year. It is a "new to me" variety. The plants seem to be doing pretty well. My melons do seem to be much smaller than the 4-8 lbs size melons described in all of the catalogs though. But that said, the melons look perfect. This one smelled heavenly when I sliced it open tonight. Taste results will have to wait as it is getting saved for breakfast!

• "Pride of Wisconsin" Melon - (1) 1 lbs 15.8 oz.

The tomatoes on the other hand are loving the heat. This is my biggest weekly harvest yet.

• "Ukrainian Purple" - (49) 9 lbs. 7.6 oz.
• "Wapsipinicon Peach" - (19) 1 lbs. .9 oz
• "Blush" - (37) 1 lbs. .2 oz.
• Galina" - (108) 1 lbs. 4.7 oz.

And lastly, I harvested another batch of potatoes from my first grow bag. We had family over for a last minute dinner. It was so nice to go right outside to the Kitchen Garden and harvest a nice bunch of brand new potatoes. It took only a few minutes to clean them off and they were enjoyed simply steamed with a bit of butter. Nothing better!

• "Dark Red Norland" potatoes - 3 lbs. 6.1 oz.

Giant Primrose Sunflower

The five "Giant Primrose" sunflowers that I started from seed this past Spring are just beginning to bloom. Each bloom of this variety has soft yellow petals that surround a chocolate colored center.

None of my plants have reached the 8-12' described on the seed packet, but that could easily be because I transplanted them, instead of direct sowing them. Sunflowers dislike disturbance,
but I was afraid the chipmunks or rabbits would eat my freshly germinated sunflowers if I planted them directly in the flowerbed. Three of my plants have grown 6-7' tall and that pleases me, as I do love tall sunflowers. This is a vigorous, branching variety and would make a great screen. I am excited for the next few weeks, when my plants hit peak bloom and are covered with pretty yellow discs.

Second Flush for the Birthday Girl Rose

Our new "Birthday Girl" floribunda rose is just starting its second flush of blooms. Since its inaugural flush during the first week of July, it has put out 4 new canes as well as lots of new buds on its original canes. In the catalog, its final size is described as one foot wider than it is taller. And that is the growth pattern for this rose in its first year in our garden too. It is off to a terrific start.

French Emerite Pole Filet Beans

The "French Emerite" pole beans that I started - late - from seed are really beginning to take off. Even with the heatwave, they continue to climb up the bean tower, slowly wrapping in a counter-clockwise fashion. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they have lovely purple blooms. Even though they got off to a bit of a late start, I think there is enough time left in the growing season for them to produce a mature flush of beans. It will be nice to have a "new" crop just coming in as September nears its end.

Melon Update

There was a lot of growth in the "Pride of Wisconsin" melon patch while I was away. The melon have definitely increased in size. I am hopeful that the heat wave we had helped them mature and sweeten. I am worried though, that it seems like they are mostly done growing. They aren't anywhere near the 4-8 pound size range described in multiple catalogs. I weighted one last night and it was only 2.5 pounds. But the outside skin is developing a netting and the coloring is changing. So at this point the outward appearance seems to be telling me that they are getting close to maturity. I guess I will weigh my test melon in another week and see if it continues to gain weight. If not it might be time to begin to harvest the oldest melons.

The First Tomato, Potato and Blackberry Harvest

There is nothing that makes you see that incredible late Summer growth in your garden more than leaving for 9 days on vacation! After a wonderful week in Michigan I returned home to find there was a lot of change in the Kitchen Garden. We had a heat wave while I was gone. Two days hit 102 and three more were 95 or warmer. My poor Nephew earned his keep watering my garden! But all of that heat meant that I was greeted by a garden with things ready to harvest!

This weekend I dug the first of my potatoes. They were planted back on May 7th in four grow bags and have done really well. I have had problems storing red potatoes in past years, so this year my game plan is to only dig what I am gong to use in the next few days. I think this will work much better for me, as the potatoes seem to do fine being "stored" in the grow bags, in the soil, until I need them. My first harvest was ;

• " Dark Red Norland" ; 3 lbs. 10.2 oz.

I was also excited to find color in the tomato plants when I returned .Not all of them have ripe fruit yet, but I was able to harvest from 4 different varieties yesterday. I was also pleased to only find blossom end rot on fruit in one variety so far. It plagued almost all of my tomato plants last year, so I can happily deal with one bad plant. Yesterday's harvest;

• "Ukrainian Purple" ; (10) 1 lbs. 5.1 oz
• ""Galina" ; (7) 1.4 oz
• "Wapsipinicon Peach" ; (6) 9.2 oz
• "Blush" ; (2) 1.1 oz

Thanks to Mother Nature, I was also able to harvest the first wild blackberries of the year. I knew from driving up and down the road that there were ripe berries to be had. But I was very surprised when I came hope with a completely full bucket. The final tally for this first picking was 4 lbs. 4.1 oz. A great start to the season!

The First Precipitation of Summer

Rose "Birthday Girl"

We awoke to cloudy skies and by 7:00 AM there was the softest sound of rainfall on the roof. It never really rained this morning, but we did get what I would call heavy showers at times. It ended by 9:00  AM but it was enough that the ground was damp and the air smelled clean. We need a lot more rain to help put out the fires and really renew the earth but even the 10th of an inch we got this morning was certainly a welcome gift.