Harvest Monday

I forgot to hit the publish button so this is more like a harvest Thursday.

Here goes my first post to join in on Daphne’s Harvest Monday. This week I harvested lots of small things to make room for my fall plantings and plucked a few jewels too.

The prize this week goes to my first lemon cucumber. It’s a little on the small side but since it was growing on the outside of the fence where children like to run past and in full access to the pounding rains of summer thunderstorms I was worried about loosing it, so I picked it as soon as it looked ready. I’m looking forward to eating it raw or with a salad.

The carrots were about as wide as they were going to get but I knew that they were not going to get much more length being buried under the potato vines which had begun to lean their way so 14 little stub came out.


The beets, while always giving nice greens which were out-competing the chard, were beginning to push up out of the ground way too far and I could see that they too were never going do much so out they came. Speaking of chard, I trimmed off 5 large and 8 smaller leaves. I also brought in a handful of spinach from the next container over.

Next to be pulled were a middle row of onions that were being exposed by the constant drops of water running off the flower planter above them every time it rained or I watered. I found an article from Kiwi magazine about how to braid garlic and onions so these little orbs became my practice set.
I harvested 4 red and 2 yellow mini bell peppers. They are so sweet. I also pulled down all of the peas and beans along the trellis and harvested a few pods of dried half runner beans. None of the beans did too well in this strange weather and in the spots in the containers where I squeezed them in so by the end of the year I might have enough for a mixed bean soup or they may all just be saved for next years seeds.

Lastly, I trimmed all of the largest basil leaves, clipped 10 sprigs of thyme, and pulled up one dead cilantro plant for the dried coriander seeds. I washed, dried and froze the basil leaves whole. I am drying the thyme sprigs.

I’m already looking forward to next week when I should get my first purple tomato, another lemon cucumber, more herbs to dry, and lots more bell peppers.