Tatum's Farm: 2013

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Harvest Time!

Onions, squash, tomatos, okra, Fordhook or colored? limas, blue lake bush beans

So I've discovered something regarding blogging about a farm - once the harvest comes in, there is no time for blogging! Farm hands...farm hands...must hire farm hands...

There has been so much research to do! I really don't know what I'm doing, so I've had to search online for when to harvest, how to prepare, how to blanch, how to freeze and how to cook everything! I went to a class offered by the local extension service which was very helpful to this end. I learned that tomatoes should be picked at first blush, corn is ready when you pull down the hairs and pop the kernel and it's milky - not clear.

All the rain we have had here in Georgia in 2013 has made the weeds a lost cause. I've been told that the weeds will attract bugs. The ground is never dry enough to till, and I read I'm not supposed to be out in the garden when it's wet because I could spread diseases. I've ignored that advice on a few occasions and just tilled and weeded as much as possible anyway. It's a tossup - bugs or disease.

See: http://feedmesomething.blogspot.com/2013/06/green-yellow-beans-with-wild-mushrooms.html

Blue Lake Bush Beans from first planting

The harvest started with the snap beans. These should be harvested when they are about the size of a pencil. I've been chopping and freezing and eating beans and more beans! I found a great recipe with mushrooms (see above), although they are delicious just on their own! I finally broke down and hit the old and newer plants with Seven because nothing else would get rid of the Mexican bean beetles and I had started to see them on the newer plants. Ugh! Too much work to let those little buggers get my veggies!

Onions and carrots from first planting late April, early May

Onions from first planting May 2

Then there were the onions, although I think I got a lot of them too early because some were small. I had to give several away - it was more onion than I could eat! They didn't have the protective, dry layer that you find at the grocery store that enables you to store them out of the fridge. I may have done these all wrong...sigh. I pulled them when the tops had fallen over, but it was about three weeks before what was supposed to be their harvest date. Live and learn.

Fordhook or colored limas from April 24/25th planting

We've been able to harvest some of the first attempt at limas and okra. There are just a few surviving lima plants and only one okra plant from the first go around, so the harvest has been small and really only good for a "taste" for each of us.

The only surviving okra plant from the first April planting

I've still been picking and eating some of the kale I planted in the spring, although now the bugs seem to be eating more of them than I am. I put a few of the leaves in smoothies because I really don't like the taste that much. The best smoothies were the peach I made with some peaches someone gave me. They were good for covering up the taste of the incredibly healthy kale. (It tastes like what I think grass must taste like.)

Kale planted April 24/25

I was able to get a few "new" potatoes out of the 3 Idaho plants we planted the first go around. Again, only good for a taste. I hope there are more potatoes under the ground, but I'm waiting to check until the actual harvest date I had recorded in my calendar (see below)!

Carrots from first planting April 24/25

Seems no question I pulled up the carrots that survived the first planting too early. It was exciting to see carrots under there, but that was no feast! I am sure even Peter Rabbit would have been disappointed in their size.

Crooked neck squash from second planting June 10th

Butternut squash planted June 10th

Now the squash is coming! I learned that the first flowers you see on the plant are the male flowers and the next batch of flowers are female, and those are the ones that produce the squash. I also learned that you can eat the male flowers, but I haven't tried that yet. This morning I scrambled two eggs with a small squash and the one green pepper we grew. That was quite yummy!

The butternut squash is about to produce also.

Corn. So much corn. Yesterday, my hubby pulled a zillion off the stalks and brought me a bucket of shucked corn cobs. I blanched them for 6 minutes, dunked in cold ice water to stop the cooking, wrapped them individually in plastic wrap and then together in packages covered with freezer paper and finally put them in freezer bags to store in the freezer. It was so much corn that this took me three hours to do. Well, we won't go hungry any time soon!

Corn in the background, tomatoes in forefront

The tomatoes are dripping with tomatoes! I've eaten a tomato sandwich for lunch every day for over a week now. That's getting old, so I'll have to come up with something else. I also made some really good tomato soup (see below). My hubby said it was the only tomato soup he's ever enjoyed.

The sweet potato plants are growing like crazy! They have pretty purple blooms on them now and are due to be harvested beginning August 1st! More research to do: how to harvest them?? How to know if they are ready to be harvested?

Sweet potatoes planted May 2

Blue Lake (I think - or they may be the Garden Contender) bush beans from 2nd planting

I'm starting to get little beans on the Garden Contender bush beans put in during the second planting. It took my hubby and daughter and I hours this weekend to weed all around them and the newer okra plants. Some of them have some bug damage, but the Seven should get rid of that. I hate that we had to use pesticide, but neither the Diatomaceous earth nor the insecticidal soap worked. Oh well.

Carrots from second planting

There are some survivors from the second planting of carrots. They took forever to germinate, and by then the weeds had outgrown them! I keep having to uncover them out of the weeds.

Okra from second planting

I love okra, and we are going to have a ton of it! I can't wait!

Asparagus Beans

August is going to be a busy month!

Asparagus Beans - how do they know how to find the place they can climb??

Sweet potatoes - harvest August 1

Crooked neck squash - harvest all month of August

Garlic - is it still in the ground there? should I dig them up and save them for the fall?? harvest August 1

Idaho potatoes - harvest August 7

Garden Contender Bush Beans - harvest August 10

Okra - harvest August 12

Blue lake bush beans - harvest August 12

Asparagus Beans - harvest August 21, 22

Butternut squash - harvest August 25

Carrot - harvest August 24 through August 31

Cucumber

We also planted cucumbers, which are due to be harvested on September 6th.

Cantaloupe from April 23/24 planting

I don't usually like cantaloupe, but I am eager to try this one. It was supposed to be ready to harvest on July 8th, but it didn't even show up until after that. I swear I won't purchase seeds from Burpee again.

Meanwhile, the sunflowers I planted first are blooming and fun. The Mammoth Sunflowers are due to bloom on August 25th.