Harvesting Yukon Gold Potatoes

On October 6, I harvested my potatoes my from raised potato bed (read this blog post to see how I planted my potatoes). When harvested the first plant, I was disappointed because I only found a few small potatoes.

There were a few medium sized potatoes at the top of the box and none in the middle. By the time I got to the bottom of the box I was imagining that I’d end up with only a few more potatoes than I had planted back in early summer. I struck gold however with the second plant I dug up, there was a nice batch of potatoes with a few fairly large ones.

I actually ended up with a decent harvest (11 pounds), especially considering that Yukon Gold potatoes aren’t supposed to be heavy producers. Only 6 of my seed potatoes produced a decent crop of potatoes, and they were all on one side of the box. I think that lack of sun on the one side was probably the reason for the absence of potatoes. I’m sure if I had great garden soil and a lot of sunshine I could do much better. But we all have to deal with the gardens we have, so I’m happy with my harvest.

We enjoyed a few of the potatoes a few nights later and were particularly delicious; we simply cut them into small bits and fried them in a little bacon grease and enjoyed them with a side of farm fresh eggs. The rest of them are in the basement in a box waiting for other delicious meals, I’m considering a hearty potato soup next.

What’s your favorite way to enjoy potatoes?

Strawberry Popcorn Harvest

I wrote about harvesting my popcorn last week. Popcorn has to be dried to about 13%-16% moisture for the best popping. I set the little ears of corn out in the sun for a few days and on Sunday we had some time to go out and get them ready to go into the oven for their final drying.

After spending the afternoon in the sun, the ears were brought in and put in the oven set at 100 for further drying. I’ll keep drying it until the kernels start to fall off of the cobs, then I’ll pop them all off and store them in a jar. I can’t wait to pop some!!!

It is the most beautiful popcorn, the kernels are ruby red and the ears are shaped like strawberries, it’s almost too pretty to eat. The seeds are from Botanical Interests if you’d like to grow them in your garden.

I haven’t weighed the popcorn yet, I figured I’d wait until it all came off the cob (I figured it’s a more realistic total since that’s the part we’ll be eating). I’m going to save 20-30 kernels off a few of the best ears for future planting. I’m not sure if I’ll grow this kind of popcorn again next or another kind, or perhaps sweet corn to eat off the cob.

Have you grown any ornamental edibles?

Harvesting Herbs for Tea

This week I’ve been out harvesting a lot of my herbs for warming winter teas. I should harvest them all summer long, but I get busy and always forget to do it until winter threatens. I carry a big bowl around with me and snip the fresh herbs. I keep them all separate in small paper bags that I’ve saved.

I think I picked about 2 pounds of herbs for tea this winter as well as a few savory herbs for seasoning (I also like savory tea on occasion) and some medicinal herbs.

What herbs made it into my harvest bowl?
-Catmint
-Blue Stocking Bergamot
-Anise Hyssop
-Peppermint
-Mountain Mint
-Lemon Balm
-Chamomile
-Lavender
-Greek Oregano
-Fennel Seed
-Genovese Basil
-Broad Leafed Plantain
-Comfrey


I was even able to harvest a small handful of chamomile. I had one volunteer plant that I harvested a good amount of blossoms from earlier in the summer. These few flowers are from a plant I started later in the summer. For some reason I didn’t have much luck with my chamomile this year, since I love chamomile tea I hope I have a better harvest next year!

I also have a few potted herbs that I bring in as houseplants, these include: rosemary, lemon thyme, lemon verbena and chives. All of these we will enjoy fresh all winter long.

Do you dry herbs for seasoning & tea?

The Last Ripe Tomatoes of the Season

This past week I went out and picked the last ripe tomatoes of the season. With lows in the mid 30’s tonight I think it’s the end of tomato season. I still have some green ones to get out and pick later today, but I don’t think I’ll find any more red ones on the vines.

These tomatoes aren’t as tasty as the ones that ripen in the warm August weather, but they’re still better than the supermarket variety! I’m very sad to see tomato season over, it seems like it flies by so fast.

Have your tomatoes come and gone, or do you still have some in the garden?

September 2009 Harvest Totals

September is the month when things start slowing down here in Ohio. We had scattered frost the last week of September, which is a few weeks earlier than usual. The weather has been very cold and very cloudy and dark, which significantly slowed down the harvests from the garden.

I harvested my onions, which was very disappointing. For some reason onions do not do well in my soil, I don’t know if it’s the acidity or the lack of sunlight in my fairly shady gardens. I’ll be growing the majority of my onions at my mom’s house next year and I’ll experiment with a few new locations here with more sun.

I didn’t get around to planting any lettuce in late Aug/early Sept as I wanted, so I don’t have any lettuce from the garden at the moment. I also got my fall cabbage & broccoli started a little too late, that coupled with the early cold weather will mean I will not be harvesting much from my fall garden. I do have spinach, chard and mache in one bed that will be ready for early spring harvests next year.

The longer I garden the better I’ll be at planting things at the right times to ensure better fall harvests. I should have a decent October harvest with all the squash and popcorn and hopefully I’ll be harvesting lettuce and other green towards the end of the month. I was also able to can/freeze/dry a lot of food for this winter not just from my garden but local food from the farmer’s market as well.

In September I was able to harvest:
44 lbs of tomatoes that were canned in chunks for winter sauces & soups
40 lbs of pears from my mom’s tree
43 lbs of pumpkins & squash that will be made into pies and other goodies
5 lbs of small onions that will be used up this winter in all kinds of dishes
4 lbs of green beans that were steamed, drizzled with olive oil and enjoyed
3 lbs of melons
2 lbs of crabapples that were used to thicken my elderberry syrup
2 lbs of peppers, mostly cayenne that were dried to spice up soups & sauces
2 lbs of celery that was used in chicken soup when I was sick and other dishes
.5 lbs of garlic that I found in the garage that was actually harvested in July but somehow got misplaced
Lots and lots of herbs that have been dried and stored for sipping in teas or spicing up dishes

Despite all the setbacks, it was still a satisfying September. I’d rather be harvesting a little from the garden than nothing at all, and I guess I keep track so that I realize at the end of the month that harvesting 142 lbs of food from my garden means that it wasn’t such a bad month after all. Besides, there are still tomatoes that are ripening on the vines and that makes me happy.

What were your September harvests like? Any standout producers?