Tuesday Treasures #16 - Harvest Post and New Deck

While I prepare for my big move, I'm reflecting back on old posts on this blog.  I've scheduled one a week as I take a hiatus from blogging.
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This one first published in May 2012 received the second highest page views, though considerably lower than Ribbon Angels.

Joining Tuesday Treasure.

Here it is to read again with some edits.

Harvest Post and New Deck
(May 2012)

The snow peas are blooming so I'm so looking forward to picking those hopefully by week's end.  Check back at next Monday's harvest post to see if my prediction was correct.



As to this past week the harvests have been of salad greens (mesclun and freckled romaine), spinach and Chinese greens both baby bok choy and tatsoi.  The former is now done in fact the last harvest included the beginnings of flowers but we ate them any way steamed.  The latter is still going great and we enjoyed it twice in soup this past week.

 last of the baby bok choy

 tatsoi

 Sarah made Chinese pork dumplings

 Soup with leftover porkfilling that we poured over tatsoi below.

 

The other big news is our new deck.   Here are two before photos.

  
 I had to find a new spot for the grill away from the house so in thinking this through I came up with the idea of a stand alone deck that will also serve the purpose for gathering around a fire.  It's placed overlooking the pond aka raingarden.We haven't purchased the firepit and protective mat yet but we do have the benches that will sit on there.  One is on the deck already because it was by the pond.  The other three are on the other side of the house around a fire ring we never use.  The new location for fire will be more easily accessible and water is close by too.  Our deck builder took two days to get to this point.  He has to return to finish screwing down the composite decking, do some sanding of edges, and something else which I can't remember.  I will need to stain the pressure treated lumber edging to match the decking and of course landscape around it.

 View from the porch to the new deck.

 The surface is composite board.

I had to move some plants to make room for the deck but he worked around the ones I didn't want to have to move like a huge Siberian iris, a birch sapling from Arbor Day, and creeping phlox.

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Footnote:  Here is how that spot looked in 2015.  Now in 2016 after the auction the deck is bare.  Grill was purchased by neighbor at auction.  One bench went home with one daughter.  Other three purchased with fire pit at auction.

Harvest Monday

Just picked this young lettuce leaf mix for dinner tonight.

And the last tomato that has been ripening on the counter will go on top.

You can see what else I harvested last week at this post.

You can see what others harvested at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday - Cucumbers!

My cucumber plants revived themselves and surprised me with a cucumber harvest this week.  We've been enjoying them sliced and dipped in hummus, on sandwiches instead of lettuce and in a salad with green tomatoes which have ripened, olives and feta cheese.  Above is a singe tomato that had almost ripened on the one remaining tomato plant.

See more harvests from other gardeners at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday

 Prize length cucumber.

 More basil than I know what to do with.

Picking tomatoes green and letting them ripen on the counter.

Other harvest may be viewed at

Daphne's Dandelions.

Scenes from the Harvest

Thursday

Saturday

Tomato production has slowed.  Cucumber production has returned after a lull.  Zucchini is at its end. Peppers are there to be picked when I need them. Basil is bountiful.

See what other gardeners have harvested by visiting Daphne's Dandelions.

It's time to pull the zucchini and tomato plants that have stopped producing.  Past time to plant some fall crops.

Harvest Monday

I'm loving the harvests these days!  Tomatoes and more tomatoes! Tomatoes for freezing for fall and winter chili.  Tomatoes for saucing for the taste of fresh sauce come the time when homegrown tomatoes are no longer available.  And tomatoes for eating.  BLTs!  Yum!  There are tomatoes out there right now needing picking as I type this on Sunday night but they will have to wait until morning to be picked because it's wet out there from the storm that just passed.  I'll leave you with the photos I do have from this past week.  And don't forget to check out other harvests over at Daphne's Dandelions.

Addendum: Here is Monday morning's harvest! Cucumber, 3 zucchinis, and lots more tomatoes.

Cherokee purple, Amish paste and Goldie.

Market Miracle.

Rutgers.

Harvest Monday - Tomato Season

I'm late with this post because my laptop was at the Apple store having the operating system reinstalled.  I hope that solves the problems I was having with it.

It is tomato season and they are coming in numbers that require freezing or sauce making which I did both this past week.  I have been picking them on the light green side but they ripen fast on the counter.

 Market Miracle has been the most prolific and in varying sizes, too.

 Here's an Amish paste of some size.

 Goldie's have had the most problem with bad spots but they're still delicious.

 This is an unknown that looks like a roma.

 Jalapenos with more Market Miracle.

 First Cherokee purple.

 Zucchini still producing and I'm avoiding the baseball bats so far.  More assorted peppers.

 This is the basket harvested on Monday morning.

 Green beans for dinner tonight along with a handful of blueberries and a strange shaped cucumber.

 Finally a Cherokee purple sliced that went on my BLT.  Yum!

See other harvests at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday

With the heat the tomatoes had a lull in their ripening schedule.  Then with rain and cooler temps color started to show on Sunday and I picked some only to discard one to ants and another to rot.  These I did pick to bring in each have their troubles.  Something is burrowing in leaving a hole.  It may still be in there and I'll find out once I cut these open.  What kind of bug does this?

Other harvests this week: basil.  Picked on a rainy Saturday, chopped with olive oil and frozen in my new Seal a Meal.

Peppers were picked for hot pepper jelly: green, cubanelle, and jalapenos.

Zucchini has been on the menu every night but last night.  We ate it all and I also made a zucchini lasagna to freeze.

Other harvests: cucumbers on multiple days (one pictured above) and beans at least once.

See other harvests at Daphne's Dandelions.

And I almost forgot.  I also harvested this unknown.  Is it a squash?  I think there's a bug in its stem because particles are coming out that way.  I'll open it soon to discover what it is, I hope.