Tomorrow should be a super harvest

[wordwiz]

Been so busy the last 10 days, I pretty much ignored my peppers and only plucked the ripest toms and one egg. But soaking the garden a couple of times, combined with temps in the low-mid 90s, then a very nice drizzle for the last 16 hours has really helped lots of fruits to ripen.

I'm hoping for at least a half-bushel of toms, though it could be 3/4 of a bushel. Nothing close to that from the peppers but may well have a gallon bucket full by Sunday. No one is sure when the drizzle will end and I'll leave the peppers be until it has quit completely. Can't do that with the toms or eggs (should have 4-6 of the latter but each one is about a foot long)- getting overripe is bad for them.

My second sowing of lettuce is large enough to start harvesting and I'm getting at least two ounces of sweet basil leaves at a time.

Last week I plucked about a pint of green beans - the earliest ones, and should have a few quarts to bring in.

All the potatoes have finally died, but I'll leave them in the ground as long as I can. If I could find a way to keep them from freezing, I would leave a row un-dug until 2009.

And lastly, my second group of cukes are blooming and starting to set fruit. I only got about 12 quarts of pickles from the first group and am hoping for double that this time.

This is not my favorite time of the year - I love the dead of summer a lot more, but this is the most rewarding, just as spring is the most promising!

Mike

[lostmind]

Congratulation Mike! Now that sounds like a good time in the garden. :)

[lostmind]

Btw - what variety of eggplant are you growing that they are a foot long? Is it a long, thin asian variety or?

[talas]

Hiya mike nice to see you reaping the rewards of a fine summer,Looks like unlike some of us its been fairly kind to you :)

[Chiliac]

Even though growing stuff is very rewarding on it's own, because it's fun, harvesting is a big bonus. I am happy about every pepper I am picking. Good to hear you'll have a good harvest - enjoy!

[AlabamaJack]

looking forward to the pics Mike...have fun pickin'...I am going to ZestFest today with a pocket full of ripe superhots...maybe I can get some opinions on how they compare to others that grow scorpions & 7 Pots.

[wordwiz]

Btw - what variety of eggplant are you growing that they are a foot long? Is it a long, thin asian variety or?

Long Purple Eggplants
Solanum melongena. Plant produces good yields of tasty 12" long by 2 ½" wide dark purple eggplants. Very flavorful and tender. United States Department of Agriculture, PI 115509. A variety from India.

I haven't checked in a couple of days but a week or so ago the plants had 8-12 blossoms on them.

http://www.valleycat.net/garden/longpurple.jpg

I pick them before they are completely ripe to minimize the size of the seeds.

Mike

[lostmind]

Mike that looks awesome, better then anyone supermarket eggplant I've seen :)

I like that variety, I am growing a similar one called ichiban I believe. Very tasty!

[talas]

Going to try growing Eggplants next year..Mike that looks awesome..Fantastic color :rolleyes:

[wordwiz]

No pics - my server is down. But I picked all my ripe toms today - 27.5 pounds. Made the half-bushel mark. Got six quarts of white juice (it's actually a cream color) from 7 pounds, 9 ounces of fruits. Got another eight quarts of red juice from the rest.

One amazing stat - I picked 41 toms from my volunteer plant - they weighed in at 42 ounces. That gives me 12.75 pounds from that plant this year and it has at least another 100 fruits on it and is still blooming.

It's not real productive when it comes to juice - about three pints from the 2+ pounds.

Didn't have time to pick the beans, eggplants (only one or two appear to be ripe but *** - lots of little ones!) or peppers. But it is still gonna be a bountiful weekend. Fourteen quarts of tomato juice - add that to what I had and I'm up to 26 quarts. Only 24 to go, though I won't be disappointed to have 100 quarts.

Mike

[chilehunter]

wow sounds like you're having a great harvest this season :cool:
but I bet you'll even have a better harvest next season cuz of the work you're doing to make parts of your land more productive (better soil)

what ya doing with it all ? canning,drying, giving away,etc... ?

[talas]

Damn mike you have really used your land well thats some production you have there and nice to see your improving your soil quality to for bigcrops :)

[wordwiz]

Some of my toms from yesterday (the server is working now!)

This one is a Cherokee Chocolate. It's obviously a male tom. Some of the juice and flesh is black and other parts are very dark red.

http://www.valleycat.net/garden/boytom.JPG

Here's a Red Zebra. Not very big fruits but a decent amount of juice for their size. They have a hint of sweetness to them.

http://www.valleycat.net/garden/zebra.JPG

A few Green Sausage. The plant is loaded with these but they seem to take forever to ripen.

http://www.valleycat.net/garden/sausage.JPG

Mike

[wordwiz]

A couple of White toms, though they are actually a cream color:

http://www.valleycat.net/garden/white.JPG

The inside view. Not many seeds but a lot of juice. I had 7.5 pounds of these and got four liters of juice, plus had enough left to finish another two liter bottle.

http://www.valleycat.net/garden/insidewhite.jpg

Mike

[Omri]

Are those white queens? looking damn delicious! excellent work.

[fineexampl]

man i love heirloom veg. what i wouldn't do to play around with them in the kitchen. :(

[wordwiz]

The one pictured is a White Beauty. The juice is not as acetic as red juice is. I can't wait to try some white chili.

Late this week of early next week, I may finally have a ripe Giant Belgium. I have a couple that are still green/white that are well over 2.5 pounds.

Mike

[AlabamaJack]

nice tomatos Mike...seems you are going to reach your goal for this year...great going..

[lostmind]

While those aren't the prettiest tom's, I bet they are damned tasty.

It seems the uglier they are, the tastier they get!