Harvest Tips

I realized after I wrote last time that I had forgotten to talk about harvesting garlic. Garlic is planted in the fall. It is generally ready to harvest the end of July. The head develops a seed pod and the leaves curl and the tips turn brown. Quit watering a few days before digging so the ground will dry out, making it easier to pull out. If you have soft stem garlic you can braid your garlic and hang it from the ceiling in your storage room. I always plant firm stem. We lay our garlic out on the picnic table for several days to completely dry out. Then we cut the stems and store the cloves in onion bags so air gets to the cloves. I add garlic to most everything I cook.
I'm the biggest loser with my fall garden. I planted snap peas the first week of July. They came up but the minute they were out of the ground some bug stripped them to the stem. I have a few coming out of it, but there won't be much of a harvest. I started my lettuce, spinach, and Chinese cabbage in the house the first of August. They were getting very stringy so Tanner and I spent a couple of hours carefully planting them. They were all dead by the end of the day. I'm going to have to think about this fall planting a little more. You can not expect small plants to survive transplanting when it is hot out. I've reseeded, but I have little hope of getting anything now. Fall planting is challenging because I am preoccupied with harvesting and canning.
Speaking of canning, I wanted to encourage everyone to add beets to their diet. When you cut beets, make sure you leave about an inch of stem on top and do not cut the root off. Cutting the top too short and the root off will allow the beet to bleed out while cooking. You want to keep in all that beautiful red color, it is what is good for you. Also the leaves are higher in nutritional value than the root. We add them to our green drink. I boil the root for about 15 mins. and then place in cold water. I peel them and cut them into wedges, freeze them on a cookie sheet and then transfer them to freezer bags, laid in single layer. I can easily grab one slice for our green drink each morning. Beets are cheap now even if you didn't grow them. Find someone who is willing to share, because beets cost a dollar a beet throughout the winter.
We are almost done harvesting our corn. It has been wonderful. If you want to do yourself a favor add kale to your green drink. I have enough to feed the town of Bluffdale. Come by any time and cut some, it just grows back. Vegetables are ranked by a test determining their antioxidant capacity. Foods are given what's called an ORAC rating; ORAC stands for oxygen radical absorbance capacity. The best known test has kale as number one among the vegetables, with an ORAC value of 1770 (the next best vegetable is spinach, with an ORAC value of 1260). Google Kale and read about it, it is worth eating.
My peaches are falling off the tree before they are ready. That happens when it is too cold during pollination. The pit inside, which is attached to the stem, splits, causing the stem to release from the branch. Down falls the unripe peach.
We are picking tomatoes this morning. I'm all out of whole stewed tomatoes, so I'm anxious to start canning them. Remember to cut back your watering of tomatoes. Brother Wells says to water deeply every 10-15 days.
There is so much to talk about and share concerning gardening and the nutrition in the foods we eat. My time is limited to write, but if ever you want to know more, come on over and I will share my resources. Christy

August 1, 2011
Family and Friends,
We've been busy watering, weeding and harvesting. Hope the rest of you are enjoying the fruits of your labors. We have been putting up green beans for the past two weeks. The cucumbers are coming on slowly, but there have been enough to to seven jars of pickles. I use beets raw in our green drink and they are very expensive during the winter. I googled how to freeze beets. I blanched them in boiling water for about 15 minutes. Make sure you leave at least one inch of top on and the root while boiling. You want to retain the color of the beet, because it is loaded with nutrients. From the boiling water you immediately put the beets into ice water. Ideally the skins will slide off. I didn't cook mine long enough, so I had to peel the skins off. Depending on the size of the beet, I quartered them or halved them. Then I laid them on a cookie sheet and froze them for about half and hour. Then I placed them in freezer bags, laying flat and sucked the air out of the bag before closing. Now I will have beets for the rest of the year.
Our broccoli didn't do very well. I didn't get any big heads, but they are producing lots of smaller heads continually. If yours bolted, cut the bolted part off and see if the plant won't start producing smaller shoots. The cabbage grew quickly and we have had beautiful heads. The cauliflower was pathetic. The tight heads we grew were very bitter (too hot). I'm trying a fall crop, but I have no faith in them at all. We are harvesting beautiful egg plants. The fruit is so gorgeous and I have a wonderful eggplant dip recipe and eggplant Parmesan recipe.
I'm sorry I missed posting at the first of July. If you want to plant a fall garden, you should put it in the first of July, except for lettuce, which should go in the first of August. Lettuce will only germinate in temperatures of 80 degrees or less. So you need to germinate the seeds in the house and then move them to the garden. I am also growing spinach, cilantro and a few Chinese cabbage. The lettuce and spinach were fabulous this early summer. It looks like the first planting of corn will be ready in a couple of days. My red potato plants are starting to die back because of the heat. My refuse from canning I'm laying right on my empty rows
I had one tomato plant wilt on me. I pulled it and removed it from the garden in case it is verticillium wilt. My basil has never done so well. I have had enough to make pesto with. While in England we enjoyed pesto made with rocket (arugula). It is a new favorite. It has a nice nip.
Remember to always add organic matter back into your garden throughout the year, or compost it and add it in the fall. Organic material is your soil's favorite friend. Christy