The fall harvest is just beginning at PAR Davies.

Hi Everyone,

Today's Harvest 16 lbs.        YTD 1481 lbs.

Every week the garden changes, and today a growth spurt was evident after not being at the garden since Saturday. Gardeners today were Susan, Jamie, Cathy, Steve, Barbara and myself.

Bok Choy has shot up.

Today we harvested pole beans, tomatoes, peppers, mustard, okra, herbs and a smattering of peanuts, with all being delivered to the women's shelter by Cathy. 

Getting ready to be weighed.

 Check out our first harvest of the red mustard and our few peanuts.

The pole bean trellises were loaded and made a nice late harvest. We got just one cucumber, but more are coming along. This was our last okra harvest, and we pulled those out so we could plant vetch.

Lovely pole beans just asking to be picked.

We checked the maturity of the peanuts and noticed some were still a little pale looking. I was concerned about some of the mature peanuts sprouting, but found out that this happens if you water your crop near harvest time. We will have to disconnect the irrigation system on that bed so that the only water they get will be from rain. They need to stay in the ground a bit longer.

Red and green Romaine lettuce.

I believe by next week we might be able to harvest some of the Romaine lettuce. It looks so beautiful. The seeded leaf lettuce has been slow at coming on, but finally starting to show some growth.

Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli bed filling up.

Two more rows of tomatoes were taken out, giving us space to plant vetch or spinach on Saturday. We are still getting plenty of peppers, and they are full of blossoms. The smaller varieties will have time to mature before frost, but doubt the Bells will.

Raspberries

The raspberries have put on a few berries--not much to do anything with except eat off the vine. Only two bushes out of five survived, but they look great and we are hopeful that there will be some berry picking next year.

Jamie reminded us that we need to get serious about the compost, so as things slow down a bit, that will be a priority. The garden looks good right now, and we are thankful.

'Til later,

Dianne

Today was all about sweet potatoes at PAR Davies.

Hi Everyone,

Today's Harvest 109 lbs.            YTD 1465 lbs.

If you weren't at the garden today, you missed a lot of fun. Gardeners today were Susan, G.A., Barbara, Steve and myself. In my opinion, the most fun thing happening in the garden this season has been harvesting the sweet potatoes. It was like digging for gold!

G.A. and Steve pulling back the vines. Boy, were they tough!

Our one bed contained 79 lbs. of sweet potatoes, and we feel that there are some we missed. We loved finding odd shaped ones. Another very good thing we found along with the sweet potatoes were WORMS....lots of them and huge. It has taken a lot of work, but our soil is finally getting good.

G.A. with some whoppers.

(I especially like the star filter effect upper left, which just happened.)

Susan and I took boxes of sweet potatoes home to cure; then the dirt will be dusted off for next week's delivery. I just read online that if possible, cut the vines two or three days before you plan on digging to toughen up the skins. We'll know better next year....if we remember.

Sweet potatoes curing in my garage.

There were actually other things harvested today....tomatoes, peppers, okra, green beans, one yellow squash, basil and a jug of zinnias....which were all delivered to the women's shelter.

When we got to the garden we saw that Bob had been working more on the irrigation system and now our in-ground bed has irrigation lines. Thank you Bob! We continued hand watering all the newly planted seeds and seedlings to make sure none were missed. Everything is growing nicely.

Cabbage and broccoli and zinnias and sunflowers.

G.A. and Steve pulled out more tomatoes and Susan sowed vetch in the sweet potato bed and where tomatoes came out. We noticed a small cucumber and lots of blooms on the late planting. Other late summer crops starting to produce are pole beans (5 lbs. today) and one yellow squash with five more on the plant.

We will continue planting either vetch, radishes or spinach in any empty beds until the garden is planted full. One sad note, voles have gotten several of our heads of romaine. Dang!

I wish you all could have been there today to help dig taters, but you will have another chance next year.

'Til later,
Dianne

The fall/winter garden is up and growing strong at PAR Davies.

Hi Everyone,

Today's Harvest 20 lbs.       YTD 1356 lbs.

I believe fall is the perfect time for working in the garden, and today was no exception. Our gardeners today were G.A., Susan, Barbara, Steve, Cathy and myself. Our fall garden is now pretty much planted except for sowing the vetch when the sweet potatoes and few remaining rows of tomatoes and peppers come out. The beds are full of fall crops that we have been planting since the latter part of August.

Savoy cabbage bed with radishes planted on both sides.

The harvest consisted of tomatoes, peppers and okra, which was taken to the women's shelter by Cathy.

G.A. pulled out another row of tomatoes and planted turnip greens in their place. The turnip greens that he planted last week are coming up. Susan and Barbara planted what is to be our winter covered bed. They seeded in several varieties of lettuce, some carrots, beets and dwarf blue kale down the center. Steve hand watered most of the garden.

Cabbage on the left, turnip greens peeking on the right with some basil still hanging on.

We put in a whole bed of spinach, hoping it does as well as last winter; although I didn't have the seeds to soak last night to speed germination. Soaking ALWAYS helps with spinach germination.

There were no signs of the cole crops being eaten, and since time was short, we elected not to spray today but concentrate on other things. I will check Friday and spray if necessary.

Romaine down the center with broccoli and cabbage on either side.

There wasn't time to check the sweet taters since we really needed to get everything planted, as fall planting time is near an end. In fact, everything planted in the winter covered bed is about past time to get in the ground. But since it will be protected, we went ahead and put it in, with about 50 days to get up and going.

Late planted summer squash.

There are three summer squash that were transplanted out the end of August. Here you see a few little squash starting. The bugs have not bothered these as much so late in the season. I wonder if we will actually get any squash?! This is the end of our squash experiment, with results yet to be determined.

Sage

There is quite a bit of sage that has taken off, looking really nice in the cooler weather. I know it deters bugs and is good for Thanksgiving dressing, but does anyone have any good recipes using sage? Martha Payne gave us a recipe using butternut squash and sage made into kind of a tart that looks really good. Sage seems to be an underused herb.

All our workers have been extremely pleased with our fall crops so far and the looks of the garden, with most of our beds full. 

'Til later,

Dianne

Summer crops not ready to give up yet.

Hi Everyone,

Today's Harvest 85 lbs.               YTD 1291 lbs.

We are definitely on the downhill side of summer. Our gardeners--Susan, Jamie, G.A., Steve, Barbara, Mary Elizabeth, Martha and myself--had an excellent cool morning in the garden. There was an abundant harvest of tomatoes, bush beans, black beans, peppers, chard, okra, melons, butternut squash and two sweet potatoes.

Pablanos standing like little soldiers.

G.A. checked the sweet potato patch and pulled two. The verdict was "not quite ready, but we should have a nice crop soon." We have been waiting on our peppers all summer, and they have finally come through. Susan had a big bucket full and then some....bells, pablano, jalapeño, serrano, banana and shishito.

Butternut squash, Charentais cantaloupe and Minnesota Midget cantaloupe.

The cantaloup has done fairly well, but I think the Charentais melon has a better flavor than the Minnesota Midget. Suzanne told us that she tasted the most delicious melon ever and thought it was called Savor. I discovered that it is actually the hybrid of the Charentais, and I hope that we can plant this one next year. The Charentais takes a little longer to mature, but we have the time, especially for a better tasting cantaloupe. The hybrid is also supposed to resist powdery mildew and wilt, which is always a problem with melons.

Jamie and G.A. hauling the monster back to its home.

Jamie and G.A. got the monster shredder out and cranked up. Jamie shredded all those bean vines that we pulled out to add nitrogen to our compost. G.A. pulled out another row of tomatoes in anticipation of planting cool weather veggie plants Saturday. I will pick up several flats of romaine, cabbage and whatnot tomorrow or Friday. In addition, there are still some things that we want to direct seed that will take precedence.

One of two 'writing spiders' found in the garden today.

The squash bugs, cabbage worms and assassin (we think) bugs are plentiful. I will be glad when the weather cools and they die out so we don't have to spend so much time squishing and spraying. I hope that big guy in the pic above is eating some of the bad bugs.

Asparagus bed mixed with sunflowers, zinnias, cleosia and lemongrass.

Our okra plants are still only about 5 feet tall, unlike in the past towering over our heads at this time of year. They have been extremely productive, and we will definitely save some of these seeds.

Steve pulled out two rows of green bush beans that had given up, and Mary Elizabeth planted lettuce in one of the vacant rows. We chose 'Oakleaf' and 'BJ's Lettuce' which we got at the seed exchange at Lichterman this spring. It is supposed to be very cold tolerant. More lettuce will be planted Saturday, direct seeded in addition to Romaine seedlings.

Bumble bee on one of the dwarf sunflowers.

Gradually our summer garden is disappearing and cool weather crops are going in. If it doesn't rain Saturday come prepared to plant.

'Til later,
Dianne

Summer to Fall Crops Transition Underway at PAR Davies

Hi Everyone,

TODAY'S HARVEST 100 lbs.         YTD 1206 lbs.

This was the first day that we started working in the cool of the day at 7:00 a.m. to beat the heat, and we were leaving the garden just as things were starting to heat up. We like this idea and will continue to start early until the weather turns cooler. Gardeners today were Susan, Marilane, the two Martha's, Mary Elizabeth, Steve, Barbara and myself.

Our huge harvest filled Marilane's Prius.

Today we got a bunch of tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, okra, peppers and herbs....many varieties of beans and peppers...and a bouquet of zinnias. This was all delivered to the women's shelter.

Since we had such a big harvest we didn't get as much planted today as I'd wished, but we did get 18 broccoli plants and two late season squash put in. After picking, we took out several rows of beans to make room for fall crops. The bean plants were added to the compost, which Jamie will start shredding after we clean out most of the beds. A layer of compost was added before planting anything today.

Marilane and Martha picking Santa Anna pole beans.

The pole beans are starting to produce and should be giving us beans into the fall. Rotted tomatoes were cleaned out of the beds. Mary Elizabeth babied the Butternut bed, watering and squishing squash bugs and eggs. We hope to be able to pick a few of these next week. The squash bugs are really starting to get bad this time of year, but the Butternuts still look in fairly good shape.

Butternut squash bed.

Saturday I hope to get more beds cleaned out and some seeds planted. There is a good chance of rain and slightly cooler temps. We have plenty of things to plant in our cool weather garden.

Chicken coop underway in the Davies manor house kitchen garden.

When we arrived this morning we found some construction going on. There will be chickens arriving Monday, and the coop is being erected inside the fenced-in garden area. We will get to see first hand how to take care of chickens. We are excited.

Sunflowers to greet you at the front gate.

We had a good day and a good harvest. We are looking forward to our fall plantings and cooler weather and fewer bugs.

'Til later,
Dianne

Hi Everyone,

Today's Harvest 62 lbs.        YTD 919 lbs.

On a warmish day when I wasn't expecting many, we had a great crew with the two Marthas, Mary Elizabeth, Rita, Peggy, G.A., Jamie, Cathy, Susan, Barbara, Nancy Crompton (newbie), Steve, Nancy and myself.

Loaded up in Cathy's vehicle.

We got busy right away with the harvest. Look at all those yellow wax beans! They are really prolific. Other things we picked were cucumbers (finally), squash, okra, peppers, eggplant, lots of different varieties of bush beans, Bubba's Black Beans, tomatoes, herbs and chard.

Burgundy Beans

I must amend my statement about the Burgundy beans being poor producers. Apparently they were just taking their time! We got almost 5 lbs. today and more on the way.

Butternut Squash....ain't they pretty?

The butternut are really looking good. We picked some squash bugs and eggs off today, but they still look nice and green with little squash looking very healthy. They start out kind of green and striped, but then turn to the tan color as they mature. The one above is just starting to turn tan. Martha Payne has a recipe for an appetizer with butternut squash on puff pastry with sage on top. When we deliver the butternut, we will send along some sage and the recipe.

Barbara and the sunflowers.

We've been having problems with something getting many of the sunflowers that we planted, but the pic shows some that have survived. These are mixed, and the first ones to bloom have been the dark rust colored ones. We have some recently planted along the fence that will look nice in early fall.

Two rows of compact okra coming along nicely.

G.A. filled in with some more beet seeds in the bed with poor germination. Martha weeded the peanuts and watered them good. Many areas that the irrigation was not getting to were watered--but we are hoping for some rain to perk things up.

Castor bean next to lemon grass.

Peggy took a few sprigs of lemon grass to try in a Thai recipe. Several of us decided to find a recipe using lemon grass to try. Most of us have not cooked with it before, and we'd like to experiment. If we find a good easy dish, we can send the recipe along with the lemon grass to the shelter ladies. It smells heavenly.

Celosia (Cockscomb) popping up all over the garden.

We didn't get any planting done today (except for the beets), but lots of weeding, watering and harvesting. Mary Elizabeth fertilized with the comfrey tea and G.A. mixed up a new brew. So that ought to hold us until the next workday. A big thanks to all our workers.

'Til later,

Dianne

Gardeners' hard work rewarded with huge and varied harvest at Davies.

Hi Everyone,

HARVEST TODAY 136 lbs.      YTD 732 lbs.

What a busy day we had...and finished all our chores!! Our terrific crew: Jamie, Susan, Mary Elizabeth, Martha, Joyce, Cathy, Steve, Rita, Nancy and myself (I hope I didn't miss anyone). I came in late this morning, but when I got there everyone was busy harvesting. Things we picked today were tomatoes, bush beans, chard, cucumbers, cantaloupe, herbs, fennel, beets, carrots, eggplant, okra and peppers (jalapeño, serrano, shishito and pablano).

Everything piled up waiting to be weighed.

The peppers are finally starting to put out. We are way behind last year on the peppers. Cathy pulled about the last of the beets and carrots. More beets have already been planted and the plan is to plant more carrots Saturday. Two Minnesota Midget cantaloupe were picked today with more on the vines. We planted a second crop of these which are just starting to blossom.

Last of the carrots, beets and fennel.

The beans are plentiful on the first planting, and now we will be able to start harvesting some of our succession plantings by Saturday. The second crop of potatoes are growing up, and Steve hilled them up with our rich compost, which Jamie worked on this morning.

Peanut bed with sunflowers at the end.

The peanut bed looked flush this morning, so think it got a boost with the comfrey tea we put on Saturday. Martha and Nancy de-egged the squash plants and I injected some Bt in the stems as a preventative, although I haven't seen any of the waspy critters responsible for the SVB's lately. All the squash look surprisingly good. We should be able to plant one more succession of squash. Joyce tied up tomatoes and Mary Elizabeth watered. Susan and Cathy planted six Camilla cucumbers, four of which replaced the seedy 'Potato' cucumbers. Yep, we pulled those suckers out....too many seeds. Two more Camilla cucumber towers were planted on the other side of the garden.

Bubba's Black Beans....Bubba would be proud.

The black beans should be ready to start picking next week, and do we ever have a crop. I remember last year they went until nearly frost, so we have a lot of harvesting ahead of us.

We picked the clean leaves on the chard and plan on cutting the rest off about 3 inches from the ground to see if it will send out new shoots for a late season crop. Not listed above in the harvest was lettuce that we found in a shaded spot. It was a loose head that had not bolted or turned bitter, I presume because it was kept cool and out of the sun. What a nice summer bonus.

Overall, it was one of those days that made all our hard work worth the effort. Thanks to all the workers today, and to all those who have been working to make possible this wonderful harvest. Cathy delivered all to the women's shelter, and I know they were thrilled. Included in the delivery was another bouquet of zinnias, which always puts a smile on the face of the lady helping to unload.

'Til later,
Dianne