Freezing swiss chard

2 chard-freezing experiments on the go. 

1st experiment:  Cut into large pieces, blanched briefly, then soaked in ice water for a few minutes.  Then rolled into a few balls and froze in ziploc bag.

2nd experiment (did this one today):  No blanching.  Rinsed off the raw leaves, then let them dry off in the sun in the kitchen, flipping them half way through.  Cut out the stems, then chopped the leaves into quite small pieces, ~1/2" or so.  Froze.

Haven't yet tried unfreezing/cooking with them.

One zucchini plant lost to the borer

The big zucchini plant near the air conditioner is gone.  Pulled it out today as it was clearly almost all dead.  Looked inside the rotted stems and sure enough, squash vine borer.

I guess the aluminum foil I had set down on the ground around the plant months ago didn't work!  Oh well, at least I tried it.

Next year, maybe I'll try garlic spray.

The other plant, although the stem also looks a bit rotty, has no sign yet of going downhill.  Well, zucchini growth/production has slowed somewhat, but one should be ready soon and the leaves still look normal and healthy.

Massive zucchini -- and, is the end near?

Woops -- a few zucchinis escaped my gaze until today, discovered 3 ginormous ones.  (2 on the a/c plant, 1 on the other.)

Also, the a/c plant in particular has suddenly started to look like its days are soon coming to an end.  It's become mostly floppy, some leaves dried up... So, I wonder if (a) letting those zukes grow to such huge proportions have shut down production, and/or (b) squash vine borer?

The plant near the compost doesn't look all flaily, with the exception of one "branch" which had rotted or something (borer?) near the joint, so I pulled that branch and so far the other part looks good, although production has slowed as well.

There are at least 2 more zukes well on the way; hopefully more too.

Lastly a note, I haven't hand-pollinated the zukes for quite a few weeks.  Apparently the bees and wasps are doing it for me now.

Poor sad little indoor sowlings

The kale, chard, and cabbage sowed indoors on June 18th have looked absolutely horrible inside.  Hard to believe they're 2 months old.  The chard looks healthy but extremely small / only a few leaves.  The cabbages look awful -- more than half dead, really.  The kale looks terrible as well, but maybe they have a chance.

So, transplanted them all out today, in room vacated by some more pulled up Brussels sprouts plants as well as some other little gaps here and there.  We'll see how they do.

Beet harvest

Harvested 3 beets today which had grown into a decent size, like small tennis balls.

Cooked them on the stove with some garlic and salt.  Not scrumptious, but certainly quite edible.

A few more beets remain.  Will let them keep growing as they're still small.

Transplanted fall peas (part 1)

Transplanted about half of the indoor-peat-pot-sown peas today.

The rest I'll give a few more days inside as they're a little shorter.

Sowed carrots

Sowed some fall carrots today.  Back in 2015 I sowed some on August 1st and they were a fantastic crop.

Cucumber harvest

Cucumber harvest has started, about 3 so far in the last few weeks.  The vines are fairly sparse at this point, but at least they are producing something.

Sowed the fall peas

Sowed the fall peas today.  No idea if it will work or not, but worth a try!  Sugar snap peas are one of the best, if not *the* best, garden crop IMHO!

Started them inside, in peat pots, same as the last round.  This time I tried some in a cheaper pot, just as deep but not segmented.

Cabbage woe

Alas!  I'd been thinking I should really harvest that one gorgeous cabbage head.  And then this morning after a day of solid rain, what did I find but it suddenly split right open!  A deep crevice, and with a bonus little green worm easily visibly within.  I decided Scooter would enjoy this one more than I would.

Cucumber harvest has begun... but measly so far

Finally harvested the first cucumber today.  There appears to be one more which should be ready within a week or so.  There have been lots of male and female flowers, but not many takers.  Tried handpollinating at first several weeks ago, but for some reason couldn't get any pollen from the males.  Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

Brussels sprout -- first harvest!

Harvested 10 or so smallish Brussels sprouts.  Roasted them with oil, salt, and pepper.  Quite edible, actually.

However, the plant I harvested them from was so incredibly huge, that I decided to pull it after this harvest.  (Needed to make room for other stuff.)

Some of the other Brussels sprout plants are looking fairly promising, others not so much.

Changing of the guard -- a mid-season swap out

Today, I pulled:
- 2 cabbages (1 was horribly full of slug holes, the other was just not heading up at all, maybe due to being under the roof overhang although last year's cabbages loved it there)
- 2 Brussels sprouts (1 was just wayyyyyy too huge so I pulled it after harvesting what I could; the other just wasn't looking very promising)
- 2 or 3 celery (these ones didn't have any nice mature stalks)

And I planted these, bought from Canadian Tire, which although teeny, actually look nice and non-leggy:
- 3 or 4 itty bitty broccoli
- 3 or 4 itty bitty cauliflower
- 3 or 4 itty bitty cabbages

Peas almost all done

Pulled out 2/3 of the pea plants today, as their harvest had stopped and the vines were drying out.  The other 1/3 still have a few flowers/peas so I'll leave them a bit longer.

It was a pretty good pea harvest this year, after all that early season drama!  It's a mystery to me how I ended up with three types of peas when I thought they would all be sugar snaps.  Ended up with some snow peas, as well as some non-edible pod ones.

Soon will start a new batch indoors, in the hopes of a fall harvest!

Carrot harvest -- disappointing flavour!

Have harvested a handful of carrots so far.  All of them have been... pretty blah.  In fact, almost even bleh, not suitable for eating raw.  Bitter, and a bit woody.  Probably ok for hiding in muffins or whatnot although I haven't tried that yet.  Scooter has enjoyed that as much as ever, and Lucy likes them too, but me, not so much.

Past years they've been delectable -- so sweet, juicy, crispy.

Oh well!

The carrot seeds I broadcasted a few weeks ago are coming along, looking good, though of course still very small.  They were MUCHHHHHHH easier to thin this way, compared to the thickly sown rows I had done with the spring plantings.  Maybe this batch will taste better!

Zucchini update

The crazy huge, multi-directional, world's biggest zucchini plant next to the air conditioner, has produced quite a few male and female flowers over the past few weeks.  Some of the fruit appears to have taken (hand pollinating new females as they come up), but geez are they ever slow to grow; none harvested yet.

The normal sized plant next to the compost bin is doing well, has produced 3 or 4 nice zucchinis so far.  Today however, I had to pull one whose end had softened -- hope it's not a sign of squash vine borer already -- noooooooooo!!!!

The one in the pot as an experiment -- well, good thing it was just an experiment.  It's puny, and has produced only a few males, no females other than maybe a few which self-aborted at the tiniest size.  The few males  have come in handy on occasion for some females on the other plants.

The good type of pea flop

A great pea harvest this year!  The plants had gotten so tall, 2-3 feet over the top of the support, and loaded with ripening pods, that they finally flopped over a few days ago.  Good thing, as I was wondering how I was going to reach those 8 foot high pods!

So yes, in the thick of the pea harvest now, although near the end as there aren't many flowers left except for on the snow pea vines.  (I have no idea how I ended up with snow peas though!)

First zuke!

First zucchini harvested today!  Surprisingly it was from the smaller plant next to the compost bin.  That plant seems to have put everything into that one zucchini; all of the others are teency.

The other, huge plant by the air conditioner has some promising ones that I'm hoping have taken.  (I helped out along the way.) 

Peas!!!!!

Yes, that's right!!!!  A pea harvest!!  After such a roller coaster ride, they're here, they're really here!

Lots on the way, but so far have harvested just a dozen or so, spread out over the past week, and shared with the dogs of course.  Most of the plants are well over the top of the frame now; I assume they will flop over at some point given the lack of support up there.

One pea plant died.  I noticed the leaves were dried up and it was wilted; checked the root, and I was able to pull it right out with hardly any effort.  Hope it's nothing contagious!

The peas I've had so far, while I won't dare complain, mostly weren't particularly sweet.  I wonder if I'm picking them a bit too soon.  The plumpest one was the sweetest one, so will try to be a bit more patient to see if that's the key.

Radishes, bleh!

The radishes sown on May 21st are mostly all harvestable now.  I tried one the other day and was promptly reminded why I don't grow, buy, or eat radishes!  So, these will go to my dad.