FALL/WTR GARDEN HARVESTS 2011. POST YOUR PICTURES HERE!!!

Hi,
This PICTORIAL THREAD is dedicated to the wonderful gardeners who are harvesting their bountiful harvests in Zones 8-9a (or any other zones that are harvesting at this time).

So, snap away, post all you want to here, and let us share what you are reaping. It would be very helpful to other growers to identify your picture with a couple of snapshot bullet points such as the:

►Name/Variety of veggie shown in your picture
►Approximate date and outdoor temps when you sowed seeds INDOORS (if direct sowed)
►Approximate date and outdoor temps when you sowed seeds OUTDOORS (if direct sowed)
►Approximate date and outdoor temps when you set plants out into the garden (transplants or rooted cuttings)
(this helps growers in different Zones to pinpoint their own outdoor transplant temps).

If there are other bullet points that viewers would find helpful, just let me know in a d-mail, and I'll add them to this initial post!

Godspeed, and Good Harvest! ^^_^^

Linda

This is my harvest today.
Still lots of cukes from my second planting at the beginning of July.
Definetly I will do it again next year. I planted the cukes under the tomato plants to give them shade and after I cut down the tomatoes and let the cukes to grow.
I am trying to harvest the peppers while still green. I don't think it will be time to wait for them to turn color. I will freeze them directly.
Luv my Jing Orange Okra ... and cowpeas ... and strange shape zucchini

I am not very expert on Okra.
This was the first year growing Okra and I am so upset that I wasted all my life without knowing how fantastic Okra is.
In my opinion the red pods are not as slimey as the green varieties.
I love to grill my Okra and with this red variety I can see when the pods are ready because they will turn green.
They taste delish and no slimey ... luuuvvv and so beautiful !

This is my harvest of today. The bcuket didn't tunr out good in this picture, but it is large and almost full of greens: Bok and Pak Choi and Kales. I am harvesting a buket a day.
Those are the greens I started from seeds mid August.
Still cukes and a few okras.

I can see that the cukes and the okra plants have been attack by little white flies ... just a few ... I think they are telling me that the plants are getting at the end of their lives. oh well ... I harevsted a lot this summer, even with that incredible weather.

I am going to make a T-shirt that says: "I have survived the summer of 2011 in Dallas"

Thanks podster ...
No worries .. they are just in a few buds ...
and I am waiting to stop producing anyway to plant fall crop ...
I wil let nature take its course ... actually lady bugs are already here helping and a lot of red wasps
... thanks anyway ..

Not a problem ~ I just don't want to see other inexperienced gardeners mistake whiteflies as an indicator that their plants' growing season is over.

Drthor-whiteflies will love the tender new leaves of your transplants. I know that predatory wasps will take care of them, but not Red Wasps? Red wasps may sting you but I don't think they will bother the whiteflies?

I think red wasps must eat something. I always see them in between leaves of my veggies.
I have a collection of wasps ... no stings yet ...

We're not exactly zone 8, but we're just getting the last tomato pickin's for our season. We already batched up about 20 quarts of sauce from our very small garden plot. Still might get a few more until we get hit by frost in mid October.

Al

WOW congratulations lycodad, those are great tomatoes.
I had hard time in my zone to grow really large tomatoes. Cherries do much better.

Here is my harvest today.
Lots of COW PEAS, that I never grown or eat and now I felt in love with them. .... yummy !
Lots of funny shape zucchini and yummy cukes. Still some okras and peppers.
Not in the picture is the every day harvest of greens (kales, bok and pac choi and chard)

My harvest today. Also I am harvesting a bucket a day of greens. Yummy !!
I cannot believe I still have cukes ... Next year I know that I need to do a second planting of cucumber seeds at the beginning of July under the tomato plants.
Luv my red Okra.

Today I have a contractor coming to give me an estimate on my back yard.
I have decided to give to my DH more room in my flower bed for his pets. This is an area that is in the far corner back with shaded trees and nothing is really growing there.
I think his pets will like it.
So in return I asked him if I could extend my vegetable bed in another of his pet area.
I think it is fair ! Weeeee

But maybe the estimate will be too high ... will see...

My latest harvest + a bowl a day of greens

rjoden
Those are "ZUCCHINO TROMBETTA"
http://www.gourmetseed.com/product/ZS14/Zucchetta-Tromboncino.html#reviews
Normally I have curled funny shapes zucchini ... but this one is straight.
I bought those seeds because I read that the trunk is so thick that it'd discourage the squash vine borer.
I had them growing from the spring on the side of my house, out with the flowers .... and now I am harvesting like crazy.
It just tastes like a green zucchini but better and very long ... yummy !!!

My harvest yesterday: delish eggplants

My harvest today: cukes, okra, cow peas and some peppers. Plus a bucket of greens

Anybody else harvesting?

My last harvest ... untill I am back in town ...
Now is up to my DH ... oh oh
Enjoy

We have a black walnut tree in our backyard full of ripe walnuts. Couple that with two red squirrels that call our backyard home and you get this "sneaky" hiding place. (Couldn't have built a pile like that to save my soul.) Hiding spot is our back deck.

My harvest today. Sweet peppers, green pole beans planted in March that came back from the dead, eggplant, my first little Meyer lemon, and of course more okra than I know what to do with (plants are now approaching seven feet high). I'm even getting a few tomatoes every day from the plants I planted back in March. Who says there's no reincarnation?

Lovely harvest, hrp50. I see peppers, not a lemon though. But congrats on all of it!
maithyme, funny about those walnuts. Thinking about a squirrel stacking those makes me think of a cartoon.

I miss my vegetables. I am still out of town untill the end of next week.
My DH is taking care of the garden. He already told me that he had not time to harvest ....
So ... My okras will be long like missiles .. . my cukes will look like watermellons and my cow peas all brown ... ohhhhhhh
I cannot wait to come home !

Hrp50,
That's a wonderful harvest! What okra variety are you showing there?

My ENTIRE fig harvest, the very first!

Gymgirl
The okra is Clemson Spineless. They are so tall, top heavy and leaning over now that I’m going to have to stake them somehow so I can keep then producing for a little longer. The tallest two, about seven feet tall with three and a half inch diameter trunks, even the thirty mile an hour wind we’re having today does not push them over.

I finally took three recipes for okra and tomato gumbo off of the web and combined the best ingredients from each recipe and made a gumbo that was so good that even my mom, if she were still living, would have been impressed with. I can’t believe I waited so long to make it since it is so much healthier a way of eating it than fried. But I still must fry some at least once a week to keep the other family members happy. Now I must try drthors’ recipe for grilling the okra as she was so right about grilling eggplant.

Darius,
I would DIE for fresh figs off a tree!

Linda, that's my first-time-ever taste of a fresh fig. I really liked it!! I had lots of baby figs on both potted plants, but somehow neglected timely watering, and lost all but 2 baby figs. Shown above are Brown Turkey Figs; the other fig tree is Celeste, supposed to be sweeter... but I don't actually know about that yet since I killed the baby figs. :(

Just wait till you pop that "perfect", super sweet fig into your mouth. It's a taste you will never forget!

And, don't even get me started on fig preserves on a thick slice of hot buttered toast!

OMGoodness!!!!!

This message was edited Oct 19, 2011 12:13 PM

So, why don't you grow figs?

I bought 2 pint packs (Celeste and Brown Turkey) a couple of month ago just to try, when I visited a big city and found them at an upscale grocer. Unfortunately they got misplaced after I arrived home, and spoiled before I found them.

This is my harvest today: cukes, peppers, eggplants, okras and cow peas.

Every day I am harvesting a bucket of green lettuce and arugula to eat for lunch and dinner.
Today I harvested also a huge basket of KALES

Darius and Rich,
While I truly love fresh figs off the tree, I'm not sure I need the additional animal feed center.

My neighborhood is already "Grackle Central Station," and "Squirrel Speedway!" It is unbelievable the number of birds we have in our yards at any given time. Any figs I get would be after a hard fought battle! And then there's the mess of the fallen figs...

I'm undertaking an edible landscaping design, but I haven't put anything in yet, so, I keep trying to figure out how to put that fig tree someplace do-able.

Thanks!

Gymgirl ~ look for a dwarf or miniature fig. It would be easy to keep covered when fruiting.
Then all you have to worry about is the marauding possum that slips in while my dogs lie sleeping. Grrrr!

Pod,
That might be very do-able! I could even do one in a very large container, maybe? I'll do some research on dwarf varieties.

Thank you, so much!

P.S. Let sleeping dogs lie!

It is indeed do-able.
http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/tips-for-growing-fig-trees-in-containers/
There are many cultivars suitable to the container culture.

I haven't started harvesting any cole crops yet. I'm still harvesting peppers (several kinds), eggplant, and tomatoes, all of which were planted back in March and that gave me nothing over the summer, so now they are producing their heads off? Go figure. I'm also harvesting strawberries and figs. I just pulled up all of the okra since I needed the bed for my cole crops. I am succession planting over intervals of 3 weeks so I can harvest over a longer period. A lot of cauliflower, broccoli, broccoli Raab, brussel sprouts shallots, garlic, carrots, and lots of different lettuces and spinaches and some other stuff. But, I’m taking the next two days off from gardening because my son and I are flying to LA to attend a taping of the Big Bang Theory show tomorrow afternoon and a taping of a Jay Leno Show the next afternoon. So look for me and my son on the Jay Leno Show on Wednesday night.

Here’s the view of part of the garden out of our breakfast room window, now that we have a view by virtue of the okra being gone.

What a beautiful garden.
Was it worth for you to keep the tomatoe plants untill now?
Do you have lots of tomatoes? do they taste the same of the spring ones?

Hrp50,
Outstanding garden! Beautiful with the flowers mixed in, too!

When did you plant strawberries to be harvesting them now? I have a shipment of bare root? strawberries on the way for planting out in the next few weeks. Please share your strawberry growing method, if you don't mind. My plan is to convert 6.5 gallon buckets into strawberry planters.

Thanks!

P.S. Enjoy the trip!