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

Hrp50,
I've never grown BS before! The only reason I knew where to look is that, earlier this summer, I visited a community garden. There was a HUGE Brussels Sprout plant that the grower had sowed seeds for back in February! This was in August, and there were sprouts on the stem, growing just as nice as you please, in the middle of summer! I never would'a thought they would make it through mid-Summer, but they did. The area they were growing seemed to be kept fairly moist, I guess so they wouldn't dry up.

I'm definitely gonna reseed in early February!

Here's that plant!

Brussels sprouts are fun to grow, but I have failed more often than succeeded. Timing is critical for sprouts to form. I think mine always gave in to heat- the few times I had sprouts, as they grew I would snap off the leaf below the sprout to give it growing room. They are out of this world in taste-

Thanks for that growing tip, Rich!

Here is the harvest of my green tomatoes which I will turn into green tomato relish, all 11 pounds of them. I left standing the last 4 of the tomato plants, the ones with larger fruit like Celebrity, since they are close to being ripe, hopefully before our first hard freeze.

hrp50,
In the past I have taken my green tomatoes and put them through a blender. Then I put them in bags in the freezer. I would use the green tomato slurry in soups and tomato based dishes... they seem to add a bit of tang and nothing went unused. I am sure tomato relish is good but I know I wouldn't be inclined to make it or use it... so putting it in the freezer for later was my best bet.
Helen

Helen,

I made green tomato relish once about thirty years ago when I had a garden and it was awesome (the relish and the garden). Trouble is I'm using a different recipe that I've never tried, I'm the only one in the family that will eat it, and my DW wants to give away most of the jars to her friends as holiday gifts. I feel the pressure is on me to make it as good as I did thirty years ago. If you will dmail me your address, I will mail you a pint jar for your tasting and enjoyment (offer only applies to Helen so don't deluge me your requests-Ha!).

I am back at home finally, after being gone for more than 18 days.
The weather in Dallas has been warmer than usual ... so a few of my broccoli heads did bolt .. aaahhh
Here what I did harvest yesterday:
salad greens and broccoli


This message was edited Nov 25, 2011 10:40 AM

here is a close-up picture of the broccoli heads:
the left one is perfect and thight and the right on is all open and soon will go to flower

so, here is a perfect broccoli head

and here is a broccoli head bolting ... just in case you always did wonder how it looks.
Now I am home and this will not happen.
I have at least 10 more heads to harvest that are the "perfect one"

Every day I am harvesting LETTUCE GREENS

Nice!

The beginning of Broccoli and Cauliflower harvests. Here's a few of the earlier varieties. Lots more coming....just a few weeks away until the majority are ready.

Those are beautiful.
What variety of cauliflowers are the purple ones?
When did you start your broccoli and cauliflowers transplants?

Here my harvest today.
I think they may be 50 lbs of zucchini

Just to give you an idea on how big those monsters are !!

They are also very sweet. I have the freezer aready full of them, so tonight I will make some deliscious soup and I have already made a run around my neighbors to share this bounty.
They are ZUCCHETTA TROMBONCINO (http://www.gourmetseed.com/product/ZS14/Zucchetta-Tromboncino.html)

This message was edited Nov 27, 2011 10:18 AM

Thanks
It is about the same time I started my seeds indoor.
But I think you are much warmer than my Zone 8.

Uhhh what? Zone 8 is a lot warmer than my zone 10. My average temp is cold compared to you Texans.

Wow, am impressed with those purple cauliflowers, Ray_Der_Phan - stunning!
And the zucchini trombetta, drthor - amazing.

uhhh Ray_der_Phan
Texas is a very large state with different zones. We have huge differences even between 8a and 8b.
Below are the USDA zones. You can see how much colder is Dallas (8a) than 10a at least minus 20F

USDA Hardiness Zones and Average Annual Minimum Temperature Range
8a 10 to 15 F -9.5 to -12.2 C Tifton, Georgia; Dallas, Texas
8b 15 to 20 F -6.7 to -9.4 C Austin, Texas; Gainesville, Florida
9a 20 to 25 F -3.9 to -6.6 C Houston, Texas; St. Augustine, Florida
9b 25 to 30 F -1.2 to -3.8 C Brownsville, Texas; Fort Pierce, Florida
10a 30 to 35 F 1.6 to -1.1 C Naples, Florida; Victorville, California


I will trade zone 10a in a second.

By the way, here is that fantastic zucchini:
http://www.gourmetseed.com/product/ZS14/Zucchetta-Tromboncino.html
I planted because I read that the Squash Vine Borer doesn't like it ... I guess it was right !!

My harvest today:
Broccoli Waltham, Swiss Chard and Parsley

My harvest report this week -- no photos and not much to report, but I'm feeling chatty on my keyboard this morning.

1. Tomatoes -- I didn't take a photo, but due to a hard frost, I was only able to enjoy a dozen or so cherry tomatoes and ALL the rest of my harvest is green tomatoes. Darn! My own fault, I didn't get my fall tomato transplants going until mid-September, both due to the heat here and also we were on vacation prior to that. Oh well. Anyway, I now have two large bowls full of green tomatoes. Luckily I found a recipe online for "green tomato cake" and tried it -- delish! It tastes a lot like zucchini cake or carrot cake (most of the flavor comes from raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg) but we like it just fine, especially with a little cream cheese frosting on top. So my problem of what to do with green cherry tomatoes is solved (I'm not a tomato ketchup or jam maker). I'll try "fried green tomatoes" with the large green tomatoes and see how that is. If we like it, great. If not -- more cake! (added note: beans are obviously done now, due to frost).

2. Swiss Chard -- lots of it coming in now. I've been using it in veggie lasagna, stir fry, veggie soups -- any place where I would put spinach, really. Giving some away.

3. Bok choy. Still plenty to pick, although some of the bok choy has gone to flower, which I didn't realize it would do.

3. Cabbages -- have 2 purple cabbages that are getting there - head is about tennis ball sized right now. A couple coming along behind.

4. Cauliflower -- heads just starting to form.

5. Broccoli -- mostly leaves still but think I'm seeing the beginnings of a head. I was late getting cauls and brocs in the ground too, I guess. Will just have to be patient to get to that harvest!

6. Lettuce -- just starting to pick now. Need to plant some more.

7. Other stuff -- Spinach just didn't come up well at all, very wimpy. Have to re-do.
Beets -- first time growing them, they are hanging in there, doing better with them than in previous tries.
Radish -- FIRST time I got a huge radish and when/where I wasn't even trying, after earlier failures at this "easy" veg, I think now my main villains were temperature (I was trying to grow them when the weather was too hot), and probably overcrowding.

I may have forgotten one or two things but those are the basics right now for me!

Same here in Dallas.
I am harvesting a lot of Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Kale, Bok and Pac Choi.
I had many Broccoli heads at the end of October but now they stop producing ... even the side shoots ... maybe because it is not so cold?.. I dunno
Fava Beans are growin and I am harvesting the tips for salads, they taste like peas.
Cauliflowers are growing, the larger head is maybe 6" ... It will be for Christmas

Kohlrabi also are growing. This is a baby , you can see the stem starting to enlarge

Kohlrabi Azur Star ... just forming and it will be amazing when mature, a beautiful purple color.

Your veggies look beautiful, drthor. I can almost taste that cauliflower. I never saw purple kohlrabi before. Is the flesh purple as well, or is it still white inside? Just curious.

The Purple Kolrabi is kind of a light purple inside going trough a green ...
It turns green when cooked.
I like my Kohlrabi raw, just sliced and dressed with salt, pepper and Olive Oil ... yummy !!

I started 25 Seascape strawberry plants on December 5th. Here's an update picture from last night. I ordered from the Indiana Berry Company, and planted them in Miracle Grow Potting Mix. Didn't add anything, as there is a bit of fertilizer in the mix, and the recommendations are to NOT fertilize strawberries in the beginning.

Each plant should yield 1 pint of strawberries. We shall see. So far, I'm liking what I do see!

Linda

The picture above is the AFTER pic taken 12/13/11. Here's what they looked like at planting, on 12/05/11.

The average daily temps at this time have been all over the place. At plantout, we were down into the mid-30s for four nights in a row, with daytime temps avg. in the high-40s.

The AFTER pic was taken the following week, when avg daytime temps have been in the high-40s-low 50s. The rest of this week will see daytime temps in the hi-60s to low-70s, and nights in the mid-60s.

A roller coaster ride if ever there was one...

Linda

This message was edited Dec 14, 2011 11:50 AM

Good luck with your Strawberries! I used to grow them but everybody grows them here, which means heavy disease pressure....and I hate spraying. So I stopped.


I picked some big heads today. I hoped they would last until Christmas dinner but no way. I couldn't wait any longer. These are all 8-9" across. My biggest Graffiti Cauliflower by far(very sweet tasting raw). Broccoli size is nice as well. Can't wait to the normal white cauliflower is ready. I should have some huge ones.

WOOOOOWWWWW weeeeeee

Ray,
I had to cut a huge broccoli head today also, cuz it was making tiny little yellow flowers. I hate this hot winter!!

And, of course I had to eat it! SUH-WEET and super tender!!

I moved the entire bucket garden (how's that for portability??!!) and swept up fallen leaves from the pad. I also removed fallen leaves from the buckets and sprayed for cabbage worms. This warm weather just gives more opportunity for new hatchings.

Finally, I rearranged all the buckets, and added another pad to space the huge, spreading broccolis and cabbages.

My sprayer pump thingy broke to where I can't build up pressure , so I have to get another one. I'm getting sick of having to replace those things. Anybody got a recommendation on a good, reliable, 2-gallon sprayer, I'd sure appreciate it. Or, tell me how to fix mine. I just used it for the first time....

Thanks!

Linda

I luv being a gardener...

Ray_Der_Phan, that is some gorgeous produce! I love that cauliflower, so pretty!

This is what my harvest looks every other day.
I am harvesting a lot of greens and broccoli shoots.
My broccoli heads are not forming large anymore. Maybe because we are having a warmer December.
i am happy anyway ...