Henbogle

ps:  The Dilly Brussels sprouts?

Amazing.  We didn’t have dill heads, so used dried dill weed.  Next year, if I am unable to use dill heads, I’ll add a few dill seeds to the batch, but these are delicious.  YUM!

With temps dipping into the low 20s I decided it was time to harvest the last broccoli and cauliflower of the season.  The cauliflower seemed to have some frost damage but the broccoli was unscathed –from the frost, at least.  I do have some in the freezer, but I will miss the broccoli, which has been excellent this year.

If you look closely, you can see the broccoli amidst the kale, which looks a bit bedraggled after the snow.  About all that remains in the main garden is the kale a bit of Swiss chard, and some Brussels sprouts.

I have some Asian greens and lettuce in the hoophouse.  The snails and cabbage worms have done a lot of damage to the brassica family, but the lettuce is delicious, and unfortunately, disappearing all too quickly.

Earlier this summer, when I harvested my spring crop of cauliflower, I didn’t get around to pulling the plants.  They were behind some other plants and so I just ignored them, thinking I’d pull them at some point for the hens.

Fast forward to today, when I finally get around to pulling the plants, and lo, what do I find?  Many of the cauliflower plants, like a cabbage will, grew another set of florets.  Bonus!  Had I given these heavy feeders a side dressing of fertilizer, maybe the heads would have been larger?  Small or not, we’ll be eating them.

After a frost on October 8, it has been remarkably mild here at Henbogle.  Although the short days slow growth down, the mild temps are helping swell the sprouts on my Brussels sprouts, and contributing to this good-sized broccoli heads I harvested today (a Packman and Violet Queen caulifower).

I transplanted the broccoli, cauliflower and some kale into the garlic bed in early August after harvesting the garlic, and basically ignored them since.  I have another head each of broccoli and cauliflower sizing up, and plenty of kale.  I’ve had some damage from my friends the cabbage moth larvae, but that isn’t surprising as I never covered the plants.  A quick rinse in salt water takes care of the worms.

I roasted this batch in a hot oven with half of my carrot harvest.  I think I’m going to give up on carrots.  This batch are tasty, but I had a lot of insect damage, and that combined with poor germination makes me think the space could be better used and my frustration level decreased if I just purchased beautiful carrots at the farmers market and grew more Brussels sprouts.  Have I mentioned I love Brussels sprouts?  I think they are my favorite vegetable.

The hoophouse is contributing lettuce, kale and Asian greens to the table, and the spinach I sowed for overwintering has sprouted.  There are still some Tobago Seasoning and Ancho chiles growing in the hoophouse, but the time will come for them very soon. I’ll roast and peel them, and make rellenos with the anchos and might try some pepper jelly with the other chiles.

I have been weighing the produce we’ve been eating, but work and life have kept me from posting regularly for Harvest Monday.  I’ll plan on a final roundup post at some point once the garden is done.

With a frost this week, the garden is winding down.  The tomatoes were long dead from late blight, but the frost hit the squashes and basil and put an end to them.  There are still carrots, leeks, beets, broccoli and kale in the main garden, and peppers, lettuce and more brassicas in the hoophouse.  I harvested most of the peppers, (I have a few peppers still on to ripen up) and will pull those plants as soon as I get to it, and plant spinach.

Still, we had good eating from the garden this week, enjoying broccoli, leeks, chard, peppers, squash, cabbage and the last cuke (picked last week), in all, 6.5 lbs. not including the Honey Bear squash nor the bulk of the peppers which I haven yet to weigh.

I also did not include the ENORMOUS zucchini which was revealed when the plants’ leaves died in the frost.  This giant will be enjoyed by the hens, who have also been enjoying the spent broccoli plants, frost burned chard leaves, etc. that comes their way.  I can’t believe I missed that bod boy.  We’ve been enjoying the last of the zucchini sauteed cooked in a brown butter sage sauce, mmmmm.  I have one more squash in the fridge and then it’s over for the year.

Unfortunately, I had a computer glitch and somehow lost some data in my spreadsheet.  My total now reflects a mere 328.78 for the season, so until I figure this out I’m going to skip the cost/benefit details, and just go with the weeks harvest of 6.5 lbs.

This post is part of Daphne’s Harvest Monday series on her blog Daphne’s Dandelions, where gardeners from around the world gather to report on their harvest feasting.  Daphne writes a very informative blog and this year had an amazingly productive urban garden.  Check it out and be amazed, as I am, at what an urban garden can produce.

This week saw the last of the tomatoes at Henbogle.  The wet cool weather ushered in my old pal Late Blight, and the tomatoes dropped like flies.  Overnight, the vines died, half-ripened tomatoes dropping as the plants died, littering the ground with the spoiled fruit.  Yuk.  The only holdout had been the Pineapple tomato in the hoophouse, but I knew it couldn’t last, and I was right. I picked the last of the tomatoes showing any color tonight.  As soon as I can stand it I’ll clean up the nasty slimy mess, but it won’t be pleasant.

The garden is winding down.  My harvest for this week was only 8.4 lbs., although I did not record all the squash I harvested, much of which was given away, for example this big boy being modeled by my dear friend Susanna.  I still have winter squash to harvest and weigh, and my fall greens are coming in, but at this point, between Hurricane Irene wind damage and the blight, the garden is an ugly mess, and I’ve been ignoring things hoping they would Go Away.  Sigh.

Ah well, the paltry harvest this week brings my yearly total to 314.68 lbs. valued at $1,101.21 for a net value less expenses of $718.58, and there is more to come. This is part of Daphne’s Harvest Monday series, wish the wonderful Daphne hosts on her blog, Daphne’s Dandelions.  Check it out to see what other gardeners are harvesting right now, there is a lot of gardening going on in the blogosphere.

I also have a few new projects in the works.  All those photos of juicy raspberries in the Harvest Monday posts did me in, so we are preparing a new bed for a raspberry patch, using the cardboard sod killing method I’ve written about many times before.  I hope to get the raspberries planted next spring before my next big project begins.  For details on that, tune in to my next post.