Todays' Harvest

[westocast73]

Well for those who haven't read in my previous posts I am a 23 year old trying to kick the fast food/restraunt habit so I decided to build a veggie garden. This is my first year with any type of Veggies ( done flowers for awhile ) and for whatever reason I got sucked into tomatoes so I am growing 14 types this year. It and onions take up a huge chunk of my garden. Well I have been eating fresh Veggies all spring already and have already completed my first crop rotation in some areas! Well today was my first day of a real well rounded harvest.

It includes the last of the Green Onions. Swiss Chard , Beans ( Have twice as many in the fridge from day before ) One hot pepper , 2 Bells which join the 3 from two days ago ( picking the first of the 5 plants when they are big and green) 2 Miracle Sweet Tomatoes ( Hybrid I know I have much to learn ) 1 Pondeorsa , 1 Lemon Boy ( Hybrid 3 Hybrids total and 11 Heirlooms so dont kill me! ) 1 Tigerella.

I must say the satisifaction of harvesting your own Veggies has made me a convert for life. The taste is also amazing but just the pride factor does it for me ( I am a man what do you expect...).

Well here is the picture.

http://img75.imageshack.us/my.php?im...img1170bv5.jpg



P.S. TY to all of you who have been very helpful but no you can't have any!!!

[westocast73]

Big Beef ( Dehybridized Version )
Black Krim
Brandywine
Caspian Pink
Cherokee Purple
Golden Queen
Homesweet ( Hybrid )
Koralik
Lemon Boy ( Hybrid )
Miracle Sweet ( Hybrid )
Nepal
Ponderosa
Purple Prince ( Which I thought was Purple Price but turns out is most likely Black Prince )
Sweet 100's ( Picked up at nursery because Koralik didnt sprout until very late and wanted a cherry )
Tigerella

So far I have only eaten a Sweet 100 and Black Prince. Both weren't amazing to me. I found the Black Prince to be over-powering and very earthy for lack of a better word but it was the first ripe fruit so I will reserve judgement. I look forward to trying the Ponderosa which is on my counter ( Also Lemon Boy , Miracle Sweet and Tigerella which I have been giving away and havent had one yet! ). I am also very close to having a ripe Caspian Pink and Brandywine ( Pink ). The Caspian's are my largest tomatos by far and right now it has about 8 Tomatoes over or close to 5" wide with two just starting to blush.

I am going to try and keep about 5 varieties for next year and grow about 20 new ones. ( I only grow one of each type ). I want to find out what works well here and get it down to maybe 10 varieties and be able to grow 2 or 3 of each plant. ( it might take me quite a few years though hehe ) I also plan to use a different section of my yard to grow 5 or so Cherry Varieties as I do enjoy the size and availability of them and the two plants I have this year just are not enough.

[westocast73]

Thanks. My second year list has become quite ambitious but I am going to try to get in at least 15 ( hopefully 20 ) non-cherry Tomatoes as I already have trellis built for that amount and 5 to 8 Cherry Toms. I deffinetly would like to grow more Cherry Toms next year as there just isn't enough this year with only the two plant's.

The beans are a Pole Bean called Blue Lake. It is pretty common and one of the better stringless types ( mind you my experience is very limited ). I plan to rotate Beans, Pea and Cukes with the Toms to get a good crop rotation going.

The chard is wonderful. I have never really eaten chard before I grew it this year and it really was a treat. I love spinach and for whatever reason chard really reminds me of spinach when I cook with it. ( I tried to grow spinach but it was a disaster and the plants went to seed so very quickly )

[westocast73]

Thanks! Yea Blue Lake is a good one. My local climate seems so suited to growing beans and pea's as it doesnt get to hot so I have already had several decent meals with my beans. My Pea's though this year have not fared as well which is a pity as I much prefer Pea's to Beans. I tend to neglect my bean's and pea's though as they are in the back of the veggie patch and the flowers of the sweet pea's ( Lathyrus ) suck me in everytime I go outside. Also I spent most of the spring worrying about my Tomatoes and babying them so the Pea's just never really got the care they needed. Oh well lessons learned!