Harvest Monday - September 22, 2014


The harvests this week were meagre but the tally was large.  The onions were originally harvested back in August and have been curing in the garage.  A good chunk of them were included last Harvest Monday.  This past week, I got around to cleaning up & tallying the remaining onions.

Onions - All Cleaned Up
Most of the onions seem to have some leek moth* damage although the damage to each individual onion seems to be relatively small.  I’ll dish out all the details when I do a post on the onion harvest later this week.

What else?  Not very much…we have finally reached the end of the line on several the summer veg.

There was the final harvest of tomatoes - the last of the scraggly vines will be coming out this week.
Ildi & Mountain Merit
Last of the Tomatoes
The last of the peppers…
King of the North & Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers
Last of the Peppers
And the last of the cucumbers, together with some kohlrabi and the first picking from the mystery kale.
Suyo Long Cucumbers, Early White Vienna Kohlrabi
& "Mystery" Kale
The kale was supposed to be "Dark Green Curled" kale – but as you can see, it looks very different from what you would expect from a curly kale.  Having never grown curly kale, I wasn't absolutely sure.  But then a couple of bloggers commented that this was indeed NOT curly kale.  So what is it?  Absolutely no idea.  I’m still not sure if the packet contains the wrong seeds or if I messed up when I was sowing them, perhaps sowing from a different packet.
It does taste lovely - with quite the burst of sweetness.  I chopped up the leaves and had them as a salad with cranberries and pumpkin seeds – delish!  I don't waste the stalks, of course.  Those were chopped up and frozen (and  crammed into my overflowing freezer).  I'm thinking that they will be a great addition to a hearty winter soup.
I also harvested, but didn’t photograph, one green onion.

My harvest totals this week were:

Kale – 250 grams (0.55 lbs)
Cucumbers – 676 grams (1.49 lbs)
Kohlrabi – 372 grams (0.82 lbs)
Storage Onions – 29,454 grams (64.93 lbs)
Bunching Onions – 130 grams (0.29 lbs)
Sweet Peppers – 146 grams (0.32 lbs)
Hot Peppers – 110 grams (0.24 lbs)
Tomatoes – 2,841 grams (6.26 lbs)

Total for Week – 33,979 grams (74.91 lbs)

Total to Date – 212.34 kg (468.12 lbs)

To see what everyone else has been harvesting over the past week, head on over to Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Mondays.

Till next time…

*I originally thought that the alliums were being attacked by onion maggots but have subsequently realized that, in fact, I was dealing with leek moths so have adjusted this post accordingly.

Comments

  1. Too bad about the onion maggots. Haven't had that problem yet, knock on wood. Wonder how that will affect storage? The kale looks like a type of Siberian kale. I grow a variety of it from Fedco called Beedy's Camden because it was a sport found growing in a garden in Camden, Maine. It's a good kale and pretty winter hardy. It will actually survive some winters here, although not the last two winters which were truly horrible. Farmers' Almanac says we are in for another one.

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    1. I'm not taking any chances with the onions. Once I get the bigger freezer, I am going to be chopping them up & freezing them. I was so looking forward to having a bevy of braided onions hanging in the basement. I had also wanted to know how long they would keep in storage for me but I guess that will have to be a test for next year. Thanks for the kale info - wouldn't it be lovely if it did winter over. Do you provide any winter protection for it or just leave it as it is?

      And I heard that as well about this coming winter...not impressed :(

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    2. Also not impressed about this coming winter. Double sad face ..

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  2. I grew all sweet onions this year so I'm using them up because they won't keep much longer. It would have been interesting to see how long your onions kept in storage. That's on my list of things to try next year. That kale is interesting looking. How nice that it came out sweet and tasty!

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    1. I was so looking forward to keeping a braid near the kitchen to use as needed especially in the middle of winter when any fresh produce that you grew yourself is an extra special treat. Oh well - next year, I guess. And the kale, albeit not what I expected, is definitely a nice surprise.

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  3. You might want to take a handful of onions and experiment to see how long they keep. I did that with some injured sweet potatoes just to see and they kept a long time. I know onions are supposed to have more trouble in storage with maggot damage, but if they keep 3 months instead of 6 it would be useful to know. Then you would only have to freeze a portion of onions next year. BTW frozen onions aren't as good as unfrozen.

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    1. That is a good idea - I think I will do that. Perhaps not with all of them, but maybe half. That way it won't be as big a job to check them to make sure they are still keeping ok. I've never had frozen onions, but I figured that they would probably not be as good. Thankfully, it is an option as I don't think we could get through all of the ones I grew even if they did end up lasting 3 or 4 months in the basement.

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  4. Great looking harvest. If your worried about the onions lasting you could try freezing them. As our onions start to go bad later in the year we chop them up and double bag them in the freezer. That way we can continue to use them.

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    1. That is exactly what I was planning on doing. I will probably do what I said to Daphne and freeze half of them and store the other half as I normally would, just to see how long they last. With the maggot damage, however, I'm not getting my hopes up. If they last past Christmas I will be more than happy!

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  5. What if you make caramelize onion with some of the onions, then freeze it in ice cube trays or small container for use when making gravy or topping for steak, etc.

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    1. Great idea! I often to caramelize the onions when I cook some Indian dishes as well & they take so long to do - making one big batch and then freezing in portion sizes would save a ton of time.

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  6. Norma's idea about caramelized onions is wonderful ... I will do that myself next year! As for this year's crop, most of my red onions started to go a bit soft within weeks of harvest. But I'm still kind of new to growing them and don't think I have "storage" variety. You definitely do not want to let those lovely onions go to waste!

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    1. For sure - I'm hoping that not a one goes to waste - after I cut out that darn maggot damage that is. And that was a great idea, wasn't it? It can save so much time - French Onion soup, which I don't often make because of the time it takes to caramelize the onions, also comes to mind.

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  7. That is a lot of onions. I wondered if you think they might not store well because of the maggot damage if you could chop and freeze some. But then, it sounds like you have the same problem I do with lack of freezer space! Nancy

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    1. I will definitely be freezing some as I don't think that we will be able to use all of them up in a few months - if they even keep that long. I have a new freezer on order because, as I told my husband, bigger garden = bigger freezer of course!

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  8. Wow...64 lbs of onions! I'm so jealous. Next year, I'll have to try growing them again. Onions have never been my strong suit. Tomatoes on the other hand, I can do.

    I wonder if your kale may be an inadvertent cross between and a curly variety and say, red or white Russian. You'll have to let us know how it tastes.

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    1. And that was the 2nd batch of onions! Hopefully it wasn't beginners luck...they came out so well (except for those darn maggots of course) that I'm kind of nervous about getting the same results next year.

      The kale may be a cross - I don't really know too much about the different varieties so I can't say if it is closer to one or the other. But I have tasted it and it's really good - I had it raw in a salad & you get this big burst of sweetness that was quite unexpected.

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  9. The onions look great and some good suggestions to help you keep them for longer despite the damage :) oh, I think you can dry them as well, as onions rings. Bit faffy but you slice evenly and then separate out the rings on a cane and hang up to dry, never done it myself but a renowned grower over here does it (Bob Flowerdew)
    My cukes are pretty much done too. Keep having to check for bitterness and only some teeny fruits left.

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    1. Drying is an interesting suggestion - I may well try that on a few to make onion powder once I get a dehydrator. I'm not sure if it would work here if I just hung them. Our weather is fairly cool now & with the humidity, they would probably mold instead of dry. It would be a bit too "faffy" (love that word!) to do too many though.

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