How To Harvest Summers Garden Yield!

I read this article at the Lowes website and thought it is information was worth passing on, especially considering the weekend yield I plucked from the garden. So enjoy the excerpt or read the entire article at the Lowes website before heading to the garden ~ Enjoy all the baking, canning and cooking to come, I know I will!

Warm Season Crops: Plant-by-Plant Guide to Harvest

Corn—Start examining kernels after silks turn brown. Kernels should be plump and run milky when pierced with a fingernail. The milky color signifies that sugars have developed. Clear juices indicate not-so-sweet corn—if you find clear liquid, you may need to wait up to a whole week to pick. Check ears in three to four days. Sweetness starts to diminish the moment ears are picked. For best flavor, cook corn the same day you pick it. If you must store it for a day or two, don’t remove husks and keep ears cold.

Cucumbers—Pick fruit as soon as they appear fully formed and filled out. Cucumbers don’t always pull easily from the vine; carry kitchen or garden shears to snip stems. Plants produce more steadily when fruit is consistently picked. Avoid allowing early cucumbers to grow too large or the vine will yield fewer fruits overall. Use cucumbers within 7-10 days of picking. If you’re inundated with fruits, make some pickles.

Green beans—Once bean bushes and vines start blooming, check plants daily for ripe fruit. Pick beans when pods are small—about the thickness of a No. 2 pencil. French filet beans, however, yield thinner pods. Thicker pods, where the bean bumps are visible, can be chewy and woody. The more you pick beans, the more vines produce. Gather early beans as soon as they’re ready; if they’re allowed to ripen to maturity on plants, the crop will stop. Pull beans from vines with your fingers. Store beans in a plastic bag in the refrigerator and use within two weeks.

Herbs—For most herbs, flowering signals the end of the harvest. This is especially true of basil and oregano. Keep blooms snipped from plants to ensure flavorful leaves. Gather herbs by the leaf or stem. Strip leaves from woody stems of herbs like rosemary, basil, or thyme.

Sweet peppers—Pick green peppers as soon as they’re fully colored, shiny, and full size. Most peppers will continue coloring and turn shades of yellow, orange, or red. To harvest peppers, use a sharp knife or shears to snip stems. Leave a piece of stem attached to peppers, which helps them to last longer. Store peppers in the refrigerator, and use within three to five days. Harvest peppers before frost. Use any that get frosted immediately—they won’t store well.

Tomatoes—Ripe tomatoes don’t need to be fully colored—pick them when colored at least halfway. Tomatoes should feel heavy for their size and come easily off the plant. Ripen picked tomatoes on a counter or windowsill. Don’t refrigerate tomatoes, as they lose their flavor within two hours in the fridge. Avoid leaving tomatoes on the vine too long. Fully ripe tomatoes only keep two to three days on the vine.

Watermelon—Determining watermelon ripeness is almost more art than science. Watch several items to gauge ripeness. The visible rind should change colors, from bright to dull green. The part of the skin touching the soil shifts from greenish white to cream. Tendrils nearest the melon shrivel and turn brown. Rapping on the melon should yield a hollow, low-pitched sound. Test some unripe ones to train your ear for the wrong sound. Uncut watermelons can store up to two weeks in the refrigerator, but it’s best to eat them at the peak of ripeness.

Zucchini—Pick fast-growing zucchini when fruits are 4-5 inches long. As soon as squash starts to form, check plants daily, looking beneath all leaves. Zucchini grows rapidly, and a fruit can easily grow to baseball bat size if it’s hidden under foliage. If you pick faithfully, zucchini vines will produce for about a month. For true zucchini lovers, sow a second set of seeds about a month after the first one to extend the harvest season.

Creative Commons License / photo credits: Lowes

Creating Your Own Wildflower "Crown"

I received my latest issue of Family Fun and read with interest an article on making the CUTEST wildflower crown. As my son was off to day-camp, I decided this would be the perfect "something special" for my daughter and I to do - OK who am I kidding Gabby didn't do a whole lot except for picking out the flowers then modeling the final project. She's the cutest little model though (IMHO)!

Here's a video tutorial on how to make your OWN wildflower crown:

Name That Berry...

My daughter and I (OK mostly me!) spent the morning picking luscious "black berries" this morning - Two buckets worth of the gems! Actually my benefactor Steve (who is allowing me to forage on his property) says they are blackberries. The berries I harvested a few weeks back were apparently black raspberries...

The trouble is, one of the local Ann Arbor foragers in the area mentioned the end of last week that blackberry season is over. The berries I harvested today seem to just be beginning to ripen and will likely produce the majority of their load within the next two weeks - Provided they don't dry up!

These berries are a luscious deep black color that shine in the sun like the prettiest black pearls plucked from the sea. They are about the size of my thumb nail, although not every one of them gets that large. They have the typical thorns on the plants and the leaves look much like other types of raspberries - the berries themselves are plucked WITH their stems attached (unlike when a raspberry slides off of the plant leaving a small hole in the berry.). Generally they are clustered on stalks in large bunches, that often cause the laden heavy plant to droop to the ground...

So what are they exactly? Anyone want to chime in??? Gabriella sure has been enjoying them regardless...

Photos: by Tammy Mayrend. Photo 1 taken early July.

As I am sitting here, my youngest is screaming bloody murder - Loud enought that I'm CERTAIN if any neighbors overheard they'd be dialing 911. I'm also wondering what to do with the lovely blackberries that have begun to get ripe.

We actually ran across them today while picking wild black raspberries - There were only a few ripe today maybe a pint, but I would guess within the next two weeks they'll come in more and more. Looking at the patch I would guess we may be able to harvest 10-20 quarts of the buggers... I couldn't believe how many there were.

At any rate, I began looking for berry recipes and with the above-mentioned fit-throwing, thought this one might be appropriate.

Blackberry Mojito

INGREDIENTS
4 Blackberries
4 Mint sprigs
3 Lime wedges
1 1/2 ounces rum
1 Lime wedge
1 Mint sprig
Lemon lime soda

To Prepare:
1. Muddle together the blackberries, 4 mint sprigs and 3 lime wedges in a highball glass.
2. Once thoroughly bruised, add rum.
3. Fill with ice and top with lemon lime soda.
5. Garnish with 1 lime wedge and 1 mint sprig.

Sit back and enjoy... I know I will - Before the police arrive...

The Perfect Storm: Powdery Mildew

Against previous traditions, I BOUGHT zucchini plants this year. I was getting a late start on things and thought I'd get a head start. I wanted to have the first zucchini on the block and I wanted lot of it. Nothing like bribing neighbors with fresh produce!

In buying my plants however I can't say for sure if the seeds were well taken care of or the plants started properly... I also bought a 4 pack and planted all 4... And no, I didn't plant them 12-24" a part as they are in my raised beds... Some of you will know what this leads to and others will say "so what".

The so what is that this year I seem to have powdery mildew growing on my plants. It has even spread to my acorn squash that's growing in the garden nearby... Squash that can not properly breath with adequate air circulation, and even late day waterings can all add up to nastiness, as it did this year for me.

So what is powdery mildew?

Powdery mildew is a white/grayish white fungus that can grow on many varieties of plants and grasses. It rarely causes the death of plants, but can cause an off taste. Optimum conditions for powdery mildew are moderate temperatures with high humidity. Shade and poor air circulation along with overcrowding increase the chances for powdery mildew.

In other words, I have the perfect storm for powdery mildew - I got too far ahead of myself and in the attempt to have the FIRST zucchini, and lots of it, I caused powdery mildew in my garden.

In years past, before my kids, I may have used a spray on fungicide to kill the beast, but now I try more organic substances first. So today I mixed up a batch of 1T baking soda, 1t liquid dish soap and 1 gallon of water. I then sprayed the plants, and removed the leaves that were the most infected. I have also heard that a milk/water mixture can kill powdery mildew, so I may try that next...

On a positive note, there are no squash beetles effecting the plants this year - that's what typically gets my zucchini!!!

photo: Monroe County MSU extension