I was caught off guard by the amount of tomatoes we were able to pick this week. The cherries have become a bit of a nightmare at this point. We've lost quite a bit to splitting simply because I haven't been able to keep up with them. Harvesting the clusters can be rather tedious as the tomato vines are completely overgrown and I have to admit that it's not any activity I particularly enjoy. (Ok, I will stop complaining now.) On the bright side, I remember the last time I purchased a supermarket tomato.
Two more yummy artichokes were picked this week. They are well worth the effort if you ask me.
I also picked a fair amount of purple tomatillos. They make for an awesome roasted salsa verde (or should I say, "salsa morado").
Peppers/chilies are definitely something I need to grow more of next year. I wasn't able to harvest nearly as much as I would have liked to this summer. The Poblanos have been particularly good.
Finally, I harvested the last watermelon in the garden today - a Sugar Baby. Up until this point, I hadn't been able to pick a single ripe one. Luckily this last one pulled through. Leaving it on the vine for a week after the tendril closest to the fruit turned brown, as suggested by several of my blogging buddies, seemed to do trick. (Thanks guys!) It was very sweet, but not nearly as interesting as the Thai watermelon I grew. It don't think I'll grow it again next year.
This week's numbers:
Swiss Chard - 1.11 lb
Tomatoes - 41.13 lb
Tomatillos - 2.98 lb
Peppers - 3.00 lb
Artichokes - 0.53 lb
Watermelon - 5.88 lb
Ground Cherries - 0.27 lb
Total harvest this week - 54.90 lb
OMG, your cherry tomato numbers are just shocking! They sure do look pretty! I'm really glad the last melon turned out ok for ya!
ReplyDeleteYour photos (and produce!) are simply stunning. YUM! So if we move back home this month, can we be your first CSA customers? I'm not kidding... :)
ReplyDeleteWOW....41 lbs of tomatoes!! I harvested about 14 lbs this week from a few plants. The tomatoes are doing really well for this time of the year. Those artichokes look great!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful harvest once again. The tomatoes look like a pile of jewels. I can see why it would take a lot of time to harvest the cherry ones.
ReplyDeleteWe cut into our last Sugar Baby yesterday and found that it was perfectly ripe. I don't think I will be growing these next year either. They take up a lot of real estate for only a few fruit that may or may not be ok.
Gorgeous peppers! I didn't have enough peppers this year either.
It's official. You. Are. Insane! What will you DO with all of those LOL? Your melon looks great, glad you were able to get one at the peak. I'm scratching the jalapenos for next year and doing more chiles and banana pepper type things!
ReplyDeleteI just can nor get over all of those tomatoes Thomas, too funny. I have not had as many peppers as I had hoped for either, one plant has given only ONE pepper. Crazy. And they have been small in size compared to last year.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful harvest!
ReplyDeleteYour posts always make me hungry. Congratulations on your harvest. :)
ReplyDeleteYour tomatoes are beautiful. It seems that cherry tomatoes did well this year in several parts of the country, I have had very large numbers of those as well.
ReplyDeleteWe had a delicious cherry tomato dish last night that I will post later this week, I had to find some way to use all of them. I have frozen them, included them in sauce, eaten numerous salads. Not complaining though, winter is coming.
-Brenda
Will you be growing the same number of tomato plants next year? This is unbelievable how much they are producing and I am not seeing any sign of stopping.
ReplyDeleteI will be sowing artichoke next year - they are beautiful! Did you leave any of them to flower?
I can't even describe my reaction to your harvests with adequate vocabulary. Beautiful, amazing, gorgeous, & inspiring come to mind. I even had one of your previous harvest photos as my desktop image to inspire me! Thanks for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteColor me jealous your harvest is not only bountiful, but strikingly beautiful!
ReplyDeleteAmazing tomato harvest! All the colors of the rainbow, they are awesome. And I never thought one could grow artichokes in zone 6!
ReplyDeleteOMG, 41 more pounds of tomatoes! I stopped growing Sungolds because they are too prolific. I got sick of picking them every year and just didn't know what to do with so many of them, and if I really want them I can get them at the farmer's market. If it wasn't so easy to buy good chokes here I would grow them also, they are so good.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like your tomatoes and peppers have been individually waxed and shined. They look insanely perfect. I want to feel bad for you for your cherry tomato nightmare, but my envy way overpowers my sympathy. :-)
ReplyDeleteYour peppers look great. I had plenty of plants this year but not much fruit set with the high heat in mid July. Now all the plants are blooming but the time for them to mature is quickly slipping away. I'm going to try bringing some in to over winter like Ottawa Gardener does.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely assortment! I'd like to use your vegetables to decorate my house for Christmas, they're so pretty :-)
ReplyDeleteI quit growing cherry tomatoes long ago because of the overwhelming harvests and the not so useful size - but given my lousy summer conditions this year (not good for tomatoes) I am seriously kicking myself for not growing a Sungold plant. I bet it would have saved the day for me.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful and inspiring harvests yet again Thomas.
Great harvest, I love those beautiful tomato pictures!
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ReplyDeleteHmm, this is the second time blogger has hiccuped and deleted my comment today. Strange
ReplyDeleteOh wow, what a tomato bounty! You would think with fall slowly encroaching, the tomatoes would be coming to their end. Yet it seems like everyone is still reaping rewards from their tomato vines. What do you do with all those cherry tomatoes?
Those artichokes look perfect! How did you end up preparing them?
Wowzas! Gorgeous tomato harvest! I love those tomatilos. I saw some seeds for those purple tomatilos in a seed catalog. I'll have to remember to get some for next year. They look beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteYour tomato harvest is truly outstanding. Really jealous!!
ReplyDeleteOMG!! What a wonderful harvest!!
ReplyDeleteYou don't know how much I love the sight of those photos!!
Not to turn this into a shameless commercial, but if you take a peek at my recent blog-post, you'll see why I'm so thrilled with your veggies, fruit and garden!!
Be still my heart!
I love your blog!!
What a beautiful harvest - and the artichokes too!
ReplyDeleteI am just in awe of your photography skills. The colours in the garden this time of year are amazing but it is so difficult to get that colour right with a camera.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! Your tomatoes are incredible. I might try those purple tomatillos next year...
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