Harvest Monday for December 26th, 2011.

First of all, I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Christmas. Ours was very nice with having all four grandkids in the house at once. It was really a lot of fun!

Anyway here we are, poised at the end of another gardening year. It seems that it sure went by fast in that this Harvest Monday is the last one for 2011.

So here's the latest info:

The marconi peppers are finally finished producing for the year with these little ones weighing a total of just three and a half ounces.

We picked one and one-quarter pounds of buttercrunch lettuce from a few of the plants in the two rows we have.

We picked eight and one-quarter pounds of collards for taking to our family Christmas dinner. The whole family is looking forward to them.

Two Inspectors from the Bureau of Broccoli came by to inspect the crop and said that it was ready for a small harvest.

We ended up harvesting our first pound of broccoli this week. It's delicious!

If you recall that celery root that I planted in a container, this pic shows the harvest from it. No, not the big stalks. The little sprigs at the bottom left. I couldn't resist using them as part of the Christmas stuffing/dressing that I make. They weighed a whopping one ounce.

Well, that concludes a year of Harvest Mondays. I have sure enjoyed reading all the blogs that were part of the Harvest Mondays hosted by DaphnesDandelions. I want to say thanks to all the people that have visited my blog in the past year and those that shared their comments with me.

Best wishes to everyone for the new year, and have a great vegetable gardening day. Veggie PAK

Harvest Monday for December 12th, 2011.

As we approach mid-December, the garden still produces its bounty for our family. Anything that is still growing is doing it slowly, but at least it's still growing for us.

This week I harvested some of my buttercrunch lettuce for the first time and got one and one-quarter pounds of it. Salads and sandwiches are on the lunch menus for this week!

The Marconi peppers are on the wane now with somewhat wilted-looking leaves on all the plants, but I still picked 34 small peppers weighing a total of one and three-quarter pounds. The largest was just over four inches long.

I've been saving the crowns of the Marconi peppers when I processed them so they would dry and I could save the seeds. I ended up with several tablespoonfuls of the seed for my family to use next year.

We started using more orange bell peppers from the store since we learned that they are supposed to be really good for the health of your eyes. These seeds were from just two peppers after I dried the crowns, just like with the Marconi's. We'll see how well they grow next spring.

This week I completed the planting of the three remaining rows of collard plants. Between the last row of collards and the closest row of lettuce, I managed to fit in the Swiss chard that I had been growing in a container.

Here is a view of the 18 inch spacing of my plants (not the lettuce) so I can mini-till between them going straight across my garden. The rows actually run from left to right.


This was a short post, but things are slow growing during this time of year. The collards will provide a very nice picking for Christmas dinner in just a couple of weeks from now. Christmas is almost here! Can you believe it?

Everyone stay warm and good luck with your winter crops. I hope they all do very well for everyone!

Have a great vegetable gardening day!
Veggie PAK

December 6, 2011 Garden Status.

There's no harvest to speak of this week, but the green tomatoes that I picked last week have surprised me and by today, most of them have turned red and have been used in salads and sandwiches! There are still a few green ones left, but I'm really hoping they turn red as well. Tomatoes from the garden in December is a real treat! I still haven't picked the buttercrunch lettuce, but I have been busy. I pulled the remaining tomato plants then cleaned and stored the homemade cages, and then I tilled the area thoroughly to prepare it for my next planting.

This is where I am going to plant three rows of collards that I just bought, and one row of Swiss chard that I currently have growing in a container. Squirrels keep digging in the container and I'm sure that's affecting the growth of the plants. If there isn't enough Swiss chard to fill a row, I'll finish it up with some additional buttercrunch lettuce plants that I bought.

The broccoli is growing very well. The plants are very healthy but I don't see any broccoli florets yet. With plants looking as good as these appear to be, I wouldn't think it would be too long before the florets begin showing up. You can see by the weeds growing up that it's time to run my Mantis mini-tiller through the garden again. The great thing about that is that I planted both plots in a checkerboard pattern, so I can go criss-cross down the rows and between the plants. Everything except my lettuce is planted 18 inches apart so I can "weed" with the Mantis. If it wasn't for my brother Joe, I'd probably still be in the thinking stage about buying the Mantis. Thanks Joe!

That concludes the garden status for this week's post. I sincerely thank each visitor and also comments that are shared with me. I appreciate all of you for taking your valuable time to see how my garden is progressing during this time of year.

Have a great vegetable gardening day!
Veggie PAK