Weekly Harvest Weigh-In #2

So is it just me or has this been the weirdest year for gardening, weather-wise?  The past two days have barely gotten up to 65 degrees and I was forced to break out my thermal pajamas.  It's nearly July!  Mid-eighties are our norm this time of year.

It seems that we're going to be shooting back up to the 90's again this week with lots of severe thunderstorms in the forecast.  Lots of rain.  Perfect conditions for various plant diseases to pop up.  I'll be keeping a close eye on my cucurbits.  And I'm really glad that I forced myself to not crowd the tomatoes this year.  Good air circulation should keep a lot of those tomato problems at bay.

I should be getting my first ripe tomatoes here pretty soon.  Our friend digitS' from TEG showed us this week an interesting photo story of how long it takes a Big Beef tomato to grow from a bud to a ripe tomato.  It's not just my imagination (compounded by the mouthwatering anticipation) -- it really does take forever!

So far all I have been able to harvest from my garden is about five gallons of strawberries, a few green onions for supper here and there and maybe a handful of blackberries.  (These thornless ones I have come on very gradually.  It's a real effort to beat the birds and the kiddo to them!)

So onto this week's weigh-in...

This Weigh-In will be open until midnight on Sunday, July 3rd. All that is required is that your post be current and relevant to edible gardening that you have invested your own time and sweat equity in. Be sure to link to your specific gardening post and NOT your blog's main page. Please provide a link within your post to the current Weigh-In so that others can join in (this page.)  You are welcome to grab the Harvest Weigh-In banner above and use it to link back here. This is a family friendly site and I reserve the right to remove any links that are inappropriate, irrelevant or otherwise deemed spam.

***Weighing in is optional; you are still welcome to link up a post about your garden!
If you don't have anything to weigh-in for this week, that's OK!***

Check back with us every Monday for the next week's Harvest Weigh-In! Take some time to visit other gardeners' blog posts below that may be of interest to you. Happy gardening!

Three Things I Learned This Week

Three things I learned this week, in the garden...

1) Hummingbirds love this pink honeysuckle vine. (I don't remember seeing any on it last year?)

2) Scalding weeds is easier than pulling them. I kept refilling the tea kettle and as it came to a boil, just dumped it on them!

3) It's easy to grow butterflies in a bucket!  These are Black Swallowtail caterpillars that I found on my black anise and dill.  We give them fresh greens everyday.  They just eat and grow!

Then they crawl up the side of the little bucket and make their chrysalis.  If they attach to a green stem (or a green dot on a bucket...ha) the chrysalis will be green.

If they attach to something dark, like this brown plastic honey bee queen excluder that I used for a lid, their chrysalis will then be brown.  Cool camouflage, huh?  :)

Linking up with the Barn Hop #18 over at Homestead Revival.  Go check 'em out!

A New Favorite

My new favorite -- Tetra Ruffled tall cutting snapdragons. 
They last over a week in the vase!
I can't believe these grew from such a teeny tiny little seed.

And my old standbys -- old fashioned hollyhocks. 
I've lost track of how many colors I have now. 
It's just not summer until the hollyhocks bloom.  :)

Weekly Harvest Weigh-In #1

I often joke with my husband that while he may be the breadwinner in our household, I'm the veggie winner.  And eggs and poultry too, but really that is more of a joint effort...

After talking with some of my gardening friends on The Easy Garden, I've decided that this summer I am going to start faithfully weighing and logging what I grow.  My garden produces abundantly and goes a long way toward feeding my family throughout the whole year.  I already track all of my egg and meat bird production and I am very curious to see just how much my effort in the garden is really paying off.

If you love to grow your own fruit and veggies, I'm going to encourage you to do the same!  I will be hosting a weekly Harvest Weigh-In here at One Sunny Acre where you can share with us your garden's progress and how much you have harvested throughout the week.  Whether you choose to keep a spreadsheet on the computer or simply jot it down in a small notebook, I invite you to come by every Monday and link up here to a blog post you have written for that week's harvest.

If you don't have a blog already, it's easy to get one started.  I use Blogger.  Or if you prefer, you may also choose to weigh-in by simply posting a comment below.

Any recent blog post about your own edible gardening efforts will qualify for the Harvest Weigh-In.  Show us your garden's progress.  Show us pictures of your fresh produce.  Show us those colorful canning jars all in a row.  Show us your herb garden.  If you grow it to feed your family, be it fruit or veggie, you can link it up here.

I have a food scale that I already use frequently for cooking, so I will be tracking my harvest in pounds.  I plan to also compare my harvest's value with the current going rate for similar product at the grocery store (although we all know a garden-fresh tomato is far superior to a sorry ol' store bought slicer.)  ;)  My intention is to determine how much money I save by growing my own.

You can't get any fresher or more local than what you grow in your own backyard!  Homegrown produce is richer nutritionally as well, since it is picked and eaten at the peak of ripeness.  You can't beat the glorious flavor of a sun-ripened heirloom tomato.  I love my garden.  I live in my garden.  When it's cold and snowing, I dream about my garden...

Here's a few highlights from this week's garden.  It took awhile to get it all in this year, once the rain finally stopped, but things are starting to catch up!

I planted about 300 or so onions this spring.  Although they went in a month behind schedule, they are bulbing up nicely.

My kitchen herb garden is beginning to fill in.  I tried to plant every herb I could think of!  My lovage and cumin failed to germinate.  I'll have to try starting those again in flats.

For the first time EVER, I have mulched all of my transplants BEFORE the weeds showed up!

These Costoluto Genovese tomatoes are almost full size.  They are a beautiful, fluted, heirloom paste tomato.

These are Santa Fe hot peppers, the first of my pepper plants to set fruit.

I can't wait to start munchin' on these lil' babies straight from the garden.  These are Super Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes.

Some women collect Fiesta Ware... I collect manure.  How much is enough?
My husband says you can just call him "Dung Beetle Boy".  Ha.

OK, your turn!  This Weigh-In will be open until midnight on Sunday, June 26th.  All that is required is that your post be current and relevant to edible gardening that you have invested your own time and sweat equity in.  Be sure to link to your specific gardening post and NOT your blog's main page.  Please provide a link within your post to the current Weigh-In so that others can join in.  You are welcome to grab the Harvest Weigh-In banner above and use it to link back here.  This is a family friendly site and I reserve the right to remove any links that are inappropriate, irrelevant or otherwise deemed spam.

***Weighing in is optional; you are still welcome to link up a post about your garden!  If you don't have anything to weigh-in for this week, that's OK!***

Check back with us every Monday for the next week's Harvest Weigh-In!  Take some time to visit other gardeners' blog posts below that may be of interest to you.  Happy gardening!