Harvest before the storm

 This morning I went "shopping" in my greenhouse and kitchen garden.  Here you can see Rhubarb,Garlic Chives, and Cucumbers.  That wasn't all that was harvested though.

 Nope I also got the last of the pea's off the vine.  Not a whole lot this year but thats ok with me. But the harvest shopping spree didn't stop there.

 From left to right front row is Basil, Rosemary, Pesto  Basil.  And in the back row is Variegated Mint.  Talk about a nice smelling cutting board.  But that wasn't all I picked up.

Nope a big pile of Lemon Balm.  Now that is some strong smelling herbs there.  My kids smelled it from another room.

I harvested early this morning as it's the best time to harvest herbs but some days I also harvest in the evening after the heat of the day.  Today my evening harvest time was stormy.  So it looks like Mother Nature truly did read my blog and gave me and the gardens some very much needed rain.  I just hope that she doesn't go over board and give us too much rain like last month.

Oh well rain is rain and it is needed.

Harvesting Edible Garden Tour - Thriving Thursday - KinderGARDEN update

Another month has pasted us by and brings us to the 21st where we show off what we are harvesting in our gardens.  This month the tour lands on a Thursday which means it's also Thriving Thursday and KinderGARDEN update day as well.  So today's post will contain a portion of each as today they all happen to work together.  See Aiden's Cucumber plant is Thriving to the point of harvest.

 Granted it's a little odd shaped but ready it was.

 At least according to Aiden it was.  He looks so cute trying to look at it.  But look out and look close he is armed with scissors.

 One curly prickly cucumber coming up.

 This is the inspection face.  But look out don't tell him it's funny looking he is still armed and 4 years old.

 Aiden picked his 1st cucumber so Shannon said she must pick hers as well.  Shannon's 1st cucumber was not even half the size of Aiden's but like him she declared it ready to pick.  As there are over 90 days left of the growing season and more buds ready to bloom who am I to tell her she can't pick it.

 So now it's time to watch out for the armed 8 year old.

 And this would be Shannon's inspection face....I think. But again be warned any bad statements about her cucumber could be detrimental to your health as she is also still armed.

 So on to the non kid plants that are Thriving this Thursday and also Harvesting this month.  The second round of peas is beginning to ripen this season

 Sage is also growing quite well and needed to be harvested.  Just look at those leaves.

And last but not least on my list of Thriving Harvesting plants this Thursday is one of my favorite herbs Pesto Basil.  Even if I didn't like the smell or the flavor of this herb I think I would grow it anyways for the beauty of the leaves.

So The Inadvertent Farmer hosts the weekly KinderGARDEN updates so head over there and see who else is gardening with their kids and what they have been up too.

Want to participate in Thriving Thursday?  Then add your like here - 

Or would you like to participate in the Harvesting Edible Garden Tour?  Well then just at a link to your post here - 

Harvesting Edible Garden Tour - June 21, 2011

Another month has passed by and brings us right back to the 21st.  A day in which I like to show off what I have harvested this past month.  Today is also the beginning of Summer.  Given the fact that it has been increasingly warm the past few weeks my harvest tally is up.  So on to a few pictures of what I have been harvesting...take a walk through the gardens with me.

We will start our tour at the Garage Garden area.  Where pea's, beans, and corn are growing.

 The peas are climbing and happy.  Buds are making way to fat yummy pods full of peas

 Not much I know but hey it's the first harvest of the pea season.





Next we will travel West to the Strawberry bed.

 The white strawberry plants I started from seed are very happy in their new home.  The strawberry bed has blooms popping up all over.  These pretty guys are just about ready.

The will never turn red.  White strawberry plants lack a chemical that allows them to ripen to red.  They grow green like all strawberries do but then slowly turn white.  Only 3 so far but hey it's just the first year.



Continuing our Westward travel we will head into the Greenhouse to see what's harvesting in there.

Along the south wall we see Rhubarb happily growing and soaking up the sun.

Big leaves that were able to grow basically bug free.  Healthy red stalks ready for freezing.

In the center isle we see the Mint.  Famous for growing fast.  It seems every other week it looks like it needs trimming.

This harvest went to the gardens.  Because it grows so fast and I only need just so much of this I like to spread it around sometimes.  I like to take the cuttings and just kinda toss them into some of the garden beds to help with bug control.


Outside the greenhouse the extension garden and Vine bed are growing well but nothing to harvest yet. So we will head South for a little bit and check out the Arbor.

The water fountain that sits under the Grape arbor has now become a home for Alpine Strawberries.  I thought it would look cool to see the runners falling over the fountain as water does.  Of course this variety doesn't seem to produce runners but thats ok.

Because it did produce 1 very nice looking juicy strawberry.



Heading North-West now we go around the corner of the house and see the Kitchen Garden.  Where more corn is growing along with Broccoli and Cauliflower.

After last years failed attempt at growing broccoli I finally got one growing.

It may have been small and only one but who cares.  I got one to grow.  I may have waited a little too long to harvest this one as it seems that it was almost to the flowering stage.

So I hope you enjoyed the quick tour of IrishGardens and come back soon.  What is Harvesting in your neck of the world?    I would love to read about it.  Make a post and add your link.  Come back later and take a tour of another garden.

Growth Over time - The Pea

Given that I had to search the internet to find pictures of what each of my plants would look like at different stages I thought I would add a section here for each plant that I grow....from seed-harvest and beyond if possible. Growth Over time will be part of the Title and the lable.

So to the life of the Pea:

In the begining there is a seed. Either saved from previous years, given by a friend, or in my case bought from a store. The important part about this is chosing the kind of Pea you want. There are many and some will do better in your zone than others. Sometimes experimenting isn't a bad idea either though. The variety that I got on the package said 2' tall vines that need no support. Well that was wrong...they did....but besides that there is a lot of information on the back of seed packets so be sure to look. For this kind it said 63 days to harvest. This number is suppost to be from sowing to harvest not transplant to harvest...Mine? 66 day..not too bad if you ask me. Pretty darn close. So here are pictures of the plants at different stages/times. Hope this helps


Day 4Day 7Day 12Day 13 After transplanted into GreenhouseDay 24Day 28 Showing signs of needing supportDay 49Day 58 Buds have started to appearDay 66. Harvesting ready podsDay 69. After a few days of harvesting a few pods a day it looks as though they are starting to die off.

There are still flowers forming and a few pods still growing so I may get more out of them yet.

I hope that this is helpful to others

The Pea's are comming.

Yesterday was a great day in the life of my Greenhouse. Some of my pea's were finally ready to be picked. Getting very tall and seeing lots of little flat pods all over them I was checking daily to see the progress. Finally the day arived where a few handfuls of them were nice and fat. A sign that they are indeed ready to be picked.


So after a quick watering for the morning I got my basket and special cutters and went to town finding all the fat little pods. Kinda felt like an easter egg hunt. But let me tell you easter eggs are easier to find....at least they are usually different colors. Every thing here is green.



After a good few minuets maybe 2 handfulls of peas were removed from the plants and brought inside. The remaning peas on the vine will be watched.

Just look at that little pod full of peas. The kids all begged to try some, and of course I let them. Shannon is holding up a pod for me so we can see the little guys inside. The kids loved this part. It was almost like Christmas. How many can you find in one pod. You just never know.








Although not enough for a meal I would say a good little bit have harvested. So we can't eat them as a veggie to a meal but we can just eat them like this.....


Later in the evening while checking the greenhouse again more were found to now be ready. Whether I missed them that morning or they were just now ready I will never know. But who cares. For the next few days at least once a day we will be finding pea's that have fattened up and are ready to get in my belly.

Progress everywhere.

The Jiffy Greenhouse:

After just shy of 24 hours in the Green house these little gems have taken off. The growth is just amazing. Granted this is the time for them to be growing but hey.

Sweet Corn..

..Green Beans

Cauliflower..

..Broccoli

Green Pepper..

..Peas

The Outside Garden:

The Garden off the kitchen has also shown a lot of progress over night. I am sure that the rain storm last night helped. The Rhubarb is starting to get it's trademark color. And the Onions are popping up all over. The onions that were already showing are just getting taller....off to a good start.