Garden Counts for 2011 to date, most of the harvest is done, will do one more big update in oct on what the final main harvest will be..
Hard Fruits
Apples-77 pds-Still a bit more coming yet
Crabapples-44 pds
Wild Crabapples-61 pds
Cherries Sour-16 pds
Cherries Sweet-3 pds
Pears- 12 pds
Mulberries- 4 pds
Plums-14 pds
Wild Plums-6 pds to date, more coming
Peaches-22 pds
Soft Fruits
Gooseberries-13 pds
Elderberries-43 pds -still have more to harvest.
Chokeberries-26 pds
Cranberries- Not done yet
High Bush Cranberries-Good crop this year but waiting for first frost to pick
Strawberries-88 pds
Raspberries-41 pds
Blueberries – 13 pds (wild Pick 24 pds)
Rhubarb-65 pds
Red Currents-11 pds
Black Currents-None
BlackBerries- 9 pds
Grapes- 79 pds but still one picking left.
Garden
Beans=37 pds- Second crop still picking
Cucumbers-58 pds
Zucchini- 22 pds
Acorn Squash-8 pds but lots coming! Butternut Squash- 11 pds with lots coming!
Potatoes-80 pds but another 200 plus still in the ground if the ones dug are giving a idea of what is coming yet.
Basil- one quart jar dried
Tomatoes-220 pds with more coming.
Storing Onions- 36 pds
Green onions- 22 pds
Arrugula-None
Kale-12 pds
Collard Greens- 17 pds
Kohlrabi- 8 pds
Green’s salad mix- 26 pds Romane-11 pds
Broccoli- 33 pds
Asparagus- 24 pds
Peppers-92 pds plus more coming
Pea’s- 5 pds
Pumpkin- Good crop but not picked yet
Muskmelon-10 pds
Watermelons- 18 pds
Carrots- 21 pds so far
Beets-14 pds so far
Radishes-11 pds so far
Corn- 48 pds on the cob -Cabbage 17 pds-with more harvest coming.
Turnips -8 pds, most not dug yet.
So how did your garden do this year? We had a good year for the garden, the spring was early, and mild, but wet, the staggered plants happen lots and well, the hugelbeets did well, the garden got overrun and outgrew most of their planting area’s despite giving them extra spacing and straw ground cover, some fruits had bumper year crops, others were ok, and some where not good at all. The fall crops appear to be coming in well, last year I lots almost all my tomato’s to blight, this year the crop is amazing and still coming on strong. The Potato’s and root crops along with the winter sqaush are looking very good at this time so far.
What was your bumper crop this year? what was your crop that just would not grow? Did you get enough rain this year? To much heat? to much rain? Not enough heat?
Just another Day on the Farm 
I think we had a nearly perfect year for gardens here, weather – wise – too bad we were such newbies, and did not take full advantage of it! Our harvest is not all in yet, but it’s looking like a great year for root veg – potatoes, carrots, turnips – and we did pretty well with the squash, too. The beans went nuts, too. Our big disappointments were the peas (never really bore much), the beets (failed to thrive, though it looks like we’ll get a few), and the melons, which were planted so late that nothing bore. No fruit trees yet (we’ve only just starting planting them), but the everbearing strawberries we planted in May surprised the heck out of us and gave us big handfuls of strawberries all summer, plus enough for jam last week. Same with the raspberries we planted this spring. I think we’ll have a lot of berries next year…
Hi JJ, I can’t say it was a perfect year for gardening here but overall it was a good year, thanks so much for your overview on your garden, I think you guys did great for being new at it, and sounds like you have set things up really well for having lots of berries each coming year.
Hey FarmGal, You are an inspiration, congrats!
Haven’t weighed anything yet, but have tons of ripe Romas to can, Heritage Cherry Toms to roast; loads of Sheppard (to chop & freeze) and Jalapeno Peppers to pickle/dry; four beautiful heads of Red Cabbage for kraut; and the onions? Well, they went in so late and the soil went from too wet and cold to the other extreme almost overnight, that let’s just say that they’ve done ‘way better in other years and leave it at that…
May I ask what/how you do what you do with the HighBush Cranberries, once they’ve been frosted? Do they need just a light frost or a hard freeze? You might just get that frost wish tonight, by the sound of it, and right on the heels of the Harvest Moon too (Grandma always said that “There were no guarantees of frost-free nights once it (the Harvest Moon) was past, and that every extra day was a gift.”) Not one second wasted this year, eh?
Hi Deb, the highbush cranberries need a good hard frost to sweeten up and soften a bit, you can harvest them frozen solid later in winter but a good hard frost is ideal, what you are looking for is they flatten slightly and become more clear red, instead of a round deeper red berry.
As for what you do with them, you make moke cranberry jelly, high bush cranberry jelly is almost impossable to tell about from a good qaulity cranberry jelly, but its alot easier to grow across canada, and produces much berries on the bushes, be warned if you make this, that the smell of the cooking berries when you start is not going to make you think yum, the juice itself is not goingt to be tasty, its only after you add the sugar and start the simmer that you are going to start the hmmm, this is looking good, and once you are finished does the amazing flavor come together.
I’m declaring this year a complete flop for me, never have I had such a poor year. If we had to get through to next year with what we grew we would be pretty hard up. I’m taking it all as a learning experience and have quite a few ideas about what to do in the future now, just in case there’s another year when everything goes wrong, and I would rather learn now than when we really need it. Still, I have blackberries like you wouldn’t believe! I feel rich when I add up how much they would cost at the store. lol And my fall spinach is going like crazy which makes me happy too. Got lots of beets too. Do you have any good recipes that make beets taste less like, um, dirt? 🙂 I think I’m going to have to learn to like them this winter.