Harvesting Time

Hello everyone! 🍆🌱🍅🥕

I posted my last field activities about a month ago when it was still summer. Now summer is slowly saying goodbye and autumn is at the door. It started very warmly, maybe because of the crazy summer, who knows?

It has been hot, dry, and sunny here for about ten days now and we have taken advantage of this weather by harvesting our crops.

We had potatoes planted here. The picture shows part of the field that we have cleared and I have leveled with the motor cultivator, because after the potatoes we have planted turnips, black radishes, and radicchio.
Nothing has sprouted yet.

Last year we planted more potatoes, so I used a motor cultivator to dig them up. Photo from last year's post.

This year, this was not necessary as we planted half as much. I went out four times in the afternoon and dug it out by hand.
Btw: this is the animated gif from the previous post - I didn't have time to take a picture of everything again, I've been busy hand-bathing :)

We dried them for a couple of days and then sorted them into crates according to size. I just hope it doesn't eventually start to rot and have to be sorted again.
By the way: How do you know that potatoes rot?
You'll smell it right away :)

We also picked some tomatoes, but I'm not happy because it's too watery, with very little flavor. Probably because of too much rain in August. What is not eaten we will cook the sauce.

This is the tomato that was left, but it has all gone bad. It will probably all have to be thrown away.

Soya was the most disappointing this year. Last year I harvested 7 kilos and we used almost all of it for edamame.

But this year I didn't grow a single plant! I don't know why, I had the same seed given to me by my mother who has been planting the same seeds for thirty years. I gave the same seed to a friend and it all sprouted... so I really don't have an answer...

Another disappointment is chickpeas, which I planted for the first time. At first, everything looked fine, the kernels were starting to form, but then I noticed that everything in the fruit was empty...
My colleague told me that maybe it was because there had been a lot of rain and no bees to fertilize the flowers... I don't know... again I don't have a clear picture of what happened... then I pulled everything up.

I leveled the place where the chickpeas had been with a motor cultivator and my wife planted radicchio, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, and lettuce. And all of these will soon be ready to harvest :)

Not just about disappointments - but this year I was most fascinated by green beans. First, we planted the common green bean growing on the ground, and there were quite a few of them.
Later on, a friend told me to plant what is called 'barjanec', which is a Slovenian green bean, an old variety that needs support and wraps around the stakes you put next to it. At the beginning of July, before we went on holiday, we planted these green beans.

And at the beginning of August, when we returned from the sea, you can't believe it!

There was so much of it that we gained two kilos every third day! And you can't eat it all!
We shared it with friends, and there was still so much that we now have a freezer full. You blanch it quickly in boiling water and then freeze it in half-kilo packages.

And it's still growing now, but not as much.

It's the first time I've ever been greedy :) 😝

In fact, in the markets they sell these green beans for €5-€7 per kilo! 🤑
Next year I can plant three/four times as much. I have enough space!
And, I have a friend who used to be a successful accountant, but he had enough of that and bought a trailer which he now drives around selling eco products. Well, now he has two trailers 🤑🤑

'Slow down, stop', I told myself, 'it might be the same as with Soya'. One year a lot, the next year nothing ... stop thinking like that, a few years ago I planned to have this field just for me and the family....

Well, that idea is still somewhere in my brain ...

Eggplants are still thriving

White eggplants have also grown, but they are still small

And the peppers are also waiting to be picked

And pumpkins, some Hokkaido are still growing, we've already picked up one giant one, a muscadine pumpkin.

I have to mention the chilies :)

I planted four plants, different varieties, three are still pretty good.

Cayenna (it's red now)

Naga Morich

Small Cherry

I also planted Habanero Chocolate, but there are only two fruits and they are not ripe yet.
A couple of days ago I picked all the red ones, which are ripe.

And in a few days, when I have time, probably over the weekend, I'll make them (+ a few extras that are a secret 😜) into a sauce, like last year and the year before.

Finally, here is a photo of the onion flower we left for the seed.
Since I recently bought a new phone (Pixel7) I tried zooming a bit, and only now do I see that there is a spider on the flower attacking another insect, I think it's a bee or wasp.

That's it for now, I'll report back when there's something new.

Thanks for your attention.

That's my seventh post this year about how I got into gardening, and my second in the HiveGarden community.
For those of you who are more interested in my farming and gardening, here are links to my previous posts where I explain how it all started.

Wet Soils And Potato Focus, News From The Field, Changes In The Field, Almost everything is planted, Update - ploughing and planting potatoes, First job in the field - cleaning.