Organic Vegetable Harvest
A lot of planning and effort has gone in to get a bountiful Organic Vegetable Harvest during June and July. My husband has been at it since autumn last year by planting some of the vegetables which would be ripe for this summer harvest. There is a lot of learning curve in store for us yet to enable us to get more productive in the coming years in order to have a more efficient and productive organic vegetable harvest for the future too. I will try to summarize as much as I can into this post.
Ever since we were married we have always wanted our own home with a big garden and enjoy an abundant organic vegetable harvest as a result of the fruits of our labor. The first year of our gardening was productive too even though we had started only in spring last year. We saw an overflow of some vegetables that we were just gifting them away. This year we were more thoughtful of what we wanted and tried planning at what it takes to make our organic vegetables last not just for the summer but that we can go on harvesting from our garden late into winter.
A very dry summer overall
The past few weeks probably whole of Europe has been through a heat wave. We had an almost constant temperature between 34 -36 degrees centigrades. Most of our lawns have turned brown as result of this extreme heat and lack of rains.
Our garden has suffered as a result of it. We were also not to have any fireworks for the Swiss National day celebrations on 1st August for fear of forest fires.
Our onions and garlic have done badly. Garlics were not as big as I would have wanted. There were no onions practically to harvest so we will save them up again and plant them again in autumn. One of neighbours mentioned that these bulbs needed more water for optimal growth. We were watering them yet it seems it was not enough.
Potato Harvest
Last autumn we planted Charlotte potatoes. We have enough potatoes to last us a few months and am grateful for planting the potatoes which I forgot to cook in the cellar last autumn. Instead of throwing them with the roots we just planted them.
You grow them till they get yellow and then loosen the soil before uprooting them. Its amazing to see that from 1 potato you can get so many from the roots.
Charlotte Potatoes are great and a multi purpose one for my needs. This variety is very sturdy and when cooked don’t easily get mushy. I make salads, bake or make fries with them.
I usually store them unwashed in my cellar as they last longer that way. Potatoes are best stored unwashed with soil in a dark and cool place to last some months.
Its a hot favorite in our family. If you want to know more about different potato varieties varieties kindly look up in this link.
Cabbages
Some time beginning of July we harvested most of the white cabbages and just left the Savoy cabbages in the bed.
We made Sauerkraut of the white cabbages. I just stored a couple of them in the fridge. Cabbages generally last long in the fridge if stored properly.
In an earlier blog post I mentioned we also filmed the whole process of making Sauerkraut. I usually cook the Savoy cabbages.
Abundant organic tomato harvest
Tomatoes have been the star that stole the show. We have had so much of them lately. I used them up in salads. The abundance was mainly because of the green house we installed and the warm weather we had. So I shouldn’t complain. As I am writing this blog post, it has finally cooled off.
We canned about a few kilos. I have made a video which will be edited and posted in the next blog.
Some of the other vegetables we harvested regularly were Zucchini, Swiss chard, Okra and a ton of beans.
The Eggplants and bell peppers are also showing signs of getting abundant. The most new vegetable we could harvest was bittermelon. I am yet to cook them. Snake gourd is also popping up.
We are heading off for a week to France for some long post phoned sightseeing and break. Paris is one of my favorite cities and I am revisiting it for the 5th time after almost a decade.
My daughter has been looking forward to it. Until next week.
