Harvest Season

The seasons are on the brink of change again, and harvest time is in full swing at my garden.  Let's take a quick look at what I've gotten thus far:


Cilantro.  Granted, I didn't know what I was doing with it, and didn't harvest often enough when it was a small plant.  Then the weather warmed and the plant began flowering.  When cilantro flowers, it's then called a different name entirely:  coriander.  It's still edible at this point; now it's just the seeds that are harvested and used in Indian dishes.  You could still use the leaves, I suppose, but I'm not sure how good they taste.  I need to research that some more.  But it hardly matters at this point; the stems have dried out and I tossed the whole thing into the compost.





Basil.  I've learned a lot from this herb, also:  harvest early, and often.  Clipping it back aggressively every week or two doesn't appear to hurt it in the slightest.  In fact, the leaves become more vigorous and bushy with every cutting.  Though when basil flowers, the plant does wonders to attract pollinators.  But watch out, because you'll get good ones along with bad.  I've used my basil in soups, in pesto, dried it, and I've still got it coming!

Mint:  same rules as basil.  Not surprising in the slightest, really; they're in the same botanical family.  They grow in a similar fashion and location, are harvested the same way, and have similar pests that like to eat them. (Including humans).

Onions.  These were one of my favorite things to grow!  Vigorous, having little insect damage, and edible at any stage of its life.  We ate bunches of fresh green onions this year, and STILL had enough bulb onions left over for harvest!  We got 10 lbs out of our garden, easy.














Corn.  Though tasty, I probably won't grow this again.  Corn is quite a needy crop, flopping over during a windy day, vigorously sucking every available nutrient from the soil, not growing well next to other plants, and needing WAY more fertilization mid-season than I was willing to provide.  But I got 2 lbs of corn off the cob and safely stored into my freezer, so I count that as a success.

Jalapeno.  My bell peppers may have flopped this year, but these are doing pretty well.  I've gotten some green ones, and then forgot about them for a bit and harvested some red ones, also.  Did someone say salsa?

Tomatoes.  These are my babies; that's why I saved them for last.  I didn't expect to love them as much as I did.  But now I know why the tomato is America's favorite crop...tomatoes are easy and fun to grow, vigorous producers, and gorgeous.  I often found myself making excuses just to go out and play with them:  pruning branches, training the vines, cutting out blighted leaves, watering, fertilizing, weeding, stabilizing trellises, tying additional supports for sprawling vines...the list goes on.  And apparently my work paid off; I've harvested 60 lbs so far...and the plants are still going strong!