The Modern Victory Garden

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week. It’s fun to see what everyone else is harvesting from gardens in many different regions.                 

I really was not very good about taking pictures of the harvest this week for some reason.   In addition, the harvest weight totals is understated because it does not include the onion harvest.   I pulled all of the onions Sunday afternoon but will not weigh them until the tops have dried down and can be removed.   I did not get pictures of very many of the harvests, but here is what I did manage to capture.

There are four types of onions in this harvest - red and yellow storage onions, Candy and Walla Walla sweet onions.   I am not pleased with how small the red and the Walla Walla onions ended up being.  The storage and Candy onions were small to medium sized which was an okay harvest.  

Harvest totals for the week of August 2nd through August 8th (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Carrots 0.25 lbs
• Cucumbers 0.25 lbs
• Herbs (mostly dill) 0.25 lbs
• Lettuce 0.25 lbs
• Onions 0.50 lbs
• Potatoes 1.75 lbs
• Tomatoes 1.00 lbs
• Zucchini 4.50 lbs

Total For Week 8.75 lbs

Total Year To Date 123.75 lbs                                

I mentioned in a recent blog post that I had hand pollinated the pumpkins to get fruit set in the absence of very many bees.   I received an email asking about this process from a reader and I thought it might be good to just show how it is done for the squash family plants by posting about it.                     

First, you need to have both male and female plants flowering.   The male flower is on a stem and looks something like this.                     

The female flower can be identified because it will have an immature fruit formed under the flower, which looks something like this.        

To hand pollinate I use a large soft makeup brush, designed for applying blush or powder foundation.                           

I use the brush to swirl and swish around the inside of the MALE flower, applying enough pressure that the soft bristles firmly contact all parts of the flower.                  

The result is a brush loaded with pollen from the male flower.                 

I then swirl and swish the pollen loaded brush around the inside of the FEMALE flower, applying enough pressure that the soft bristles firmly contact all parts of the flower.          

That’s all there is to it!   If you are trying to save seed then you will need to use a new (sterile) brush and use isolation techniques (such as bagging the flowers) to keep the seed pure.   However, I am usually pollinating just to get fruiting to occur and so I generally just use the same brush all the time.       

Laura

Kitsapfreedomgardener