Harvesting first fall veggies and winter squash

The first fall veggie we are harvesting is the one that took the longest to grow and we will have the same planting longer than most other veggies.

This week we are starting to harvest leeks which we seeded in the greenhouse in February and planted in the field in May.

It is the third allium we will have at market currently but has a very unique flavor compared to onions and garlic. We are almost out of onions so the leeks will be a nice complement to the garlic for the rest of fall and winter.

The variety of leeks that we grow is called King Richard and we love it for its amazing flavor. Additionally it is a self-blanching variety meaning it has a lot more of the white part that is the best for using in cooking.

The light green part of the leek also can be chopped up and cooked while the tougher tops of the leek are best added to soups to impart their flavor before being removed prior to eating.

Last week we cut the winter squash off the vines and left them in piles in the field to cure a little bit in the sunny, 90 degree days. Tomorrow we will pick all of it and put it in crates in the barn to store.

We are growing the same varieties as last year in Honeynut, Delicata and Butterbaby along with a full sized Butternut. The three smaller varieties are perfect for one or two people to eat in one meal while the larger Butternut require more time to cook and more meals or people to eat them.

All of the varieties are fantastic when sliced in half, the seeds removed and roasted on a pan. The larger butternuts take more time to cook and need a plan to use all of them as they are around 5-6 pounds each.

We are also trialing out a little bit of kabocha squash this year. It is a Japanese variety that has an amazingly sweet flavor and a knobbly-looking skin.

In addition to the winter squash we have some decorative pumpkins that we have picked. Some of them are the large ones designed to be carved and the rest are small ornamental pumpkins in multiple colors and shapes.

This week or next we will also be starting to harvest radishes, turnips and arugula with lettuce and the bunching greens coming shortly.

While we are beginning to harvest the fall crops with many more beginning to be harvested in the coming weeks we are also spending a lot of time planting and weeding.

Every week we are having a few beds of veggies to plant at the minimum as we continue to seed more in the greenhouse. We’ve now been planting for over a month so there are a lot of fall veggies in the ground.

All the planted fall veggies have been getting watered often to stay alive and grow in the heat but that also means that the weeds are growing furiously.

We have been weeding at every possible opportunity to help the transplanted veggies only have to focus on growing and not competing with the weeds for water, space and sunlight.

Most of the time we are able to use our weeding tools to do the work but sometimes we have to do some hand weeding, especially for the carrots.