However, this week was a big harvest week- I started digging up the sweet potatoes. I have a 25 ft by 3 ft area of sweet potatoes, well of course they didn't stay within those dimensions. I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to wait until the first frost is in the forecast and then have to dig and dig. So I started digging..
I'd like to say I'm halfway done, but I may have a bit more than that to dig. So far I have 64 lbs of sweet potatoes! There are some big ones that are over a pound, some average sized ones, some long and crazy shaped ones, and plenty of small ones. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all these sweet potatoes, but I do love them.
Sweet potatoes are supposed to cure for a week at 85 degrees and 85% humidity. My technique is to put them into a large plastic tuberware and sit them on a seedling heat mat. I started out with a vase of water inside the container, but it was very wet with all the condensation so I took it out. After the curing they need to be stored in a cool, dry place for a month before finally eating. This means I have plenty of time to search for sweet potato recipes!
I have been harvesting some other things from the garden:
The peppers have been doing well. The tomatoes are still producing even though they've slowed down quite a bit. I've also been harvesting my fall planted beans despite those annoying Mexican bean beetle larva. The fall planted peas have just started producing and I've started harvesting lettuce again.
Weekly harvests (lbs):
Lettuce 0.37
Peas 0.04
Peppers 3.21
Beans 0.54
Tomatoes 2.81
Sweet potatoes 63.9
Weekly total: 70.9 lbs
Yearly total: 794.33 lbs (can't believe I'm almost at 800 lbs for the year!)
That's all the harvests coming from my garden this week. To see what others are harvesting check out Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.
