Food Harvest

One day's pickings from the Donation Garden

2014 was another great year for the Hickory County Master Gardeners Donation Garden located behind the McCarty Senior Center, Wheatland, Missouri.  There are about six regular volunteers that work at least a half day each Wednesday in season.

All the food harvested is donated to the McCarty Senior Center for use in the daily meals and for the Meals on Wheels program that delivers food to qualified homebound individuals.  The area gardened has grown in 2014 and so has the quantity of vegetables.  Here are the totals for 2014:

1.  Bell Peppers………………292 lbs.
2.  Blackberries………………….4 lbs.
3.  Carrots……………………….8 lbs.
4.  Cucumbers………………...458 lbs.
5.  Jalepenos……………………44 lbs.
6.  Lettuce………………………16 lbs.
7.  Okra………………………….4 lbs.
8.  Onions………………………11 lbs.
9.  Radishes……………………...3 lbs.
10. Spinach………………………9 lbs.
11. Sweet Potatoes…………….892 lbs.
12. Tomatoes…………………..249 lbs.
13. Zucchini……………………213 lbs.

Total……………………………2206 lbs.

Donation Garden and Greenhouse 

Posted:  11/14/2014

Final Harvest Before Hard Freeze

The Trick was a hard freeze on Halloween night but the Treat was that much was harvested the day before - Chives, Sage, Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, Parsley, Cilantro, Tarragon, Peppers, Spinach, Green Tomatoes.  Zinnias were the best cut flowers this time of year.  

22 degrees the morning of November 1, 2014 was too cold for most plants.  Our frost date is October 15th each year but there was no frost before this hard freeze.  Leeks and Carrots will do well in the ground and pulled up as needed.  Spinach was planted as a fall crop.  Harvesting all but the smallest leaves will allow the root to maintain and produce a fresh crop in early April.

Frozen Zinnia…too bad I couldn't cut all the beautiful flowers in my yard before the hard freeze but I sure filled a lot of vases in my house with zinnias!  There are still a few blooming plants alive outside such as mums and blanket flowers.  Petunias have done well in past years but I didn't plant any this fall.

The Food Dehydrator is the most controlled method for drying.  The house sure smells great on drying day!  The red peppers do well by threading a needle and "sewing" each pepper on a 2-3' thread to hang anywhere in your kitchen.  Then they can be removed to a jar to last longer.

Excess Herbs can be tied to a string or loosely stuffed into a mesh bag and hung in an airy place like a carport out of the sun for a few days.  Sometimes this works and sometimes the humidity and temperature varies too much for success.  Oven or microwave drying can work too but has some limitations such as good air circulation and even temperatures that would need a lot of attention to maintain.

Peppers are very easy to freeze as they do not require blanching like most vegetables.  Just clean, wash well, pat dry, and slice or dice before laying on wax paper lined cookie sheet.  They will freeze overnight.  I like to wash and dry herbs before drying/freezing but some say that washing is not necessary.  I always freeze some herbs on their branch such as thyme, rosemary, and keep sage whole leaf; just place in freezer bags as they will be easy to separate.  Spinach must be blanched and then placed in freezer bags and used in recipes that call for cooked spinach.  The green tomatoes were fried up and ate over the next couple days…yum!

There is much information available from the University of Missouri Extension about preserving fruits and vegetables produced in your gardens or obtained from local Farmer's Markets in season.  I have been using this wonderful source since 1978.

Source:  Beti Pearson, Hickory County Master Gardener and Missouri Master Naturalist,
University of Missouri Extension:
Growing Herbs at Home
Freezing Vegetables

Posted:  11/7/2014