Catching Up

While the storm could have done more damage, I think I am at the end of the season of taking care of the garden. Most all the tomato plants are down from the wind. The pole beans are totally toppled over. I might still get some eggplant. The squash has produced it's last healthy squash. I need to spend time drying out the basement  and I go back to teaching this friday.

I have been canning when I can (no pun intended) but have a long way to go before I get to the perfection of some of my fellow bloggers. Just made a nice batch of green tomatillo salsa.

I've added to more butternuts to my harvest total making 8.

Another Week

You can check out a few more harvests at Daphne's and Harvest Monday.

A Continuous Harvest Week

 

There was a lot of to harvest this week but the squash surly overwhelmed me. If you count, there are a total of 22 for this week alone. I did a lot of cooking with squash this week but enjoyed all of the produce. Peas are done and pulled.

  

My first carrot was pulled. It is a little ahead of the rest of them but a good 5" long. Juliet tomatoes are coming in and cucumbers. It is nice to still be getting greens. I have them planted in a more shady spot in the garden. Click on the smaller pictures to see them bigger. Check Daphne's for more Harvest

Harvest Monday

The harvest has been slow but steady for the last two weeks, The order of everything seems a little backwards has I have been picking squash for three weeks and just started picking my peas 4 days ago.

Many things don't get photographed because I am a constant harvester. Every walk through the garden yields something in my hand.
Among the harvest: greens, basil, squash, cucumber, peas, turnips, beans, tomatoes and onions and an eggplant :).

 

Harvest Monday

My husband and daughter have been away for the week so I have spent some of my time freezing and canning without two more mouths to feed. I never realized how much they consume!
Frozen Beans
Frozen Tomato Sauce
Frozen Okra stew
Frozen Kale
Then a friend of mine has been away and she has a peach tree. She urged me to help myself. First year that it has produced fruit and she didn't even get to taste one. I made:
6 pints of Peach jam
4 pints of Peach chutney
Of course I'll give her some.

Tomato plants don't look so good but oddly have started to send out new shoots and flowers and have set fruit again. The Juliet and Sun Gold are loaded with fruit and the Brandywines have plum size fruit. Even the Early ripers are starting up again. The glut is over so I am happy to have fresh tomatoes as long as I can. The idea of buying them from the store is disheartening.

Some of the fall radishes are ready for harvest. I should have planted more. I wonder if it is too late. I lose a lot of my sun in the garden this time of the year.

Hop over to Daphne's to see more harvests.

Harvest Monday

RAIN Today! I can still count the number of days of rain this summer on one hand.
Last weeks post was late so there is some overlap and I am still lazy about taking pictures. Take a look at Dahne's Harvest Monday for other great harvests.

Tomatoes are slowing down but there are a few new shoots and fruit sets on the very yellow and scraggly plants. I am not sure what is happening to them but I do not think I will have tomatoes for much longer. Also see the previous post if you have any clue what might be the issue with some of my tomatoes.

The new carrots beets and radishes are doing well. I hope they get enough sun with the new growth of the maple tree this summer. it blocks some of the late summer sun.

I continue to pick kale. Froze some and tried a new recipe of raw kale, tomato and cucumber, marinated in soy sauce and  lemon, sprinkled with toasted sunflower seeds. You can see other great recipes at Greenish Thumb Garden to Table challenge.

Okra has not been coming in in the amounts I thought they would. two rows of okra are not producing at all so I am left with one row of about 8 plants.





Eggplants are starting to produce in quantity but I only have 3 plants. Pole beans are also beginning to kick in. I froze a pound of them this week. Peppers are still having a little difficulty.




All of a sudden the cucumbers are starting to produce. I think the hot weather stalled them. This is a persian variety. Small, smooth, crunchy. Never tried pickling these but I might have to since I am picking 4 a day.

Challenges and Updates

I have been a little delinquent in posting and it is in part because when the days are warm, the room with the computer is very uncomfortable an we have been having a lot of those days.

A few things to catch up on:

I guess it started with a call to show off your sunflowers by mama pea.  I love my sunflowers but mainly because of the story behind them. When we first moved in and we landscaped to put the veg garden in, I took my daughter seed shopping with me. I asked her to pick something she wanted to plant. I thought she would pick peas or beans, even broccoli but instead she picked sunflowers. I cringed at the idea of giving up precious space in my veg garden for these tall monster flowers. I planted them at the edge of the garden by the garage and have to admit they were beautiful and a wonderful addition to the garden the first year. They have returned every year and now have filled in the "dead" spot between the garden and the garage. I am forever grateful to my daughter for asking me to buy those seeds.
The show:

The second picture is a flower that is 10' high by the garage. The two on the right are from a dwarf sunflower 4' high with 10" diameter bloom.

Then came the refrigerator challenge that was put out by Erin followed by Granny. Forget it! It is not going to happen. I pride myself in keeping the garden up not the refrigerator. I had no idea that people connected the two.

Somehow, a swallowtail butterfly managed to escape my search and look at her. She was not far from going off to make her cocoon when i shot this two days ago. This morning I can't find her anywhere.

Some of my other eggplants are beginning to produce. I am excited for a new vegetable.

Listing for my own future reference, the harvests have been as follows:
Lots of tomatoes, I will pick most of the Romas this weekend for canning.
Cucumbers but not as many as I would like, I planted a variety that cannot be pickled so I guess that is good.
Peppers not coming in as they should. A burst of chills in the early season but very few now. Bells may be starting, plus a few Anaheims.
Kale, swiss chard slowing down in the heat.
Eggplant, ichiban have stalled but some fruit coming up on new plants.
Okra beginning to produce regularly
Squash slowed down in the last two weeks but may start up again.

Flowers and Fruits

Hot again today and I am afraid that the pole beans are just going stall in this place with thousands of flowers but no beans. What a bummer. Last year I had so many.
I have been enjoying the tomatoes which are doing much better than last year. I have another load full and if the weather doesn't get a little cooler, I am going to have to freeze tomato puree again.

On another note, the okra are enjoying the heat and have begun to produce enough that I could make a whole dish. I know that okra are not most people's favorite vegetable but they are nostalgic since my mother used to make them. I was happy to see that even thought the package said that the plant grows 6-7 feet tall, mine have stalled at 4 feet. My garden feels like a jungle already. the flowers are gorgeous. These are the pickings for one day so I will have enough for a meal in three days.

My daughter left for Sleep away camp for the first time. She is there for two weeks. I had to harvest her edamame beans but I blanched them and put them in the freezer. They are very good but this was the yield of 6 plants. Does anyone know if they re-flower and will they keep producing? If not I will pull them out and plant a new fall crop which I will have to do very soon.

The other two eggplants that I planted are beginning to produce flowers and fruits and I find them to be so beautiful. I do not remember the variety of these two plants but I will take what I get.