Harvest Monday

Slow and steady. Some of harvest from the last two weeks. I have not brought myself to pulling the tomato plants. The cucumbers are still producing which is amazing given my past experience. Okra has slowed down. It is getting too chilly for them. Swiss chard, red mustard and kale are kicking in. I am finally getting a few cayenne chilies to turn red and I froze a few cups of pesto. Fall is around the corner.

See some other harvests at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday

This weekend we got down to 65° at night and the garden is slowing down in some areas, picking up in other areas.
I am not getting a lot of any specific crop but a steady small amount of everything. Keeps dinner on the table. Made a wonderful pot of gumbo this weekend and now have lettuce on a regular basis.  Lots of the plants have flowers and small fruits. Hopefully enough time to develop and ripen.

Daphne's has all the latest harvests. Check it out.

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.

Where has the Time Gone!

Monday harvest came and went and I have just not been on top of the posting. None the less, I have been getting a variety of items from the garden and they are pictured below. Oddly, the tomatoes are being consumed and nobody is quite sick of them yet. The small ones pop in the mouth without being conscious that you are doing so. Slicing, tomato juice, and cooking with the others. Pole beans are beginning to come in regularly.  I cut back all the swiss chard and am hoping it will send out another burst of energy. I did not plant more. The kale is beautiful. and some of the eggplants are coming in.

Any idea what is wrong with these tomatoes? They are mottled in color and very  mealy. I am picking them from the same exact plants that other very tasty and juicy brandywine tomatoes are being picked. If it were happening to all of them, I could understand, but only a few is perplexing.

Small but Amazing Things

I am truly amazed at some of the garden activity and thought this would be a good time to share.
For starters, Things in the garden have not looked really well lately. The tomato leaves are turning yellow. They stopped setting fruit so I think I might only have tomatoes through August. Despite thinking the zuchini was on it's way back, it has done nothing in the last 3 weeks. Strange that it is so big, green and healthy looking. I was feeling I needed new life in the garden.

Amazing thing #1
The lettuce bed died and thought that it was time to plant another batch. My lettuce bed is directly behind the back porch and gets sun until noon–1 p.m. The previous owners of the house left a large role of fiberglass screen material in the garage. While Granny has a great system for shading her lettuce, I discovered that the screening makes a great material to protect newly planted seeds from heavy rains, sweltering heat, the sun and cats using it as a litter box. It works for a day or two after they germinate.

Nothing too amazing except that it was Monday morning when I planted the box. This morning when I went out to do my morning garden stuff, I saw that many of the seeds germinated. Two days or 48 hours seems so quick and I am just amazed that the dust like seeds, can produce these seedlings, and in time lettuce.
Here are some of the pictures. Click on the picture to enlarge.

Prepping the lettucebox.                     Screening on the box after planting.

The seedlings at 8:00 a.m. this morning.

Amazing thing # 2
I don't prescribe to any specific gardening philosophy but I prefer not to use insecticides and feel that the food chain and insect world need to be kept in balance. So a few insects don't bother me. I would not call my garden organic but this year, I did not use anything besides compost in it. Sometimes it is a problem but sometimes I harvest something that is just perfect and I am shocked to see no bug bites, discoloration in the fruit, distorted shapes. How does nature make some things so perfect?

Kale leaves without a blemish.

Kale Chips

The kale that grows in the garden is part of an Asian Stirfry seed packet from Renee's seeds. When I plant them, I thin out the green mustard and turnip greens early on for lettuce and let the other 3-4 varieties grow.
This kale chip recipe comes from someone that was in a food coop that I used to belong to so I can not take credit. It is so simple.

1. Bowl of kale washed and dried.
2. Depending on how much kale, toss about 1 tbls of olive oil, 1/2 tsp of kosher salt and the kale in a large bowl. Make sure that the oil covers most of each leaf.
3. Lay the leaves on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Some overlap is fine.
4. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until the leaves flatten out and are rigid. The longer you cook the more fragile and brittle they become. Less time will yield a more chewy chip. Cool for about 2 minutes an pick them up by the stem.

If you have a family like mine, they never make it to the table because hubby and daughter snack on them while setting the table.

Hope you enjoy!

Harvest Monday

Another week and no idea how many pounds but that's OK. Thanks again to Daphne for hosting Harvest Monday.
The swiss chard continues with a harvest every three days and this is from the plants that I started in peat pods. I still have another small row that we started in the ground that are beginning to mature and will be ready for picking real soon. Good thing my daughter really likes it. Along with that I have had a number of asian greens that I am harvesting with lettuce.

Mustard and one squash that I stuck in a couscous and chickpea stew for a pot luck. This mustard is one of the best things I discovered. It has a wonderful tang and makes for a great addition to any sandwich in place of lettuce.

But the real surprise is the first zucchini and yellow crookneck squash.

   

I had to pull a couple of onion just to see. I have never grown onions and I guess for me they are a nice surprise. At this size, they would be great on the grill.

And lastly is my kale. This Kale makes great kale chips that are not bitter. My daughter can eat a bowl full on her own. What a great way to get all those good vitamins. Better than potato chips any day.

I'll post the cooked dish later.