Mid-August Bounty

This post is a bit late, but here is what we harvested in the past week. The tomatoes are finally starting to ripen in large numbers. This year I grew half as many plants as we did last year (forty), which in some ways is good since last summer at this time, it was quite stressful trying to keep up with the tomato harvest. However, this year I'm a bit worried that we may not have grown enough to get us by in sauce and salsa for the next twelve months. I may have to increase the number of plants for next year.


Speaking of tomatoes, my Gold Medal and Brandywine (Sudduth's Strain) vines are producing enormous fruit. It's not uncommon for a tomato plant to produce a couple of whoppers but in this case, most of them are pretty hefty. I'm a sucker for big ugly tomatoes.

As you can see, I have a few green paste tomatoes here as well. They were salvaged when the branch holding the cluster snapped.


I picked all of my Tongue of Fire beans this week. I've never cooked with fresh shell beans before. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!


The last of our sweet corn. :(


Two delicious Athena cantaloupes. (On a side note, I bought two amazing Canary and Piel de Sapo melons from the market the other week. I saved some seeds to hopefully grow them next year.)


I must be growing a different variety of purple tomatilloes this year because these are almost jet black. I'm excited to make a batch of purple tomatillo salsa. The watermelon you see here was picked because a section of the stem attaching it to the vine had died off. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite ripe yet.


The last of the Spring-sown carrots and possibly the last of this year's artichokes. They will surely be missed.


Finally, the last of the spring-sown beets. It will be at least another month before the fall beets are ready to harvest.

An Early August Harvest

I won't say too much about this week's harvest. The tomatoes are still coming in slowly (annoying) and the corn harvest has been fantastic this year, despite our minor raccoon setback.

Homegrown corn, when picked at the absolute right moment and cooked soon after, is a completely different vegetable from what you get at the supermarket and even at the farmer's market in my opinion. For this reason, I will do battle with every insect and rodent to grow it each year.


We picked our first years of Ruby Queen corn this week. This is my first time growing this variety and I'm happy to report it is incredibly sweet and tender - definitely one I will grow again.

And here is some of the other things we picked this week:








I can't wait to see what all of you are harvesting this week!

The Mid-July Garden

I love the garden this time of year. The beds have filled up nicely; everything is looking lush and green yet still manageable. It will be another month or so before the tomato vines become overgrown and our early planted cucumbers succumb slowly to disease. Now is the time to stand back and appreciate the beauty of the garden.

On the other hand, it's also the time to clear out most of our spring planted veggies to make way for fall crops in the coming weeks. The pea plants have been pulled and the garlic will be harvested soon. This may sound strange but already I can feel the days getting shorter, which is why I definitely consider July to be a transitional month in the growing calendar.

In any case, here are some random pics of what's going on:


As I mentioned, the cleanup has begun. This past weekend, I weeded the entire garden (which took forever I might add) and built another raised carrot bed (lower left). We started harvesting some of our spring-sown carrots this week and all but one were perfect. Last summer the majority of our carrots were either forked or stubby. What a difference a few extra inches of fine topsoil makes.


The perfectly ripe wild strawberry - I popped this one in my mouth seconds after I took the picture.


Most of the Fava beans have now been harvested but I did leave a few plants untouched, setting them aside for seed saving. While I've marked these plants with string, I'm still fighting the urge to pick the pods.

My blogging buddy Mac gave me this English lavender plant last year. It has since grown into a fine specimen.

The other day I was about to harvest the lavender to dry but then noticed quite a few honey bees at work on it. I ultimately decided against it as I figured they needed the flowers more than I did.


The back garden is like a forest these days. Pretty soon it will become a great challenge to navigate.


Since taking this picture, the tomato vines have reach the top of their trellis, which stands close to 8 feet tall. I'm really loving this trellising method. The strings easily twist around the vines and the vines themselves feel well supported.


In addition to the weeding, I also got around to trimming off the bottom few rows of tomato leaves. Hopefully this will mitigate the spread of any blight.

I picked this artichoke earlier this week. Already the plant is producing two more.


I'm really impressed by how well the Hungarian Wax peppers are producing. The Poblanos on the other hand are still doing nothing.

Lastly, I've been hand-pollinating the corn. Hopefully this will work out for me as well as it did last year.

Summer Veggies Update

I thought I'd do a quick post on how things are growing in the back garden.


My five Athena cantaloupe plants are growing happily among the Imperial Star artichokes.


Among my melons, Athena (F1) seems to be the most vigorous in its growth.


I'm also growing an heirloom French melon variety this year - Petit Gris de Rennes. Hopefully it's as fragrant, but sweeter, than the Charentais I grew last year.


I'm growing several types of peppers this year including Poblano, Sweet Banana, Hungarian Wax, Jalapeno and Italian Pepperoncini. I staked the Poblanos but left the others to grow supported.


The Hungarian Wax seems to be the earliest of the bunch.


My cucumbers are growing well. This year, I'm growing two varieties - Tasty Jade (an early thin Japanese type) and Diamant (a pickling cuke). Both are parthenocarpic, meaning fruits can set without pollination. I hand-pollinated my cukes and zucchini last year and while I didn't mind it at the time, I won't miss having to do so this year (at least for the cukes).


My tomatoes are just starting to set fruit, which seems a bit late this year. I should have gotten them into the ground sooner. I got my first ripe Sungold cherry tomato on June 11th last year. (Admittedly, the first ones didn't taste all to great.) While chances are my tomatoes won't start ripening until sometime in July this year, it looks as though Sungold will again be the first.


Finally, my corn is looking good. It seems like such a touch-and-go veggie to me. I had one patch last year that produced amazing ears and another in a shadier spot that produced nothing. I'm growing two varieties this year - Argent (a tender white variety I grew last year) and Ruby Queen (a sugar-enhanced variety that has ruby red kernels). I would highly recommend Argent.

Though not pictured here, I'm also growing two types of watermelon - Blacktail Mountain and Sunshine (a yellow-fleshed variety), purple tomatoes, acorn squash, Black Beauty zucchini and Titan sunflowers. These pretty much round out my hot weather crops.

2011 Seed Order

I placed the bulk of my seed order for this year back in December and am happy to note that they've all arrived. Now I can focus on drafting my garden plan, updating my sowing dates from last year and sourcing the ingredients for my soil block mix. This year's garden will offer a good mix of new and old. I have a lot of seed left over from last year and from this inventory, I narrowed down which varieties I'll be growing again. The rest will probably be fashioned into seed bombs (I'm sure there's a vacant lot or two nearby that I could raid.)

Anyway, here are some of the new varieties I'm trying this year as well as some 2010 favorites I had to reorder because I neglected to save seed (awful I know):


Petite Gris de Renne melon - I didn't really care for the Charentais variety I grew summer but decided to give this particular French heirloom a try. The Charentais was very fragrant but I'm hoping that Petite Gris will be sweeter.

Dragon's Tongue beans - I grew these last year. They were very tasty in my opinion and had a texture that held up well when cooked.

Paris Market carrots - Our soil is so heavy that I decided to give this particular variety a try. They have a more spherical shape and I've also read that they can also be grown in pots.

Blacktail Mountain watermelon - I was eying this variety even before I had a garden! Blacktail is an early variety and supposedly does well in cooler climates.

Gold Medal tomato - Seed Savers claims that this is its best tasting bi-colored tomato.

Brandywine (Sudduth's Strain) tomato - I've heard some rather good things about this particular strain. Hopefully it lives up to its reputation!


Here are some varieties I grew last year that I will be growing again: Windsor fava beans, Green Arrow peas, various beets (including Chioggia), Argent corn, American Flag leeks and Contender beans. Argent is a white corn and one of my favorite vegetables grown last year. Sure they take up a good amount of space and are heavy feeders, but for me it's worth it as the taste of fresh corn eaten within minutes of being picked is a true summertime treat.


My main seed order this year was placed with Johnny's. In addition to the Envy soybeans, tatsoi, Imperial Star artichokes and Napoli carrots, all of which I've grown before, here are some factoids about the new varieties I'm trying:

Diamant (pickling) and Tasty Jade (Asian) cucumbers - these varieties will produce fruit even on flowers that are not pollinated. Tasty Jade is supposed to be very crispy like most other Asian varieties.

Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper - I'm looking forward to pickling the yellow, orange and red peppers (depending on when you pick them). I liked the pepperoncini I grew last year (and will grow again this year) but Hungarian Wax has thicker flesh and none of the bitterness.

Regiment spinach - I currently grow a variety called "Space". Regiment is supposed to be just as hardy but has larger leaves.

Athena muskmelon - I'm hedging my bets here. I'm growing this more common muskmelon variety just in case I don't like Petite Gris de Renne.

Sarian strawberry - Sarian is a day-neutral variety of strawberry that is easily started from seed and will produce fruit in the first year. You can grow it as an annual by transplanting the runners in the fall.

Snow Crown Cauliflower - My attempt at growing cauliflower last year proved disastrous. I'm hoping that I'll have much better luck with this very early variety (50 days to maturity).

Alcosa savoy cabbage - I will admit I've never really had an interest in growing cabbage, mainly because I've been under the impression that it can be particularly difficult to grow. Well we shall see. Hopefully I'll be able to keep the slugs and caterpillars under control.

Yellow Sunshine watermelon - A yellow flesh variety, I'm growing it just for fun. I remember being utterly fascinated by yellow-fleshed watermelon when I was a child and begging my dad to buy some. I guess that curiosity never really went away.

San Marzano tomato - I'm growing these because everyone else is. :)

I'm working on my seed-starting schedule now and will post it soon. Our first sowing dates are just weeks away! Can you believe it?

End of Summer Harvest - A Return to Blogging

Gees...I don't think I've ever gone a week without posting something. It wasn't really planned. I guess subconsciously, I must have really needed the break. Hopefully you all haven't forgotten about me!

I know that the official end of summer isn't for another three weeks, but from the looks of this harvest, it might as well be now. The tomato glut of summer is officially over. Sure the cherry tomatoes are still producing respectfully, but the slicers on the other hand are taking a hiatus at the moment. I think we'll still get a couple each week, but nothing like we used to.


This may be the last pile of slicing tomatoes for the summer.


I used some of these cherry tomatoes and peppers to makes salsa. The white ones you see are called 'Dr. Carolyn.' I would describe their taste as being very mild and sweet.


Due to heavy rains that came early last week, I lost a lot of my cherry tomatoes to splitting. Still, we ended up with a considerable harvest.


I picked a couple of Rosa Bianca eggplants this week. The honey dew and Charantais melons in this picture are pretty sad. Cucumber beetles have been a real problem for me this year. Left unchecked, they've destroyed my melons and cukes prematurely. Next year will be a different story.


Finally - a sure sign that fall is fast upon us, I picked some lettuce today, which along with some Thai basil ended up in a salad. It's also a sign that the heavier veggies of summer will soon be replaced by the feather-weight greens of fall. I'm close to reaching my goal of producing 500 lbs of food for the year. Hopefully the weekly totals won't drop off too steeply!

This week's numbers:

Cukes (2) - 0.95 lb (The last of the summer.)
Eggplant - 1.50 lb
Melons - 4.06 lb
Tomatoes - 22.68 lb
Peppers - 0.89 lb
Tomatilloes - 2.02 lb
Lettuce - 0.22 lb

Total harvested this week - 32.32 lb

To see what others are harvesting or show off your own, visit Harvest Mondays at Daphne's Dandelions.

Late August Harvest - Tomatoes and Peppers

Finally, we received some much needed rain today. This summer has been so hot and dry that I'm sure our plants appreciated it. I'm noticing that our nighttime temperatures have been to cool down as well. It seems that fall may be approaching faster than we think. For many reasons, I'm rather excited for it. Cooler temperatures mean indoor fires and roasted marshmallows. It also means plenty of baking and hence (my favorite) pies....Yum. Indeed, summer is beginning to wind down and the gardener inside me is looking forward to unwinding a bit.


At this point, the tomato picking is still going strong. Sometimes it takes me an hour or more to harvest them all. Picking 8 pounds of cherry tomatoes takes a lot longer than one might think, especially when the vines are overgrown and tangled all together like they are presently. Up until now, I've been giving most of them away but think I'll start to dehydrate much of the excess going forward. Their flavor and sweetness becomes more intense in the dried state. (My friend Tom seems to think they taste "like candy".)


While we're on the subject of cherry tomatoes, I should point out our favorites this year. I have to say that Sungold is a very good hybrid tomato even though it have a tendency to burst when picked ultra ripe. Black Cherry is richly flavored with a complexity you don't ordinarily find in a cherry tomato. Finally, I was surprised by how much I like the Isis Candy variety. Its sweetness rivals (and in some cases surpasses) that of Sungold without any tartness whatsoever.

While the cherry tomatoes are producing stronger than ever, the slicers are beginning to wind down. The plants are forming a good number of green fruit but who knows whether they'll ripen before the first frost.


I also picked a good amount of peppers this week. Most of the Poblanos ended up in a Roasted Corn and Poblano Soup that I made. (Delicious!) I also made and canned a good amount of Annie's salsa.


I love the look of these purple tomatilloes. I'm waiting for more of them to come in before I make a big batch of salsa verde.


The smell of these Charantais melons is filling up the kitchen at the moment. I can't wait to cut into them.


I also picked my second artichoke and gave away some Rhubarb Chard to my sister-in-law.


Finally, I picked my remaining two Thai watermelons this week. They are oblong and each measure about 8 inches long. I didn't have much hope for the one on the right because it felt soft to the touch. Sure enough, it was WAY overripe, so much so that the inside had started to ferment. I can't believe that I had let it go unpicked for so long. So into the compost pile it went (and off of my harvest total). What a disappointment.


To end this post on a happy note, the the last one I cut into was perfectly ripe. In fact, if I had waited another day or too, it would have been over-ripe. It was intensely sweet and absolutely delicious! The flesh was a nice salmon color and, unlike the Sugar Baby, had a sweetness like honey. I will definitely be growing this variety again! Hopefully this time next year, I won't be batting 1 for 3.

This week's numbers:

Tomatilloes - 1.7 lb
Peppers - 2.87 lb
Tomatoes - 61.05 lb
Cucumbers (10) - 4.32 lb
Watermelon - 8.26 lb
Charantais melon - 5.20 lb
Swiss chard - 0.88 lb
Artichoke - 0.32 lb
Beans - 0.31 lb

Total harvest this week - 84.91 lb