Saturday, August 24, 2013

A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That

This week it seems that the summer garden is kicking into high gear and with it a few interesting observations and oddities. The weather went briefly back to warm and muggy, but not really as hot as was forecast. Now it is dry, but sunny and somewhat cooler again. What strange weather this summer!
I am busy with harvesting and preserving veggies and though I've had the tendency to focus on my losses, the truth is the gains have far outweighed them and I'm enjoying my pest-prone, disease-filled, sun-limited garden more than ever. I like to try new things, so this year it is sauerkraut. I've never made it before, but you can see the batch I have going is fermenting nicely as evidenced by the bubbles. I tasted it yesterday and it is sour and delicious! It's magic! Just a combination of shredded cabbage and salt and voila! It really does taste like it's ready, so I'll be canning it soon, I hope. I've read that I should wait until the fermentation is complete and I don't see bubbling anymore.
 The bush green beans exploded into action this week! I picked 2 and 1/2 pounds of them here and there is a whole other bed that is just ripening and will be ready to pick in a day or so. I ended up giving these away since there'll be more coming in and I've already frozen some thirty bags of beans. The Chinese Red Noodle beans are almost ready to pick too and I've decided to let the Scarlet Runner beans mature into dry beans for seed.
 What I am really excited about are my parsnips. I experimented with interplanting them this year since I had no room in the garden for them this spring. What you see below are a few thinnings and I am so pleased at how good they look, albeit small. But they have another two months of growing ahead, so barring any marauding voles, I may end up with a good crop. Here's hoping. This interplanting seems like the way for me to go with such a slow-growing crop as parsnips are.
 The cucumbers are in high gear now and unlike last summer, I'm overflowing with them enough to make relish, pickles, eat fresh and give away. And my second planting is just setting fruit, so I'd better come up with some more ideas. I found this monster hiding behind a fence post yesterday. It's funny, I've never really had the experience of monster zucchinis hidden away under the foliage, but cucumbers get me every year! I can't figure out how I can carefully check the vines, which by the way are growing up a fence, not on the ground, every day and still miss such a big guy. Notice it weighs 3/4 of a pound!
 Thought I'd show him beside the next biggest cuke I got, by way of contrast. Wow.
 My second planting of yellow summer squash (variety is Saffron) consists of a single plant, but that single plant has already put out three times as much fruit as my two earlier plants. I picked five off the bush yesterday, including this Siamese twin. Garden oddity indeed! I also found a "horned" tomato, but forgot to get a picture before it ended up in the stew pot.
The garden is calling me, so it's time to get to work. It's the time of year when there is low humming going on constantly from all the bees enjoying the flowers down there, not to mention the hummingbirds who have discovered the runner bean blossoms. I love the summery sound of it. We need rain and I am getting tired of watering, but it has to be done for the small fall seedlings to stand any kind of chance out there. Time to pull some old plants and to plant some new ones. Time to consider how I'm going to improve the soil for next season and to clear areas around the garden fence so it doesn't feel so threatened by the jungle out there.

12 comments:

  1. Those are good looking parsnips. I hope I get some decent ones, but I don't dare begin digging and testing or I'll surely end up with none! I had to give away over 5 pounds of beans yesterday. I think I have six one-gallon bags in the freezer already, and we're thoroughly tired of eating them fresh already.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm getting close to beaned out too Granny! But since it's the one thing I can usually count on I plant a lot. I hope both of us have great success with parsnips! I have a parsnip and carrot recipe that is so yummy and wouldn't it be fun to make it with home grown ones.

      Delete
  2. Oh my your garden is producing very successful year for you. I'm looking forward to reading about your sauerkraut and how it turns out.
    Love Leanne

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leanne, I will be sure to post the results. Crossing my fingers for now, but what I tasted was really good. You must be gearing up for spring planting right now!

      Delete
  3. Here it comes! The fruits of your labor. I love the photo of the bowl of beans with various containers of tomatoes in the background. Your parsnip thinnings look very promising. I am still waiting for a glut of something to come in. Things are trickling in, but I still seem to be waiting for a lot of things to ripen. I hope I don't run out of growing time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you get your glut soon! I'm crossing my fingers for a late first frost too!

      Delete
  4. Now it is too bad you could not share just a few of those beans with me! I am getting a few. Your variety of harvest is wonderful and I hope your sauerkraut turns out well. Nice little parsnips too. Cucumbers seem to get away on me too! I always feel bad as I really like cucumbers and don't want to waste a single one! Nancy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Nancy, thanks for the comment! I wish I could share those beans with you! Things started coming in on the late side this year, so maybe yours will be kicking in soon?

      Delete
  5. I love those big cukes. Though I don't try to grow them that way I do miss them on occasion. I think they taste as good if not better than the small ones. I've got to peel and seed them, so it is a little more work. I can't pickle them though as I don't seed my pickles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those big ones are great sliced or grated thin for cucumber salads!

      Delete
  6. Love the siamese twin squash. We tend to get a few of those too here and there. Love how the garden never fails to keep things interesting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is true for sure Kendra! It's part of what keeps us gardeners addicted to our gardens! Thanks for visiting the blog!

      Delete