Monday, August 19, 2013

Harvest Monday Mid-August Edition

Happy Monday! Can you believe it's the middle of August already? I feel as if I just finished my spring planting, so it makes for some disoriented thinking! To complicate things around here we've had a few weeks of unusually cool and dry weather, reminiscent of what we normally get at the end of September. It has helped to shift the mind to the renewal of all the yearly activities that begin in fall. For me that includes choir and directing my church's children's program, both of which take a much appreciated break in the summer. But it's still high summer and the garden is busy producing as well as growing the fall crops.
 This week it feels like there's a lot of sameness to what I am harvesting, though strictly speaking that's not true. There are small tomatoes, as the large ones are still far from ripening, beans and more beans. Not complaining though, because it's a harvest! And it's so good to be finally enjoying my own summer tomatoes. But there has been a lot more diversity than it feels like. For instance:
 A few carrots at last! The tail end of the summer lettuce. There's a bit more out there and I have 8 small plants that I hope will grow into production soon. I also picked some more kale, pounds of the Gold Marie Vining beans and the Fresh Pick green beans are starting to really produce now. I have some scallions and herbs like parsley, basil and cilantro. It's my first time growing cilantro. Is there any way to preserve it? Can it be frozen like parsley?
 Still managed to get quite a few broccoli shoots as well as two small heads from a late planting. I harvested four of my late cabbages and another Saffron summer squash. That lone summer squash plant has already outproduced the two early ones I planted as well as those eight miserable zucchini plants. I also picked two more good sized trombocino squashes. Cucumbers are beginning to come in at a nice rate. They are doing so much better than last year's.
I have two semi-successful dill plants, so I picked a bit to pop in the freezer. I love the taste of dill in many dishes. Above you can see some Tango celery, also ready to be chopped and frozen. I planted another variety called Afina Cutting, which is growing well, but the stalks are really just thin stems and it acts more like parsley than the thicker stalked celery I'm used to. The flavor is the same though so it'll be useful in soups and stews. Not sure I would bother growing it again.
That's my mid-August harvest! This week is expected to be more like our typical August, hot and humid, so I'll have to keep a close eye on the small fall seedlings that are struggling to take hold. Now to pop on over to Daphne's Dandelions to see the other Harvest Monday links of the week!

28 comments:

  1. Wonderful harvest! Love the beans and cabbages, makes for such colorful bounty!

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    1. Thanks Jenny! Like all of us, I do love growing those veggies!

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  2. Your cabbages are perfect! I had in my head that they will not grow in the heat of summer, but have been proven wrong after a recent visit to a community garden...not only were they growing happily, they were in full sun! Mind blown! I'll make some new plans for next years garden...I would love to have a few cabbages of my own!

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    1. Bee Girl, I have found regular cabbages to be pretty easy to grow. I'm sure you'd have success with them.

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  3. What a great harvest! Full counters and tables at your house! I wish I had planted more dill. I have some more seeded, so we will see if I get any before the season is done. I have cabbage in my garden still too. I am afraid to pick them all at once for fear they will not all get eaten! I need a plan!

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    1. Thank you! I find that the cabbage will keep for some time in the fridge. I also have blanched and frozen cabbage for winter cooking. This year I am trying to make sauerkraut for the first time. So far, so good. It smells like the real thing, but has a few more weeks to ferment, so I'm crossing my fingers!

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  4. Nice harvest, the Gold Maries are really striking. That tomboncino should make up for a few missing zucchini. Mine is just starting to flower, hope the fruit develop fast or I won't get to try one.

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    1. Thank you David! Those Gold Maries have been amazing. And you are right, the trombocino are certainly helping where the lack of zucchini is concerned. Hope you get some!

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  5. Your shot of the "diversity" looks like a farmer's market!

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    1. I think I really enjoy the challenge of trying to grow many different things!

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  6. Very diverse harvest. I've never tried to grow cabbage, or any brassica in the summer. If the dill seeded you should see lots more of it next year, with no effort at all.

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    1. Thank you! The cabbage was actually planted out in spring, but it was a main crop variety, so it matured later and held up well in the summer, unlike the early varieties that I harvested awhile ago.

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  7. What a bountiful harvest. There is so much coming out of your garden right now. I had one dill germinate and grow this year and I've been using sparingly. I never thought to freeze some.

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    1. Thank you! Dill is easy to freeze and it tastes very fresh when you use it in cooking. Like parsley, you don't have to do anything special, just pop it in a container and freeze.

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  8. I freeze cilantro all the time. It works great. I'm not sure what parsley is like frozen. But you lose the texture with cilantro, but the taste is still there, which is what I go for.

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    1. Oh, thanks for the tip Daphne! It sounds like it behaves like parsley. Frozen parsley is terrific, great flavor.

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  9. The celery, too. That cutting celery is mainly used for cooking, flavoring things. Not really used for much else. We prefer it here because we don't eat a lot of celery as snacks but love the flavor in soups and cooking with it. LOL. Nice harvests!

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    1. Yes, I freeze the celery too Barbie. I use it for cooking too, but I do like some of the larger chunks in my soup. Still I'd rather grow it than buy it, what with all the chemicals the commercial stuff has sprayed on it.

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  10. I've never had good luck with frozen cilantro. It always tastes a bit off or is just too wilt-y to enjoy. You could give it a shot. Maybe freeze it in some olive oil...

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    1. Guess I'll just have to try it and see. I'm not a huge fan of cilantro anyway, but planted it in hopes of making some salsa if the tomato production gets good.

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  11. Bountiful and beautiful harvest! Love tromboncini squash I grew it last year and was overwhelm with its production, I really like the taste and texture.

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    1. Thank you Mac! This is my first year of trombocino and I love them. They really have made up for my poor zucchini production and I agree about the taste and texture.

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  12. You have such a lovely variety of veggies! I've never tried to freeze cilantro. I don't think it has much flavor after drying, but freezing might be different.

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    1. Thanks Dave! I guess there's nothing to lose by trying the freezing and seeing what the results are.

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  13. Did not know tromboncino squash came in different colors. I like your darker green color. Bountiful and varied harvest.

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    1. It is odd, isn't it? Each of my two plants, grown from the same seed packet, has slightly different looking squashes. Both taste good though!

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  14. You really have a nice harvest of different things! My enthusiasm is winding down and it was so hot and humid today! You will be super busy what with the choir and director of children's church programs! Nancy

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    1. Thank you Nancy! Heat and humidity can sure put a damper on gardening. It's hard to keep it up in the high summer. Yeah, this summer has been passing by so quickly and I'm trying to get in the groove for the fall activities.

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