Monday, September 2, 2013

Harvest Monday 2 Sep 2013

Tromboncino_flower

 

The weather has been moderate, with warm days and cool nights. The humidity has crept up to the point where it was really uncomfortable by the end of the week. It has also been dry, with some overcast days during which it looked like rain but never did. The beds have to be watered at least every other day, and really every day if I can get to the garden. The holiday weekend has been overcast and gloomy, with real rain supposed to come today. Loving it anyway is my Tromboncino squash. What you see above is a female flower just starting to open. Yes, it’s over a foot long before it is even pollinated!

 

Jade_bean

 

The harvests from the garden this time of year are boring, mostly beans, squash and cucumbers. The Jade beans above have a heavy set of beans ready now. There are over a dozen beans ready to pick on just the two plants shown above. I now have lettuces, endive, escarole, choi, and broccoli transplants set out and pea, radish, turnip and spinach seeds have germinated. The beet seeds have not sprouted. I didn’t presoak them and I think the beds are just too dry down deep. We really need a long, soaking rain (not another monsoon, please) to saturate all the soil again, which hopefully will happen today.

 

tomatoes

 

Among the tomatoes above are a Gilbertie paste tomato and my first Green Zebra that was not cracked and rotted. This is my first year growing Gilbertie, an heirloom, and I picked the fruit above a little early so it wouldn’t crack when we get rain. Yes, it definitely is going to rain sometime soon.

 

three_beans

 

More beans. Lots of the darker green Jade bean on the right.

 

beans&cukes&squash

 

Beans, a few beets, my second zucchini, peppers and cucumbers. The apple-shaped cucumber is Crystal Apple, a New Zealand heirloom that can be eaten without peeling if you don’t pick them too large.

 

beans&tomatoes

 

And yet more beans, and another couple Gilbertie tomatoes.

 

That’s all from my garden last week. To see what other gardeners around the world are harvesting from their gardens, head over to Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Monday.

10 comments:

  1. Looking like a great harvest! I bet you can't wait for that squash to ripen up! Your getting a great variety.

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    1. Thanks. It will be interesting t o see how long it takes after flowering to be ready.

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  2. I think Tromboncinos are the over-achievers of the vegetables garden. Along with yardlong beans!

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  3. I am leaving one of my tromboncino on the vine to see how long it will get and also what the mature squash taste like.

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    1. Norma, I may do that too after I get my fist one.

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  4. The trombocinos are fun to grow and they seem to be popular this year, so perhaps I'll have to try them again one of these days.

    I have to say, coming from what I now realize is an unusual climate where it doesn't really rain for the entire summer and them some, that it amazes me that you can grow a vegetable garden and rely on regular rainfall to keep things growing. That is impossible here, I couldn't keep my garden watered without my PITA drip system, and even with that I still have to do a fair amount of hand watering. Hope the rain cooperates for you!

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    1. Can't rely on rain since it may go a month without significant rain. My "drip" irrigation is a well with a hand pump I use to fill a watering can. The garden is out in a field that is also used for lacrosse and there is no town water.

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  5. I'm always looking for new cucumbers to grow and your Crystal Apple looks amazing, thank you!
    Graziana
    http://www.erbeincucina.it/

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    1. The cucumbers are sweet and juicy and the skin is tender if you pick them early. Seed cavity is fairly large but when small, the seeds are completely edible. It does have some white spines to rub off. Seeds are now widely available in the US and Thompson & Morgan in the UK carries it. Don'y know about sources in Italy.

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