Last week, the weather was moderate with a lot of cloudy days that suggested rain, but it only rained significantly for one day. We got several inches that day but the garden was so dry that it was all absorbed. When I got back to the garden, a few things were a little overgrown. At this time of year the beans and squash really need to be checked every day.
More beans. The purple ones are Trionfo Violetto. I froze a lot of those but have no more room in the freezer. A large amount of the beans were again donated to the food pantry.
Some of the heirloom tomatoes are starting to ripen. Above are a Brandywine and a Pineapple on the right. The heirloom tomato vines are loaded with clusters of very large tomatoes and show little signs of actually ripening. I am a little worried about the tomato stakes snapping under the load. That’s a problem I haven’t had in a long time.
The long peppers are Carmen, a sweet pepper that is turning out to be very productive. A few Sunkist orange tomatoes and a very green Cherokee Purple. My Cherokee Purple plant was loaded with large fruit like the one above when it fell over. The heavy rain saturated the soil and the pole wasn’t driven deep enough, so the plant toppled toppled over as the pole came out of the soggy ground.
A fully ripened Sunkist tomato sliced up. This is a meaty, low-acid tomato with good flavor. It is very productive and fairly disease resistant, a tomato I will be growing again.
More squash and a few Cherokee Purple tomatoes starting to color up (as well as crack, damn rain).
More beans.
The last Napa cabbage, considerably reduced in size after removing the slug-damaged outer leaves. This one was used for slaw. I used some of the previous cabbage and some radishes to make kimchee, which turned out OK. It is a little too salty and a tad too hot for my taste, but not bad.
That is what happened in 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.
Gorgeous harvest! Very lovely colors of tomatoes and beans, and very nice size cabbage! Love the patypans and jealous of those peppers. Mine are anything except being productive this year - exception is hot peppers.
ReplyDeleteBad year for me for peppers but Carmen for some reason is doing great. The Jalapenos always do well.
DeleteThat Sunkist tomato looks and sounds amazing - I'm adding it to my must try list. Loving the ripe peppers too - mine are taking forever to colour up. And having so many large tomatoes that your stakes may break is certainly not the worst problem in the world to have!
ReplyDeleteThe Brandywine and Pineapple heirlooms are loaded. I just harvested a Cherokee Purple from the fallen vine. It weighed 20 ounces and was one of four tomatoes in a cluster. If any of these actually ripen, this will be my best tomato harvest in years.
DeleteI know what you mean about having to constantly check the beans at this time of year, they seem to take a cue from the zucchini and double in size overnight. I guess over loaded tomato plants isn't such a bad problem, unless of course they fall over. That's one reason why I switched to heavy duty cages, but those aren't perfect either.
ReplyDeleteWow, beautiful harvests! I lost most of my bean plants to some disease, so I'm living vicariously through others' bean harvests. Your tomatoes and squash look so good!
ReplyDeleteJennifer, I tried leaving a comment on your blog 3 times and they just disappeared, so I give up. Some Word Press sites do not like me.
DeleteThe green, yellow and purple beans make a lovely combination. And you have such a bounty of them, you must be the King of Beans! You have a lovely assortment of veggies there for sure.
ReplyDeleteI grew Carmen for several years and it was one of my favorites. It did well for me in containers as well as planted in the ground.
Lovely harvest. I too love the bean color combination. And the color on that orange tomato is stunning. So pretty.
ReplyDeleteWow you harvested napa cabbage this time of year, I can't grow it until early fall. Those beans and potatoes are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI found brining the cabbage leaves for kimchee making is less salty than salting the leaves, but it takes longer to do the job.
I meant tomatoes.
DeleteThanks for the tip. I did salt the cabbage but used less than called for. Even well rinsed the cabbage was still salty. And I'll use a little less pepper flakes next time.
DeleteMy pole beans died off a few weeks ago, you still are harvesting sooo many! Cabbage looks fantastic ... I like kimchi but in very small amounts and have never tried making it.
ReplyDeleteMy beans are slowing down but so far nothing is killing them, not even the Japanese beetles. Yeah, I like kimchi in moderation too. One of my tricks for a low-carb lunch is to slit a hot dog lengthwise, stuff it with cheese, nuke in the microwave, and cover with kimchi. The fat of the cheese dog cancels the heat of the dog. It's tasty and almost seems healthy.
DeleteThat Sunkist tomato sure is meaty, juicy and beautiful. Nice beans and tomatoes harvest the green and yellow patty pan squash looks too pretty to eat.
ReplyDeleteLove all the colors! Especially the summer squash. I've stayed away from anything but pure-red tomatoes, but if the Sunkist really tastes that good I might give it a try.
ReplyDeleteA nice variety of harvests this week! I love the colors of your beans and am impressed with your pepper harvest. Mine are not doing very well this year with the late start and cooler summer. ~ Rachel at Grow a Good Life
ReplyDeleteDave, you are doing great with the SFG! My dad told me to thin out the overloaded tomato vines by picking the green ones that show "dark shoulders" - let them ripen on the counter, but the rest on the vines get even tastier, he said.
ReplyDeleteBarry, I have been picking the tomatoes on heavily loaded vines as soon as they start to color. The trouble with the Cherokee Purple tomatoes is a lot of them cracked after the last big storm so it is a race between them ripening in time and rot setting in from the cracks.
Delete