Last Monday I checked on the garden after being away for a week and found this guy watching over the garden. He looks well fed, doesn’t he? Of course, he is in the tomato patch when I could really use some help over in the brassicas, where some late and hungry cabbage caterpillars are shredding my collards and kale.
It is dangerous to leave the summer squash and cucumbers to themselves for a week, but fortunately they have slowed down with the cool nights and the PM. I did find a fire hydrant sized zucchini which went right into the compost bin.
The Bay Meadows broccoli is finally producing some side shoots.
The long red peppers are Carmen and are 8 inches long. That gives you an idea how big the Revolution bell pepper is. It is pretty rare for me to get a pepper that size. The small yellow Habanero-shaped peppers are the Trinidad Spice peppers.
The fall planting of root vegetables are starting to yield a few bulbs, including a golden beet overlooked by the rabbit.
I am a bit weary of beans but the beans have not given up yet. A lot of these went into a pot of stewed beans and tomatoes and the nicer ones went into the dehydrator. I rehydrated a few of the dried beans and I am not sure I like them. The idea was I could use them in a dried soup mix along with squash, turnips, carrots and other vegetables. Does anyone do this?
I finally had time to try drying garlic. The pile of cloves above were just from the Rossa di Sulmona garlic. I acquired the Zyliss garlic slicer that Dave has recommended and it worked very well. The tubular silicone rubber garlic peeler (mine is an Oxo) sort of worked but the garlic cloves are still moist and the skins are still pliable, so over half the cloves had to be peeled by hand. The result was great. The dried garlic is still very pungent and I can now make garlic powder in my spice blender (a dedicated Krups coffee grinder I got on sale) whenever I need it.
That’s what happened in my garden last week. To see what other gardeners around the world are harvesting, head over to Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Monday.
Glad you have a fat little guardian. Congrats on such a nice varied harvest this late in the year.
ReplyDeleteGreat harvests - what an amazing variety! Love the idea of dehydrating beans for the soup mix. Never done this myself (still don't have a dehydrator) but maybe they would taste better once simmered in the actual soup stock? And I for one just love frogs - not only are they invaluable in the garden, but they are such cuties too!
ReplyDeleteLovely harvests. And what a cute toad. I used to have them at my last house, but I've never seen a toad here. Though I did find a snake in the compost pile the other day.
ReplyDeleteCute garden friend you have there. I did a test batch of dehydrated beans this year but I haven't tried them yet, my plan was to put them in one of the frittatas that I make for my husband nearly every week (his favorite lunch). I blanched them and cut them in pieces before drying them. How did you prep yours?
ReplyDeleteI tried drying Musica, Gold Marie, and Jade. The flat beans looked nicer dried but weren't so nice re-hydrated. The round beans looked bad dried but were a bit more palatable re-hydrated. I didn't blanch. I have found three theories on prep to be tested next: don't blanch, blanch, and blanch then freeze for 45 minutes. I may have to buy some beans if I want to test this year. Maybe I'll wait.
DeleteThat is one beautiful frog. I freeze beans but never dehydrated them. How long did it take you to peel and slice that pile of garlic for drying?
ReplyDeleteIt took a couple of hours, but I was watching TV and drinking coffee. Dehydrating took a lot longer, I let it run overnight.
DeleteI can't believe you're still harvesting beans. Lucky you! All of mine gave up long ago. I've never dried string beans, only have froze them. To be honest, I didn't like the results. They get terribly stringy and chewy. I think I'll stick to enjoying them when they are in season and stick to dry beans in the winter.
ReplyDeleteYour garlic looks great. I've never dried them either but will peel and freeze them if they start showing signs of sprouting.
Your produce is glorious. The frog is beautiful. Sorry that your experiments with dehydrated beans didn't work out.
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