Monday, June 29, 2015

Harvest Monday 29 June 2015

 

kohlrabi&onions

 

The kohlrabies are sizing up quickly so I harvested a few more. These are Winner, but the Azur Star are also putting on size and will be ready soon. I may leave one or two of the Azur Star plants to see how big I can get them. The ones I saw at Tower Hill were the size of a large grapefruit and apparently remain edible at that size. Just more to enjoy. I also pulled another Red Candy and a couple of the Tropea onions to make room for the pole beans.

 

peas1

 

The snow peas and snap peas are in full production now. And I definitely had a green snow pea mixed in with my Sugar Snap peas, so that adds a little unexpected variety.

 

peas2

 

More peas. It is time to start freezing snow peas. The snap peas, if they make it home, are being used with kohlrabi and radish slices and some hummus for quick lunches.

 

There is plenty more to harvest from the garden but weather and my schedule have not aligned. It has rained a lot and temperatures are colder, with some nights in the 50s, and it is rained Saturday night and Sunday. I hope we don’t go into some long rainy stretch here which will just promote the spread of disease. All this rain is coming from tropical storms and Midwest weather and I hope this is not some prolonged pattern. However, looking at the forecast, it rained Sunday and is forecasted to rain Wednesday and Friday, so that is looking like a pattern. Time to start preventive spraying in between storms.

 

On Saturday I did get to check on the garden, pinch a few suckers from the tomatoes, and harvest the peas above. So far everything looks healthy. I noted some of my peppers are starting to set fruit, which is always an encouraging sign.

 

Jimmy_Nardello

 

Above is the large Jimmy Nardello pepper I showed last week along with its puny siblings. You can see 3 sizeable fruit in the photo but if you blow it up, I count 11 peppers visible. Above the frame the plant is loaded with blossoms. Wish I had 6 of these. I’ll just have to be patient and wait for the rest to grow up and become productive citizens of the garden.

 

Hungarian_Paprika

 

Another nice view is this one of an Hungarian Paprika plant. Wish I had six of these like I planned but I only got two to germinate after a lengthy battle. The seed was sourced from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and they say their seed originated in Hungary but do not provide a local name for it or even say what village or even county it came from. The “sweet, spicy” peppers are described to be slender, 4.5 inches long and they ripen to a dark red color. I have fantasies of making my own Paprika but how do you dry these peppers? Air dry or dehydrator? Does it help to split them open before dehydrating?

 

That’s what happened in my garden last week. To see what other gardeners around the world are doing, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Monday.

 

17 comments:

  1. I know what you mean about the rain. We have had measurable precip. on 16 of the last 18 days.

    I grew that Hungarian pepper last year, and again this year. It made great paprika for me. I dry the spice peppers in the dehydrator, either whole or cut in half. I do like to remove the seeds before grinding, as they lighten the color of the paprika and I don't think they add to the flavor. Dulce Rojo is another sweet paprika pepper I like. I'm trying a couple of new ones this year and I will be sure and report on how they did.

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    1. Thanks, Dave, nice to know. It was an impulse buy. Just wish more had germinated.

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  2. Wow - your peppers already have fruits on them! I'll chime in with my concern over the excess rain too - I'm especially worried about the tomatoes and crossing my fingers that we don't have to deal with early blight again.

    I really love the look of those onions - I may have to set aside a bit of space for some early onions next year depending on how my perennial bunching onion trials pan out.

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    1. I have grown Tropea for a few years. What I did was just tuck a plant in here and there, in corners of a bed, between plants, then pulled them as they got too big for the neighborhood. They are not a storage onion so no need to let them mature. I enjoy them fresh.

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  3. I haven't grown that particular paprika pepper but have used others to make paprika. The dehydrator is the most reliable method I've used, either split or whole. When I dehydrate whole peppers I pierce them in a few spots with the tip of a sharp knife which helps them to dry more quickly. I also like to oven dry peppers to give them some slight caramelization, which I think adds a nice flavor. And I'm with Dave, I leave out the seeds when I grind the paprika.

    Too much rain for you, not enough for me, is there anyone getting just enough...

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    1. Thanks, I'll use the dehydrator. Two years ago I air dried some Jimmy Nardello and put them in a jar. They molded. I guess they weren't really dry. You really need to break that drought. Maybe it will happen. Look at Texas.

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  4. Your onions look amazing. And that is a lot of peas, yum. I love seeing the kohlrabi with their leaves on they're so interesting.

    Your peppers are looking so good with lots of peppers set. My pepper plants are giving grave consideration to setting fruit, I can tell their thinking really long and hard about it. We've cooled down quite a bit so it may happen.

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    1. I had that problem with peppers a couple years ago when we got 2-3 weeks of 100 degree weather. The flowers just dropped, and so did I (no air conditioning up here).

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  5. The rain predicted for Wednesday and Friday is scattered, so we may or may not get rain. Who knows. You have some nice pea harvests. And I hope your peppers catch up to that nice looking one. For me I'm mentally trying to get the melons to grow. They seem behind last year, even the ones that were not eaten by slugs and were resown. I hope they get moving. I want melons this year. At least the sweet potatoes seem a bit ahead.

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    1. You need hot weather for melons, Daphne. Just arrange for that and things should speed up.

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  6. I've got loads of peppers on the way already too! Mostly Hungarian Hot Wax and Jalapenos (M Strain) - I generally pickle them but would like to dry some this year as well. I'm growing jimmy nardello for the first time but no fruit on that one yet.

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    1. Will be interesting to see what you think of the Jimmies. They are early, productive and ripen very fast, so it won't be long.

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  7. I'm trying Jimmy Nardello peppers for the first time and the lone plant is growing well. My paprika plant turned out to be an Alma paprika, although the picture at the greenhouse showed a standard thin paprika. Nothing like a surprise.

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    1. Maybe they got a rogue seed in their packet. The thicker wall just means more time in the dehydrator. Hope your peppers do well.

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  8. Just found your blog, will be following along! Living it so far!

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  9. Things are coming along nicely Dave. Do you find the red plastic really helps the peppers etc? We too have 1 or 2 snow peas in the Sugar Snaps--guess quality control was a little off at Fedco.

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  10. The kohlrabi and red green onions look so pretty!
    I grew Hungarian Paprika few years back, it didn't do well for me here, got few fruits and died, didn't know what the problem was.

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