Monday, September 3, 2012

Harvest Monday–3 September 2012

It’s definitely getting to be Fall. The days are cooler and the nights are colder.There are other signs around. Late August is when the garlic chives start blooming. The bed below started out as a small clump that I planted from seed and has self-seeded itself into a large bed (reminder to self: I have to remember to deadhead these things this year). The flowers are always a welcome sight, one of the few plants that bloom this time of year. They have a sweet, almost spicy fragrance that drives the bees wild.
Garlic (aka Chinese) chive blossoms

Bee on chive blossoms

Meanwhile, the garden is producing mostly cucumbers and zucchini, some oversized because I got to the garden a day late. The dark, slender cucumbers are Summer Dance. They are interesting in that they just grow longer, not fatter, the longer you leave them on the vine. Some of the ones below are over 10 inches long. They have a small seed cavity and probably would be good for pickles. The shorter, lighter green, cucumbers are Diva.

Jackson Pickling, Diva and Summer Dance cucumbers

Fortex pole beans and Dunja zucchini

Beans, zucchini and cukes

To see what other gardeners around the world harvested from their gardens last week, drop by Daphne’s Dandelions.

13 comments:

  1. How are the Diva's doing for you? I have a terrible time with cucumbers and was thinking about trying this one next year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Divas got going late and haven't been real productive. I had much better success with Summer Dance, which got going early and is still pumping out fruit. I'm getting 3-5 cukes every couple of days.

      Delete
  2. The garlic chive blossoms are so cheerful. I love how the bees work the chive blossoms so hard. I always let them go until they are totally dried up so that the bees have a good flower source to work for as long as possible.

    You really are getting quite a large haul of cucumbers. Mine are going into a resting phase but are blossoming so I think I can expect another rally of production during the early fall season. Keeping my fingers crossed. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really like the Summer Dance cuke and will definitely plant them next year. They did do better once the weather got consistently hot, not sure how they would do in the NW.

      Delete
  3. A nice looking harvest! My garlic chives that I seeded in spring surprised me with a couple of blossoms. I have a few small plants I need to get out into the garden too. Just wishing the weather would cool off! It's about 100 today!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Once they get established they should do well for you. They are pretty hard to eliminate, as I found out from all the volunteers I get.

      Delete
  4. How come you do not harvest your garlic chives flowers (scapes) for cooking? They are high veggies you know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So do you harvest the scapes before they flower? I kind of like the flowers, although you have to be disciplined enough to dead head them. What else do you use them for?

      Delete
    2. You harvest at the bud stage similar to harvesting garlic scape. I use them mostly in stir fry, you could make pesto also.
      I harvest most of the scapes and leave a few to flower for the insects thus avoid ending up with a garden full of garlic chives.

      Delete
  5. I'm getting lots of cucumbers and zucchini also, but I'm also still waiting for the bulk of the tomatoes and peppers to come in. The garlic chive blossoms are so pretty! They sound like something that I need to start growing if only for the flowers for the beneficial bugs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Garlic chives are a nice perennial herb and in your climate, you might have them all year. Apparently you can cook with the leaves. We have a Chinese gardener in the garden who has a large bed of these and periodically comes in and mows down a patch to take home.

      Delete
  6. I'm waiting for our garlic chives to go to seed, I've heard they're delicious to cook with!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Norma suggested using the scapes. Can you use really the seeds? That might motivate me to dead head the dang things.

      Delete

Thanks for visiting. I appreciate your taking the time to comment and value what you have to contribute to the discussion.

Template developed by Confluent Forms LLC