*It is now fall, Tuesday Sept 22 at 7:18pm*
After having such a pitiful harvest last week I though I should go out and asses my crop situation. Being that I am a veggie garden blogger of course I will take y'all for the outing. Lets start with Granny's Purple Peppers shall we:
Here is one of the purple peppers in the garden. The seed for these beauties was shared by Annies Kitchen Garden. They had a slow start but are now bulking up nicely. About three weeks ago I had a purple peppers that was huge and just about ready for harvest and of course the squirrels harvested it before me! I hope I get to harvest the last of them.
The french melons have really started to come in now even through the vines look half dead. The four above are about harvest size and there are a few others that are pretty small still. The three striped ones are Savor F1 and the funny shaped green/grey one is Petite Gris.
My fall broccoli is ready for harvest any day now. At first I thought they would produce tiny heads but they have really started to grow in the last few days. Although these heads are not as big as the spring ones they are still pretty respectable. Encase there is inquiring minds out there, I seeded these broccoli in cell packs June 1st and planted them in the soil June 29th. I am hopeful for addition side shoots off these plants as well, frost is still about a month off and my broccoli last year was alive well into November.
Red Kuri squash that is also ready for harvest any day now. Only this large one and one small one developed this year. Next year I am growing butternut as they are more productive.
Here is the larger two of the four delicata squash in the garden, the seed for these was shared by Skippy's Vegetable Garden. I can't wait to try these, it will be a first.
I have a bumper crop of Jimmy Nardello peppers. These taste awful fresh but will make for some nice salsa when my paste tomatoes ripen. Any one have any other ideas to use these Italian frying peppers ???
There is a few small Rosa Bianca eggplants out there that I hope will size up before frost. My eggplants went the way of the purple peppers, the squirrels harvested the first large ones. Who knew squirrels like veggies so much.
I am going to have one more Hillbilly Potato Loaf tomato this season, that brings me up to a whooping two tomatoes, thanks blight! I love these tomatoes so I am happy to have one more ripening.
There is a nice large clutch of Purple Calabash that are unscaved by blight, this plant actually was the most blight resistant plant in the garden. The seed for this tomato was also shared by Skippy's Vegetable Garden.
The Jersey Devil paste tomatoes are finally starting to ripen. I will be making salsa with them but by the looks of it I will be supplementing some farm grown paste tomatoes as well. I think there is only about 10 fruit on the plants.
My sungold's that I started in June have two clutches of cherries on them. I can't wait to try these for the first time. You may notice in the top right that the plant has blight.
Lastly here is a future seed harvest. I am all out of Double Yield cucumber seed so I have left a few cukes on for seed production. The seed saving process for these is much like tomato seed saving and I will do a post on the process once I harvest the seed.
still quite a bit to harvest, hope the weather holds out! Can't wait to see the post on cucumber seed saving. Those squash look great too.
ReplyDeleteThose are some nice looking squash, Dan. I've never seen any of them before. I'll really be interested in your seed saving for cucumbers.
ReplyDeleteEverything looks really good! A few of my petit gris melons were odd shaped, too. That red squash looks like it ought to be tasty.
ReplyDeleteSo does roast squirrel go good with baked squash? Just wondering!
ReplyDeleteI know they were not productive for you but the red kuri squash is really interesting looking.
That purple pepper is a bit good!
ReplyDeleteWow on your broccoli! I've never seen it that big in a home garden. Looks great!
ReplyDeleteInquiring mind, here, very happy you reminded us of the broccoli dates. I definitely started mine a little late.
ReplyDeleteStill lots to come, Dan ! That's wonderful. The purple peppers are stunners, so are the squashes. That's a handsome clutch of Purple Calabash. From what I've seen on Kathy's blog, they're just gorgeous-looking tomatoes. Blight resistant, too ? I'd say that's a winning combo ! Will try them for sure next year.
Everything is looking good! I'm sad though because soon it's going to getting COLD.
ReplyDeleteDon't you just hate those furrie that eat your harvests. I have chipmunks that are feasting on my tomatoes.
The delicata squash are so sweet. I bought them last year from the farmers' market. I love them roasted with a bit of butter and maple sugar in the well. Yum.
ReplyDeleteYour broccoli head looks so pretty. It is just perfect.
I hope your Sungolds ripen. I really like them; hope you do too.
ReplyDeleteLots still out there. I would just fry the peppers with onions and garlic for pasta, but what do I know? Slow frying makes them so sweet.
Your broccoli head looks great. I knew you were concerned about planting late but I think your timing is good for a fall harvest and side shoots.
ReplyDeleteWe used to grow hot peppers, a different variety. You may be able to hang them and let them dry out, and add a pepper to a stir fry from time to time for a little kick.