What are You Eating from the Garden?

[Rhodie Ranch]

And here I've not yet harvested one tomato. Not one!!!

 

[Dahlia]

And here I've not yet harvested one tomato. Not one!!!

I have tried growing large tomatoes in WA near the coast and it seems that the growing season is never long enough for those. However, I have had excellent luck growing cherry tomatoes here!!!

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I have tried growing large tomatoes in WA near the coast and it seems that the growing season is never long enough for those. However, I have had excellent luck growing cherry tomatoes here!!!

Funny, something similar happens with us. If we plant cherry tomatoes, we tend to get a reasonable crop (not huge but reasonable).

But when I plant normal sized or up tomatoes, what pretty much always happens is that we get one somewhat undersized fruit and then the whole plant dies.

It looks like it is happening this year as well. There are probably five or six Phil's Two plants in the pot, and they ALL have plenty of flowers, but, as yet, the one fruit that initially formed is still the only one there.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

Made cheese enchilada with home made salsa with side of corn on the cob from the garden. Also made gluten free cake which turned out to be a brownie texture. So good!

 

[digitS']

Thirteen melons were ready to come out of the melon patch this morning!


There were several Goddess cantaloupe, most were Passport Galias, including the 3 there in the basket (including one of surprising size). Then, of course, there was the watermelon.

Kidding! I have never grown a ripe watermelon except for a few Sugar Babies – once. Failed several times and watched neighbors fail. Maybe this would have been a good year to try again . I don't understand why DW decided to buy a watermelon at the supermarket ... Sharing our melon harvest with 3 other households. Still no ripe Crenshaw but they will be along soon.

The cucumber vines are soldiering along. At this rate, all 4 varieties will be played out by the end of the month but, guess what. There are about 10 young cukes already set out where the corn has been harvested and, now, cut down. They were in the shade but will now have full sun.

Oh, harvested nice bowl full of broccoli in defiance of Marty the Marmot's effort to deprive us of the vegetable. I'm impressed by both the earliness and resilience of Gypsy. One might also expect that they would be having a tough time with the hot and dry conditions. Toughing it out with tender buds. They should appreciate the cooler weather that the WS says is in store for us next week.

Steve

 

[Branching Out]

Well Steve, I'm jealous. We have a few melons forming on the vine, and they are the size of lemons. We'll get there though. In the mean time we are able to get a respectable harvest of small tomatos every couple of days now. We made the Roasted Salsa recipe from Once Upon a Chef, and it turned out pretty good. The vegetables go under the broiler for 15 minutes; after that we chose to remove the skins, and we reduced the cooking liquid a bit on the stove. It all gets pulsed in the food processor, and you add lime and cilantro at the end. I am going to try freezing a jar of this salsa, so I will add those two ingredients later to keep the flavours bright and fresh. Today we will try Jenn Segal's recipe for Stacked Beef Enchiladas, using the same salsa as the sauce between the layers of corn tortillas.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

We harvested 5 melons yesterday. One went to the neighbor. Some rotted which happens every year. The second planting of melons are withering away so not sure what is causing that. I should also get almost 10 watermelons if things go well. You never know with watermelons. One day they look happy and next day they split open.
I canned 28 jars of salsa yesterday and will have that many canned today. I decided to can all the salsa we will need for 2 years so next year I can take a break from growing so many tomatoes. I'll focus my attention canning condiments next year if needed.
I finally used my noggin and decided to use my pressure canner pot as a water bath canner (lid from my largest pot fits it perfectly! ) and it's so much faster to make and can salsa! This way I have 14 quart jars canning at the same time!

 

[flowerbug]

today was first round of green peppers so i just finished cleaning them up so they will be turned into stuffed green peppers tonight (to mostly be eaten or given away tomorrow and the next day) or made into chili. of course i had to sample a few bits as i was cutting for quality control porpoises. only one was slightly marred at the end the rest were in great condition.

 

[Branching Out]

Actually followed through and made the recipe for Stacked Beef Enchiladas, and it was good comfort food. I often deviate from the instructions a bit; this time I improvised by sauteing jalapeno, garlic, and onion to place in the bottom of the casserole dish with a few chopped fresh cherry tomatoes. Apart from that I followed the recipe fairly closely. We had last year's fermented jalapenos (it's amazing what you find when you clean the fridge!) and this season's fermented Gold Rush beans on the side.

 

[digitS']

We have been eating the green sweet peppers for about 10-12 days.

If you are using sweet peppers in chili (or soup, etc.) -- drying them has worked well. It hasn't proven 100% but I was surprised that just hanging them in the kitchen worked for nearly all. If they are close to ripening, they continue.

Since we are once again having such a good pepper year, many are being left to ripen in the garden. Most years, this isn't worth the risk but, there's something to be gained in our recent weather . Since we now have some experience with the dehydrator, we can also go that route but it is rather nice to watch a nice, green Italian pepper quickly turning red after a very few days hanging in the kitchen.

I suppose that those growing lots of beans for drying and chili realize the benefits of the sweet pepper/hot pepper combinations.

Steve