Monday, June 18, 2018

Harvest Monday - 18 June 2018

It's almost [calendar] summer, but until lately you wouldn't know it here in New Hampshire. The nighttime temperatures were holding in the low 50s. My peppers and eggplants are pouting, and I despair they will ever put on growth. The tomatoes, though, seem to be holding up and growing, but fruit looks a long way away.

This translates to almost everything having the "slows." We are starting to get some harvests though.

The radishes are doing beautifully.

L: French Breakfast, R: Cherry Belle
We took the first turnips (Purple Top White Globe). The one on the right is about as big as we grow them here, maybe golfball size. Thus I have to laugh when I look at the picture in the Baker Creek catalog, where that adorable little girl is holding a softball-sized specimen. Regardless, we get good greens, and tasty roots to add to our salads.

Purple Top White Globe turnips
We are getting a fair amount of salad greens from the mixes I planted.


And the first garlic scapes were ready to be cut.


Strawberries are starting to roll in. Overall, they seem to be much smaller than last year--whether it's the weather or tired vines I do not know. But they're good.


The next two harvests, diminutive though they may be, are also welcome. First up are beet thinnings for greens:


Next are carrot thinnings. Though they aren't really sweet yet, they add a nice carroty flavor to our salads.


The Kitchen Goddess made some more chive flower/tarragon vinegar. Not only is it a lovely color but it adds a savoriness to dressings.


Lastly I present bug notes. The two fennel plants I put in the Kitchen Herb Garden are working well as a trap crop for the Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars, keeping them from the parsley etc. (as least for now). Given the speed with which they defoliate the plants, they clearly like fennel a lot more than I do!


Not much else to report. Thanks for reading, and thanks as always to Dave at Our Happy Acres for hosting Harvest Monday.

10 comments:

  1. Sometimes the smaller strawberries taste the best! Nice garlic scapes. I'm not sure what my variety is or if I'll get any scapes. I love the butterflies in my garden. I've never planted fennel. Mine usually show up on my parsley or carrots but they have never diminished my crops, I usually bring them in for the kids to take care of until they transform then release them. Yours look quite happy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As you probably know, hardneck garlic produces scapes while softneck does not. I normally grow only hardneck, but I'm trying a few softneck this year.

      Delete
  2. I'm with Shawn Ann on the strawberries! The turnips look like a great size to me. I have to laugh too at some of the hyperbolic photos in the seed catalogs. I neglected to make any chive blossom vinegar this year, and yours looks lovely. I like to drizzle it over potatoes when I make potato salad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dave! I'm sure the seed catalogs aren't INTENTIONALLY misleading.

      Delete
  3. Oh, I would love to have the nighttime lows in the 50's, they are still dipping into the 40's here. But we do have a nice long warm autumn to make up for cold June nights.

    Swallowtail caterpillars seem to prefer fennel here too, I rarely find them in my parsley or carrots but regularly see them in the fennel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, temps in the 40s? Yet you grow such lovely peppers!

      Delete
  4. I ditto Michelle on the caterpillars - they love the dill, but I've not seen them on either parsley or carrots (lucky us!). In fact, I saw a butterfly laying eggs on one of the volunteer dill plants so I've marked that one as "do not harvest".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If a caterpillar "strays" to the parsley or dill I place it on the fennel, since I KNOW they would be happier there!

      Delete
  5. The radishes and turnips look great, and your carrot thinnings are extra long. My carrots always end up such stubby creatures. Once the potatoes are done, I might try growing carrots in pots. I always enjoy seeing your salad leaves throughout the summer. Springtime greens is an art I have yet to master.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Phuong. Full disclosure...the carrots were unintentional trick photography--only an inch or so long!

      Delete