I missed posting last Monday, since we were spending three nights in a cabin at the lovely lakeside nature preserve we enjoy so much. It was a fitting end of summer--warm days, cool nights, and the lake like glass. Truthfully, I was a little nervous about leaving the crops un-watered, as it's been so warm and terribly dry, but they held up well.
So this post shows what's come in over the previous 2 weeks. I managed to get four first-of-the-season harvests, which I will lead off with.
These are Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck Squash, also called Neck Pumpkins. The picture does not do them justice. The smaller looking one at the rear is actually larger, at 18.8 pounds, and the one in the front is 17.6. Both of these shatter my previous record.
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| PA Dutch Crookneck |
I've mentioned that someone gave me two ultrahot pepper plants. I previously showed the Scorpion peppers, now I have Carolina Reaper to show. Some sources say it can reach two million Scovilles--pretty ridiculous. I am enjoying them for the curiosity factor, and don't plan to do much else with them.
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| Carolina Reaper |
I cut a couple of napa cabbages that I planted in summer. They are not very large, but are very dense.
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| Minuet napa cabbage |
Finally, I took some collards for the first time this year. I actually planted three plants, but two didn't grow well. The third grew very big, but recently got ravaged by the cross-striped cabbage worm, a new pest here that does not seem to be affected by organic sprays. I salvaged what leaves I could, and got three one-gallon freezer bags full. The plant, worms and all, went into the compost.
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| Top Bunch 2.0 collards |
Here are the ongoing harvests over the past two weeks.
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| Mid-September harvest #1 |
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| Mid-September harvest #2 |
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| Late September harvest |
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| Last Day of Summer harvest |
And then there's raspberries. The Kitchen Goddess is picking them every other day, and they haven't yet started slowing down. This was one of the largest hauls, and just over two pounds. We give away a lot, and freeze the rest.
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| Fall raspberries |
That's all for today. Thanks for reading, and thanks once again to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.
That is some good looking napa cabbage! Slugs usually make a mess of mine. That's bad news about the striped cabbage worms though. I'll be on the lookout for them here. Your raspberries continue to amaze me. I bring ours in by the handful, or just eat them on the spot.
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