The "Yellow Fin" golden zucchini continues to provide us with lots of beautiful and very tasty fruit.
We got our first "Sugar Plum" grape tomato. It's quite a flavor contrast to the Taxis we've been getting, which are sweet and mild but still full of flavor. Sugar Plum has a lot more bite. This one never left the garden.
A mid-week basket of goodness. That makes eight artichokes for the season so far.
A Friday picking:
Yes, that's our first sweet corn! The variety is "Espresso." Here it is ready for the boil:
It's the first of four succession plantings--two of Espresso, and two of Honey Select. The first of the latter is just starting to silk. The Espresso suffered from earwig damage to the silks, which prevents them from fully filling-out. I've tried diatomaceous earth (sold as "Crawling Insect Killer") to control the bugs. It was too late for the first planting, but the second looks like it might have worked. But literally I coated the leaf stalks with the white powder. For the Honey Select, I'm using spinosad out of desperation, as I can't afford to take chances with that delicious prolific corn (many stalks have "twosies"; the Espresso only single ears). The first Espresso was a mixed bag--some were very sweet, others not so. Telling when corn is ripe (or gone past) is very difficult for me. And all of it is precious.
The soup peas are now all dried and shelled. I got over 18 oz. (~510 g.), or a little less than a quart volumetrically. It's not a lot, but I'm happy for it, as I love split-pea soup.
I weeded the carrot bed on Saturday, and realized I'd neglected to thin it for the last time. The result: a harvest of true baby carrots.
And then, Sunday's harvest:
Several "firsts" in this group. There are four "Maule's Red Hot" cayenne peppers (free seed packet from Totally Tomatoes), a Sweet Chocolate pepper at the top left, and a Roma tomato that had fallen from the vine. So far, there's just not enough tomatoes, peppers, or cucumbers to do anything but enjoy fresh. I hope that changes soon.
Lastly, this cute guy was spotted hanging on the side of the house.
It's a "Walking Stick." I think they aren't uncommon, but I've only ever seen a couple of them. It's always fun to see one.
That's it for this week. Thanks for reading! Go back to Daphne's Dandelions and see what the rest of the gardening world has to show you this week.
Those Yellow Fin squash are indeed beautiful. And I am impressed with the corn. The ears are so well filled out. Good job on that. Hope you conquer the earwigs.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave. I showed only the good side of the corns. All were not completely pollinated thanks to the earwigs.
DeleteA very nice harvest this week. Looking great! We are hoping for our first sweet corn this week!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Enjoy your corn.
DeleteHmm, not sure I think of that as "cute" - maybe a bit creepy for me. Great harvest!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susie. Bugs can be fun.
DeleteWe used to have a lot of walking sticks at our last house.They blend in so well that sometimes you just don't notice them. I've yet to see them here. Lovely harvests. I quit growing more than one kind of corn. Now it is just one that I plant out in successions.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Daphne. I'm thinking I won't grow Espresso again, and might concentrate just on Honey Select. But I do like the thought of an early corn.
DeleteReally beautiful harvest, and nice on the walking stick bug - they are very good things to have in the garden as they help with aphids.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jenny. I did not know that about walking-sticks.
DeleteOh, look at that beautiful corn! I'm still waiting for my taxi tomatoes to ripen...they are definitely taking their sweet time.
ReplyDeleteI think you are the first person that I've seen growing dried peas - they are on my list to try in the future as I love split pea soup as well.
Thanks Margaret. When the Taxis come in they really produce. And dried peas are easy (easy peasy!)
DeleteThat Yellow Fin is a beauty! And artichokes too? That split pea soup sounds like a good deal when cold weather comes.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave. Ugh, cold weather!
DeleteWonderful harvests! I love the yellow fin zucchini! So pretty! Baby carrots always taste so sweet and tender.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rachel. The Yellow Fin has really turned out to be a great crop for us.
DeleteYour corn harvest is great - so impressive for Northern New England in my opinion.And you are having a super artichoke season too. But I am most impressed with your soup pea harvest. What a lot of skill and work. But that soup this Winter will taste extra good knowing you grew and harvested the peas.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lexa. Actually New England grows a lot of corn, and in my biased opinion, is the sweetest. Funny what you said about skill and work... I have none of the former and avoid the latter when possible!
DeleteThe Yellow Fin zucchini is beautiful. Funny, I remember Yellow Fin potatoes, which I loved, but I've not seen them in years. They were so good, I'm not sure why they've disappeared from the market. Love that walking stick, such a fascinating critter, I've not seen them around here.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michelle. It was a treat to see Mr. Bug. Hope you find yellow fin potatoes.
ReplyDelete