Harvest Monday - 19 September 2016

Welcome to another Harvest Monday update from Eight Gate Farm. This week marked our first excursion below 50 at night. But we have other ways to mark the changing seasons. Our last sighting of "our" Ruby-throated hummingbirds was September 10. They are with us such a short time, starting in early May, but they bring us such joy! We've seen as many as five at one time. One of the nicest things we've done recently was to hang a feeder right off the screened porch (my office in the warmer months), as you can see in the picture below. It's so cool to see the birds hovering right outside, examining us with curiosity, when they are not busy drinking or chasing each other away (they are very territorial). We'll leave the feeders up another week or two, hoping to nourish the more-northern migrants as they pass through. We've seen a few.

Now on to harvests. Here is our first "Rosita" eggplant. The other eggplants have been giving us fruit for weeks, but Rosita is much slower. What it lacks in promptness and productivity, it makes up in loveliness I think.

Another first, a "Sugar Baby" watermelon. This is something of a joke, really. They are supposed to be petite, but 6 pounds, not 6 ounces! Sigh. We've never been able to grow a watermelon worthy of the name, but we keep trying.

Not a first-of-the-year, but a first-of-the-season picking of Asian greens. A smorgasbord of "oi's," you might say. From left, Toy Choy, Tatsoi, and Pak Choi. I realize now the photo is blurry, oops. 

Continuing harvest this week, starting with a muskmelon, a "Yellowfin" zucchini, and several "Rutgers" tomatoes.

An assortment of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. For those who inquired, we still have not had a hot example of "Mellow Star" shishito peppers.

Watermelon radishes, "Carson" yellow wax beans, a Cocozella Di Napoli zucchini, and another muskmelon.

A large picking of "Red Russian" kale and chard:

Finally, not a harvest, but something I find amusing. When I started eggplants this spring I noticed two of the pots had what looked like tobacco seedlings sprouting next to the "real" plants. I have no idea how the seeds got there. I mean, I am growing tobacco, but I really don't see how stray seeds got in with the eggplant. I left them, and now look at them! Doing much better than the tobacco I intentionally grew. And shading out the eggplants.

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, and your comments. And thanks as always to Dave at Our Happy Acres for hosting Harvest Monday.