The first tomatoes, finally! Although small and few, they were most welcome. This is the grape variety called Sugar Plum. I've had the same seeds since 2012, and they are a delightful blend of sweet and acidic. I've only found a single source for these seeds (Harris, I think).
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| Sugar Plum grape tomatoes |
The first of several pickings of "Diva" cucumbers, again a delightful variety.
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| Diva |
The first "Maule's Red Hot" cayenne. Perfectly ripe, but what do you do with a single hot pepper?
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| Maule's Red Hot |
The first "Calima" filet beans. This is the first time I'm growing them, and they are fantastic in every way.
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| Calima filet beans |
The first "Carson" wax beans. This has been a reliable producer for us in the past.
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| Carson yellow wax beans |
Now for continuing harvests. We took more lovely artichokes.
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| Imperial Star artichokes |
The last of the broccoli. It looked like they weren't going to give us much in the way of side-shoots, so the plants were taken out. I planted a hill of yellow zucchini in their place. I'm not sure if there will be enough time in the season to get much of anything from it, but it's a good experiment.
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| Fiesta and Arcadia broccoli |
I wrote last week about the voles destroying 5 of our 10 potato plants. This week they took two more, leaving us with potato husks underground. We decided we should just salvage what was left, and this was the result. Though it is weeks before we would normally harvest potatoes, we're going to cure these and try to store as much as we can.
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| Kennebec potatoes |
The last of the Blauwschokkers peas for soup. The vines had the worst case of powdery mildew I've ever seen. I wiped as much of it off the pods as I could.
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| Desiree Dwarf Blauwschokkers |
The Mammoth Melting Sugar snow peas had also developed PM, but not as bad. Here are some on the right, plus more Super Sugar Snaps, which showed no PM at all. We later pulled the MMS vines.
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| Super Sugar Snap and Mammoth Melting Sugar |
Every so often The Kitchen Goddess's mother comes over to help with garden chores, and we are pleased to send her home with as much produce as she wants. So here are two pictures of what we call the "Mom CSA."
An end of the week harvest basket:
And finally, two more artichokes. This time, I'm showing what they looked like before clipping, in case you were curious.
That's all for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks as always to Dave at Our Happy Acres for hosting Harvest Monday. Please join me in seeing what other gardeners around the world are bringing in now.
This is the first year I've been without Diva cucumbers in a long time and I miss them. The Calima beans look like a nice bean. I've had real success using Neem oil for PM on squash. It won't stop it cold but it will suppress it. This year if mildew shows up I will mix it with potassium bicarbonate, which is also known to knock down PM.
ReplyDeleteNeem oil does seem to be versatile. Let us know how your concoction of it works, although hopefully you won't need it.
DeleteSome great harvests and we are eating our very first tomatoes now too! But so sad about the potatoes :( Hopefully those tubers keep for a while. No cucumbers yet for me, but I'm hoping that I'll finally get to try Diva after a failed attempt last year. They are starting to flower so hopefully I won't be waiting too much longer.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Margaret. Hope you get some Divas, they really are delicious.
DeleteDamn rodents... I know the feeling well!
ReplyDeleteI grow Super Sugar Snap because it is one of the most PM resistant varieties of snap peas I've ever grown. PM is a huge problem in my garden.
I imagine your lovely coastal fogs are the agent that spreads PM.
DeleteI've got the 'one ripe pepper' syndrome too, though mine is a Cayenneta. I could make some seasoned vinegar with it, but that's my only idea so far. Those Calima beans are pretty for sure!
ReplyDeleteI do feel your pain with the voles. They are a pest here, and I've had no luck trapping them. I'm hoping the hawks and owls are feeding on them since I can't get them.
I've never really been able to trap them either, though I did get one in a glue trap--yuck! I do recommend Calima if you like haricots verts like we do.
DeleteWith a name like "Maule's Red Hot" i would think one is enough?!
ReplyDeleteI think in the olden days this pepper was considered really hot, but with all the fiery peppers available now it is kind of tame by comparison.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great to send visitors home with a whole harvest basket? We just love doing that too! If we get a single hot pepper like that it just goes in the weekly stir fry... sometimes that's good, sometimes a wee bit hot
ReplyDelete