Harvest Monday - 4 July 2022

Happy Independence Day! I was thinking, for all the bad things going on recently (looking at you Supreme Court), this country still has a lot going for it. So I can celebrate the nation's birth without too many qualms.

We had several new harvests this week. First up is zucchini (courgettes). This is fully two weeks earlier than last year.  I'm hoping to get a good amount before the squash bugs and vine borers take the crop down, as has happened in the last few years. 

I cut the first "Pantheon" hybrid, based on the heirloom Cocozelle type. I love the look of the Italian varieties, which adds to the taste, as appearance is almost as important in my opinion.

Pantheon hybrid zucchini

Also cut was "Yellowfin," a completely yellow hybrid I've been growing for years.

Yellowfin hybrid zucchini

 I cut two nice broccoli heads, shown below, and another one a few days later. This variety, Blue Wind, is extra early and reliable. It produces many side shoots too.

Blue Wind hybrid broccoli

 I also cut the largest fennel bulb. I'm always surprised now quickly the fennel sizes up once it gets established. Again, I'm not really fond of it, but The Kitchen Goddess (TKG) loves it, so I'm happy to grow them.

Orazio hybrid fennel

I do love scallions (green onions, bunching onions, spring onions, your choice) and though they never seem to get as big as the seed packet promises, I look forward to the harvests. This was the first this year, about pencil size.

Nabechan bunching onions

TKG picked lavender, and wove some lovely and fragrant wands. I think she's planning to cast spells with it, so I'd better watch myself.

Lavender wand

For continuing harvests, I cut few more kohlrabi. Another picking finished this crop for now, though I'm considering starting some more for a fall harvest.

Kolibri kohlrabi

More pea pods. We're giving some away at this point.

Super Sugar Snap and Avalanche snow peas

And another crisp head of iceberg lettuce. That means it's wedge salad time, hooray!

Iceberg

In other Garden Notes, last October I wrote about how I was expanding the field garden by using the "lasagna" method, sheet cardboard over the grass, followed by 4 inches of grass clippings and another 4 inches of pure shredded leaf compost. This how it looked then.

October

Here's how it looks now. I'm very pleased with how well things are growing. I transplanted winter squash in late May, and planted sweet corn on June 10. It makes me want to expand it still further, though we don't really need the space.

July

Speaking of Independence Day, on Friday it was super hot, so we drove to the coast (less than an hour away) to maybe catch a cooling sea breeze. We stopped for lunch at a waterside cafe (BG's Boat House, best fried clams I've ever had), then continued on to Fort Constitution, formerly Fort William and Mary. It was here in December 1774 that one of the first overt acts against the Crown occurred. A group of colonists attacked and captured the fort, making off with its gunpowder to distribute to local militias.

Sadly the fort was closed (structural problems), and since it's on an active US Coast Guard base, which can deny access any time it wants, we weren't able to walk up to it (a polite but firm Guardsman told us to leave). So this is the best picture I could get. The fort is behind the big ugly boat house.

Historic Fort Constitution, New Castle, New Hampshire

That's all for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks as always to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.