Harvest Monday - 5 August 2024

Our weather changed once again to oppressive humidity. I've said, "we don't have to move to Florida, Florida's moving to us." As if to prove my point, and I don't think I've mentioned this before, like a lot of places in the US, our USDA Climate Zone jumped a half-step. Ours went from 5B to 6A. But I think most gardeners here already knew that before it was made official late last year. 

The harvests haven't really slowed, and almost everything seems to be ahead of years past. I'll lead off with the "first harvests."

Top of the crop was the first sweet corn! This year I set out to grow the type I've never done before, the Supersweets (sh2). They are known to be finicky about soil temp for germination, but I solved that by starting them indoors and transplanting out at 10 days or so. It worked! I got the first ears before the end of July. The flavor and texture is just wow!

Solstice (a Supersweet)

Another first harvest is this good-sized, Italian-style eggplant, called Midnight Queen.

Midnight Queen (F1) eggplant

The "last first," coming in a few days ahead of Midnight Queen, is this Ping Tung eggplant.

Ping Tung eggplant

Now for the continuing harvests. Here was Monday's.

Late July general harvest

Here was Thursday's. The fennel bulb was really too large, at over a kilo, and the woody parts had to be shaved off

Early August general harvest.

And here's Sunday's. We took another overlarge, slightly woody fennel bulb. Fortunately, that's the last. As for the corn, I've eaten two ears every night this week. Could I be approaching my limit? Not quite yet.

Early August harvest (2).

I cleaned all the garlic harvested a couple of weeks ago. I like to see them all clean and lined up. Clockwise from right is German White, Music, Russian Red, and the Elephant "garlics" (more closely related to leeks). The latter did not truly get elephant size, but it was a fun experiment to try them.

2024 garlic harvest

I haven't said much about the "42 Day" tomato that I first harvested several weeks ago. I must say I'm completely impressed with it. In true determinate fashion, it has set all the fruit it's going to for the season, but look how loaded the plant is. And the 1.5 - 2 oz "saladette" fruits are quite tasty. I think this would be an excellent choice if you are looking for a container variety.

"42 Day" tomato plant

That's all for this week. Thanks for reading, and continuing appreciation for the work Dave does at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.