Up until this weekend, it's been oppressively hot and humid. Scant rainfall, too. But certain crops seem to be loving this, in particular the winter squash, whose vines just decided to start running. A lot of new crops came in this week.
I picked the first tomatoes. This is the "42 Day" variety that I tried last year. Once again, the first fruit didn't ripen in 42 days, but 49 days is still pretty good. They are a little bigger than cherry tomatoes, and have good flavor. Unfortunately the plant is struggling.
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| "42 Day" tomatoes (OP) |
I also got the first cucumber. This is "Little Leaf," a pickling type. Last year the cucumber beetles were fierce, and the plants suffered, with very little production. This year, I'm growing them under a row cover. I planted only parthenocarpic types (Little Leaf and Diva), so I don't have to worry about pollination.
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| "Little Leaf" cucumber (OP) |
I'm growing only 3 eggplants this year, one plant each of these hybrids: the Asian style Violet Delight (showed 2 weeks ago), the blocky Italian style Black King, and this, the teardrop-shaped Epic. This is a new one for me.
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| Epic eggplant (F1) |
I also pulled the rest of the garlic. This is "Chesnok" on the left, and "Katterman" on the right. All garlic is now curing in the garage.
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| Garlic harvest |
Last year I grew Elephant Garlic (more closely related to leeks), and must have left one unharvested, because it regrew. It sent up an absurdly tall flower stalk, crowned with a true allium flower, unlike regular garlic.
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| Elephant garlic |
The Kitchen Goddess picked the first raspberries and blueberries. We haven't had any blueberries in two years. The first year, a late hard frost killed the buds, and last year chipmunks (probably) found a way to tunnel under the bird netting and stole the entire crop.
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| Raspberries and blueberries |
For continuing harvests, I took the last curly endive. This has been a good crop for us; I'm glad I tried it this year.
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| "Rhodos" curly endive |
I also took more cuttings from the "Summer Blend" lettuce rows. Living up to the name, it's holding up in the heat.
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| Summer Blend lettuce |
As I expected, "mangetout" put on a new flush. I'm picking them every couple of days.
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| Super Sugar Snap pea and Sweet Horizon snow pea |
That's all for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks as always to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.
So we've had too much rain, and you've had too little. So it seems to go these days! It's good the critters have left you some berries this year.
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