The summer vegetable garden appears to have kicked into overdrive. I am spending a lot of time either harvesting or processing squash and beans. Which is not a bad thing at all! It is time consuming though, and other gardening chores (like weeding) are getting put on the back burner while I deal with the bounty from the garden. It looks like it’s going to be a great year for squash and beans, due in part to ample rains and moderate temperatures.
harvest of Tatume squash
I freeze both summer squash and snap beans. I usually slice the yellow squash and zucchini into 1/4 inch slices, then blanch for 3 minutes. After cooling, it’s on to a pizza pan that is lined with wax paper. I try and keep the slices in a single layer, which makes them freeze separately. Then it’s on to the freezer. After they are frozen, I will put them in a big ziploc bag. I also sometimes freeze shredded squash, which I don’t blanch.
frozen zucchini slices
The snap beans get blanched also, then frozen in meal size portions in ziploc bags. Right now I have Helda, Musica and Marvel of Venice pole beans producing nicely, and Fortex is just starting to bear as Rattlesnake is starting to bloom. In the bush beans, Purple Queen is winding down as Rocdor and Derby hit their peak. Normally the bush beans start bearing before the pole beans, but this year they are coming on together. Which means they are keeping me busy! There’s almost 6 pounds of beans in the below photo, and that was from one day.
harvest of snap beans
And keeping my wife busy are the blueberries. This has been a banner year for them, and she does the harvesting. As of yesterday we have harvested over 33 pounds of them, which equates to about 21 quarts. We have hauled in more pounds of blueberries this year than we did asparagus! Based on previous years, and the looks of the bushes, I am guessing there will be blueberries to harvest for about two more weeks.
some of the blueberry harvest
My wife and I both have them for breakfast pretty much every day. I like to add them to muesli, and them drizzle a little of our honey on top. What a way to start my day!
muesli topped with blueberries and honey
They also topped some whole grain French toast I made one morning. What we don’t eat gets frozen for later use.
blueberries on French toast
I have been harvesting other things as needed. Like some Red Tropea onions. They seem to be doing well this year, and handling our rainy conditions.
Red Tropea onions
And I pulled a couple of Yaya carrots for a lunch salad we had. It looks like they have sized up nicely.
Yaya carrots
I dug up three hills of the French Fingerling potatoes last week, and found a little bit more than four pounds of really nice red skinned, yellow fleshed new potatoes. This is my first time growing this particular variety, and it looks like a winner so far. The potatoes are pretty good sized for a fingerling type. In fact, the seed pieces were so big I had to cut them into thirds and fourths. I bought some of these same fingerlings at the grocery last winter, and they were on ‘sale’ for $3.99/pound. So my first harvest of them has more than paid for the seed stock, and I still have seven more hills to dig! Some of these got cooked up with snap beans, and I am looking forward to roasting some in the oven as well. And, they would be great for potato salad.
French Fingerling potatoes
Another first for our garden was the Purple Beauty peppers. These were the first of any bell peppers to come on this year, though I do have some Anaheims and Serranos already. These peppers are so dark they are almost black!
Purple Beauty peppers
I’m getting lots of the Tatume squash now. That’s it in the first photo, and each one on the cutting board averages about 1 pound each. Tatume is a dual use squash that can be used when young as a summer squash, or left to mature as a winter squash. I like to use it when young, much like I would a zucchini. They seem to have a bit less moisture than most zucchini, which makes them good grilled or fried. I grilled some the other night, sprinkled with a little seasoned salt before cooking. The shape of them also makes them good for stuffing. I will have more to say about Tatume in an upcoming Saturday Spotlight.
grilling slices of Tatume squash
I took another cutting last week from our rhubarb plants. This is the second cutting this year, and there was about 40 ounces of it after I trimmed off the leaves and ends. This is the Green Victoria variety. I have some Canada Red I planted this year, and hopefully it will be joining the harvests in future years.
harvest of rhubarb
I made part of this rhubarb into a dessert, adding some of our cherries from the freezer. I need to share that recipe someday too. I use the same basic recipe with apples, or cherries. I’m not sure whether to call it a ‘crisp’ or a ‘crumble’. But then I have an Amish cookbook that just calls a dessert like this a ‘goodie’! The topping is whole wheat flour, butter and brown sugar. Whatever you call it, my wife and I certainly enjoyed eating it. I can’t wait to try more dishes with rhubarb.
Rhubarb & Cherry Crisp
I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the harvests we have been hauling in here in early July. To see more harvests, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, where Daphne hosts the Harvest Monday series.
You do have a wide variety in your harvest. Lucky you with all those blueberries. I’m about to rip out 4 of my bushes that have not done well despite the pampering I’ve given them. My squash is just blossoming now.
That is too bad about your blueberries. I’ve had to replace two bushes we planted last year, but they just didn’t survive the drought.
What a gorgeous harvest you have this week! Those blueberries look very yummy and looks like you’re having great selection for dinner with potatoes, onions, carrots and squshes. Nice sized pepper too!
Dinners have been great lately for sure!
Amazing harvests and you are going to be working hard with all the preserving today and going forward as the summer production season is really just getting underway! The blueberry production is inspiring. I think my bushes are going to give me a decent harvest this year (barring birds getting to them first and assuming I remember to keep them watered well!) but nothing like your amazing abundance. We pretty much do as you do… eating lots of it fresh while in season, but freezing whole the remainder for later use.
The blueberry bushes have really taken off this year. They are definitely an exercise in patience though, since it has taken several years. Thankfully the birds are getting very few of them.
wonderful harvest this week. Your crisp looks so yummy too!
It was yummy!
Great harvest t this week Dave, with a lot of variety!! Glad to hear that your potatoes are doing good, I have been thinking about trying some fingerlings I will have to get some in next year!!
The fingerlings have turned out to give a pretty good return for us. They may not make quite as much total poundage as the larger types, but they come close. And they sure are tasty prepared in so many ways!
Love the title of this week’s harvest post! We’re just getting in our tropea rossa onions seedlings into the ground this week, such is the difference between our zones…
Thanks!
You do have an amazing variety coming out of the vegetable garden now. But I don’t envy all the work you’ve got ahead of you to preserve it.
Well, it keeps me busy but it’s a good kind of busy!
Everything is looking so good! Your perennial plants are giving you such a great harvest. It really makes me want to plant some around the house.
Blueberries are attractive as well as productive. And so is the rhubarb for that matter.
Beautiful harvest as usual! Not much in the squash and beans department here, not quite ready. We have tons of blueberries too, but they are not protected from birds, so it remains to be seen what we will get from them. Putting a cage around the bushes is on the perennial honey-do list! Ours will not be ripe for another two weeks yet.
Definitely a lot of variety. Unusual that you are getting bush and pole beans at the same time. I’m still waiting on my Kentucky wonder plants to flower. I ordered Tropea onions this winter but Pinetree was out. Darn they sure look good! The fingerling potatoes look fantastic, as well as the grilled squash.
Great blueberry harvest. I hope to have just half that next year! *crossing fingers* Lovely beens and squash, too. Beans and squash will be replantedin another 6 weeks here. Can’t wait!
That’s sure a lot of blueberries. I planted a couple of high bush but never cover them so the birds get them all. All the brush in the back yard is low bush blueberries and black huckleberry, but it’s too much trouble (and too hot) to pick them. I like your Rosso Lunga onions, I’m growing them this year and it is a treat to be able to pull one or two for salads when you want.
Wow, your garden is producing like crazy! I could never keep up with all that! Lucky you!