July is already more than half over, and there’s a noticeable change in the rhythm of things here. We’ve gone from planting, mulching and watering the summer garden to harvesting and preserving the summer fruits and veggies. And now it’s time to start planting for fall. The seedlings I started in late June are growing up fast, and it won’t be long before they are in the ground and growing. They spent a little time on the deck Saturday before they headed on to the greenhouse. That’s about half the total plants in the below photo. And I need to start some more things like Asian greens and lettuce soon.
seedlings for fall vegetables
It’s also time to sow carrots for fall, even as I am finishing the harvest of the spring planted ones. I’m sowing the fall carrots where the onions were growing, not necessarily because that’s a good succession but because that’s really the only good open spot I have at the moment. I’m pulling the spring carrots as we need them and as I find room in the refrigerator. That’s Cordoba in the below photo.
harvest of Cordoba carrots
I couldn’t get seed for Hercules carrots this year due to crop failure, and Johnny’s Selected Seeds was recommending Cordoba as a substitute. It’s a blocky, cone-shaped carrot that is supposed to do well in heavier soils. Even though our soil isn’t all that heavy, it certainly did well in it’s first outing here, and I will plant more for this fall. Due to the wedge shape it was easy to pull up without digging, which meant no broken off carrots to dig out either. It’s also pretty tasty, so it’s got that going for it too!
closeup of Cordoba carrot
Some of the Purple Haze carrots wound up on a salad. The purple and orange interior was pretty to look at when grated over the lettuce. I’m sure it added a few anthocyanins to the meal as well.
salad topped with grated Purple Haze carrots
And speaking of onions, the Candy and Sierra Blanca onions did great this year. We’ve been enjoying them in various ways. They were great in some vinegar cole slaw I made last week, and they are so very tasty when grilled or roasted. The Red of Tropea onions were a big disappointment though. It seems I was shipped the wrong slips, even though the bundle on the label said ‘Red Tropea’. The onions that grew look like a red cippiolini type called Red Marble. They are lovely little onions, but the key word there is ‘little’. I ordered them from Renee’s Garden Seeds, and they have refunded my money but of course that doesn’t give me any of the Red Torpedo onions that have done so well in years past! I’ll find another supplier next year, though it’s really the grower’s fault.
Red Marble onions
The small fruited tomatoes are coming on like gangbusters. We started dehydrating them last week, and I slow-roasted some as well. Those are two of my favorite ways to preserve the smaller tomatoes, at least the ones that we don’t eat fresh.
tomatoes for dehydrating
We use the FoodSaver to seal them up airtight and then freeze them. Both the dehydrated and the slow-roasted tomatoes keep well that way for at least a year or more.
dehydrated and slow-roaster tomatoes after sealing
We also enjoyed the first slicing tomatoes last week. They begged to be put on a BLT, and who was I to argue with that? That’s the red Jetsetter and the black fruited Paul Robeson in the below photo. I have to say the Paul Robeson is no match for our favorite Cherokee Purple, at least so far. Hopefully we can do a side by side taste test of the two when the CPs start ripening. The BLTs were still tasty however. Jetsetter has become my favorite hybrid slicing tomato, and it is a dependable and tasty performer for us here.
sliced Jetsetter(top) and Paul Robeson(bottom) tomatoes
The pole beans are continuing to keep us supplied with beans to eat and to freeze. The Fortex beans are coming on now, and they are always a treat. They are stringless and tender even when they get to be a foot long. I try and pick them a bit shorter than that, like the ones in the below photo which are closer to ten inches long on average.
harvest of Fortex beans
I cooked up some of the Fortex beans along with a medley of fingerling potatoes. That’s a mix of French Fingerling, Russian Banana and Magic Molly in the below photo. There are a few of the smallest Yukon Golds in there too.
assortment of fingerling potatoes
The blueberry harvest continues to wind down. I know my wife is happy about that, since she has been out there harvesting them pretty much every day for the past six weeks. The blackberries are giving us a nice amount every few days, as are the raspberries. The 2014 blueberry harvest is nearing 50 pounds. Those little blue organic jewels are precious to say the least. The local berry farm is selling them for about $5 a pound, and they’re not even organic! It’s safe to say the plants have paid for themselves several times over.
Apache blackberries
In other news, I pulled all the cucumber and amaranth plants from the greenhouse after they got infested with a major spider mite outbreak. Mites are a common problem in the summer greenhouse here, and they mushroomed out of control before I knew it. There’s time to replant the cukes, and in the meantime the ones out in the main garden are keeping us supplied. The last thing I need is spider mites getting on the seedlings for fall, though I have to say they seem to prefer the cucumber leaves. They can all hang out together on the compost pile now! I planted a few new leaf amaranth plants already, which are in the left side of the otherwise empty beds in the below photo. The mites left the parsley plants on the right side alone. The cucumber seeds should be up in a few days and I’ll get them planted too.
almost empty greenhouse beds
The dehydrator stays busy this time of year. When it’s not drying tomatoes, we’ve been using it to dry herbs, calendula and even onions. Drying the onions sure made the house stinky for a while, but then as the onions began to get dry the smell dissipated. I guess it wasn’t any worse than when we dry garlic, which is something else I’ll be drying soon.
calendula drying in dehydrator
I’ll close with an image of the Scarlet Hibiscus which has just started blooming in the Wild Garden. The hollyhock-like flowers are attractive to both hummingbirds and butterflies, and of course they are also pretty to look at as the tall plants tower over the other perennials.
Scarlet Hibiscus flower
That’s a look at what’s going on here at Happy Acres. To see what other gardeners are digging, drying, harvesting and cooking up, visit Daphne’s Dandelions where Daphne graciously hosts Harvest Mondays.
I always dry my alliums outside. I pick a nice dry day for it. I just can’t stand the smell in the house. Sometimes when it is really hot out, I’ll dry the herbs outside too so I don’t heat the house up more.
Your garden is always so impressive.
I have pole beans that were supposed to be bush beans and what a tangled mess they are. Almost tempted to pull them out because there are 2 pepper plants being swallowed up in that bed.
Thanks Marcia! I have some bush beans that turned out to be half-runners, and they are trying to take over the sweet potatoes. Not sure who will win that one!
Wow, your garden is so far ahead of mine. Can’t wait for tomatoes and beans again. I finally bought a dehydrator so I may try your techniques with roasting and drying tomatoes.
Nice hibiscus. Does it give you any calyxs? I’m always looking for new varieties. You sure had a good variety this week.I’m jealous of your tomatoes.
No calyxs on this one, it’s Hibiscus coccineus.
Wow, beautiful photos and harvest! Those slicing tomatoes look SO GOOD. And I continue to be impressed by your blueberry harvest… 50 pounds!!!
So much good looking stuff! Beautiful carrots, tomatoes (I’m so envious), and luscious blackberries. What joy.
Your beautiful harvests are an inspiration. I am two months behind getting my summer garden planted, and am only half done. I am replying from my deck in back, using the iPad, while admiring my own little garden of three raised beds surrounded by fruit trees. I don’t have the energy (or the space) to maintain a garden as large as yours. My gardening hat is off to you and Lynda for all of your successful efforts to grow local organic produce, and to share your knowledge with others.
Thanks so much Lou!
Gorgeous harvests – those tomatoes look so great. We just ate our first tomato – surprisingly not a cherry but a salad tomato – and yum, yum…right off the vine just can’t be beat!
50 pounds of blueberries is very impressive. So sorry about your onions, it is so disappointing to end up growing something that turns out to be different than what you ordered.
Terrific harvest. This is the first year I’ve planted Fortex and had no idea they were that long, but they do stay stringless.
Great looking harvest this week. I am envious of the berries as we have none here. Maybe because I mow down the small plants….
Great website, I was wandering around and found your “preserving the harvest” section – some new ideas for me. I’ve been gardening for about 10 years which is pretty much beginner level from what I can tell. I have a hard time keeping up with harvest this time of year let alone transitioning into fall plantings. I’ll eventually get the hang of it by reading great blogs like yours. Thanks!
Gardening has been a lifelong learning process for me, and I am definitely still learning. I got a lot of great ideas by reading other folks blogs too!
Wow.. 50 lbs of blueberries, that’s awesome! Although I can’t imagine how many hours it took to pick that many blueberries. I also love to roast and freeze small tomatoes. I really need to invest in a dehydrator and a Food Saver.
Nice harvest as always, Dave. You’re getting me excited about tomato season. I’ll have to follow your preserving techniques. We always end up with an abundance of cherry tomatoes that need to be dealt with. I’m a bit behind you on the fall seed starting front. I should really stop procrastinating as before you know it, the leaves will be changing color.
Dehydrating and slow-roasting are two great ways to make those cherry tomatoes disappear. And you can always put them in a blender with other tomatoes and make sauce, juice, or ketchup!
Love the bench your fall vegetable seedlings are sitting on. I am guessing you made it. That’s a lot of tomatoes you have already put up in the freezer, you are so far ahead of us.
Thanks Norma. The bench is built into our deck, and I left that job to the professionals!
Dave- Thanks so much for visiting my blog. Your comment about garlic growing well in different climates was good food for thought. This is only my 3rd year growing garlic, so I have much to learn. Your carrots look just amazing shredded on that salad. And 50 lbs of blueberries! I am also always amazed at the size of those Apache blackberries that you grow. Happy Harvesting Dave!
Great harvests, Dave! What do you do with the dried Calendulas? Do you use them as a culinary ingredient, or are they for medicinal purposes?
Thanks Mark! We use the calendula for medicinal purposes. It goes in lotions, salves and soaps.