Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. We’re getting plenty of squash and beans to eat now. I’ve been harvesting bush beans for about a week now, and the pole beans are starting to bloom too so they will be ready to harvest in a few days. The Sunstripe yellow zucchini has been prolific so far. It makes for a striking contrast when prepared with the green zucchinis. We’ve gotten plenty of the white pattypan squashes too, which reminds me I probably don’t need to plant more than one bush of them next year!
squash and snap beans
I’m growing both Alpine and Alpine Gold daikon radishes this spring. I wasn’t sure if they were really one and the same, but I do believe they are slightly different. That’s Alpine Gold on the left in the below photo, with Alpine on the right. Both are doing well, and I plan on growing them both again for a fall crop since I have plenty of seeds.
Alpine Gold(L) and Alpine(R) radishes
I also pulled a few more of the Sweet Baby radishes. Some I harvested last month made a great kkakdugi kimchi, and I used these new ones to make another batch. It was just enough to make a pint jar of it.
Sweet Baby radishes
Blackberries are still coming on. I got almost a gallon of them in one picking last week. Most of these wound up in the freezer.
Apache and Natchez blackberries
I got the first Socrates cucumbers from the greenhouse planting. These are a parthenocarpic Beit Alpha type with tender skin and a mild taste. I turned these into refrigerator pickles, after saving a few slices to go on a salad.
Socrates cucumbers
I got more of the Harmonie cucumbers from the greenhouse. These are a pickling type, and I turned them into refrigerator dill pickles. I made these into a ‘stacker’ style pickle, cut lengthwise on my mandolin slicer. I seasoned them up like I did an earlier batch I sliced crosswise into rounds which turned out nicely. My wife is usually the pickle fan around here, but I have been eating some of them myself. The greenhouse cucumbers are still coming on so I better learn to like them I guess!
Harmonie cucumbers
Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!
I don’t think our blackberries will be long now.
An impressive bowl of blackberries, how do you keep the birds away?
The birds are not really a problem here with the berries, though the deer will happily eat them.
Good stuff, Dave! I continue to love the Sunstripe zucchini’s appearance, especially in contrast to the pure white patty pan. What do you do with the daikon besides kimchi? I have some seeds I could plant, but we really don’t need too much kimchi.
The daikon is great for a stir fry. I haven’t tried oven roasting yet but I bet it’s good that way too.
Beautiful harvest as usual Dave. Wow you must eat a lot of kimchee!. Great looking radishes. They get too hot in the summer here so I’ll wait and plant after it cools down a little. Oh yum blackberries! Trying to decide where to start a patch here.
I do like my kimchi! I can eat a pint jar in a couple of meals.
Dave – your daikon looks great! I planted some this spring (Winter Light from Fedco) but they bolted before reaching full size. It said daikon in the description, but perhaps it is a winter radish as the name indicates. How early did you plant, and did you start them indoors? When do you usually plant for a fall crop? Thanks!
Hi Susan, I direct seeded the spring daikon radishes on April 10th. Last year I seeded the fall daikons in early September and they were ready to harvest in early November. This year I’m going to try and get them in earlier, say mid-August.
I have found the daikons to be easier to grow in fall than in spring, when they are prone to bolting. I have grown Minowase Summer Cross as well as Alpine and Alpine Gold in spring. This fall I plan on growing Bora King and April Cross as well as Alpine and Alpine Gold. The descriptions at Kitazawa Seed lists the suitable planting time for the various varieties.
Thanks for the information! I’ll have a look at the Kitazawa site.
Impressive daikon radish. Is the Harmonie a better pickler than the Vertina? I’ve found the Vertina has a skin that is a bit tough.
I haven’t gotten enough of the Vertina to make a good comparison. Both Harmonie and Excelsior has made some nice pickles.
Those squashes are so pretty. I’m still waiting for the first beans from the garden, it was a mistake to not plant some early bush beans. Wow, those blackberries! I’m envious.
Oh, I should try refrigerator pickles when the crush of cucumbers hits. I am so envious of the blackberry harvest!
Wonderful harvests, and those beans! Yum! I have a couple of varieties of snap beans growing and am hoping that I get to pick them before the rabbits realize the beans are tastier than the leaves.
I always get pickles when we are out but for some reason tend not to eat them as much at home. I do LOVE refrigerator pickles, though, so am hoping for enough of a harvest to at least get a few jars – so far, the cucumbers are only 12″ tall and no flowers yet so it will be a while still.
I am marvelling at your stripey yellow courgettes. I am still waiting to harvest my first gold courgette this year.
Dave your comment about the overabundance of white pattypans took me right back to last Summer here. I read it to my husband, who gave a wry chuckle and said he was glad we are giving them a miss this year! We had bucketsful in the end!!
Now those Sunstripe look very interesting. I have never seen seeds like that here, so I must have a good search around. Love getting ideas of what to grow from your harvests!
I first saw Sunstripe on one of the the U.K. garden blogs, so you might give a look for it over there. I got mine from Park Seed co here in the U.S.
Ooh I wish my patty pans would hurry up and produce some fruit. Yours are lovely.
The radishes are huge, wow. I’ll need to get my fermenting hat on soon aswell, or maybe make refrigerator pickles – I spotted the first nearly ready gherkin today. And we’ve now got some overnight rain so hopefully all the plants will appreciate it.