Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. It’s October, and I’m so ready to start a new month. September was rainy and hot, and we got over 8 inches of rain combined with above average temperatures. We had 13 days with temps above 90°F, which is a lot warmer than average. The beans and peppers seemed to love it though, and I am getting ample supplies of both. I didn’t photograph all the beans, but I got over 5 pounds of them last week. We have been eating them often and putting the rest in the freezer. The NT Half Runner has been amazingly productive, and I got 2 pounds of them alone last week. The pods are big and fat and stay tender even when the seeds inside start to get big.
NT Half Runner beans
I’m getting both sweet and hot peppers, and I’m dehydrating many of them. Minero is a hybrid Guajillo type that I’ve grown for several years now, and it makes a tasty and mildly hot chile powder.
Minero peppers
I’m also growing several o/p Guajillo peppers, and my favorite of the lot is one I got from Dustbowl Seed a couple of years ago. They have apparently ceased operations, so this year I was anxious to save seeds from this strain so I could keep growing them. I isolated one of the plants and covered it with netting, and I have saved seeds from it. Hopefully I can keep this one going next year and it will be true to type..
Dustbowl Seed Guajillo peppers
Dulce Rojo is an o/p paprika peppers I’ve been growing for several years, and it is one of my most productive paprika peppers, along with Hungarian Magyar. It dries to a deep red color and has a sweet taste.
Dulce Rojo peppers
I have quite a few paprika peppers dried already, so I decided to smoke this batch. I almost burned my last batch of smoked peppers, so this time I watched them carefully and they did much better. I build the charcoal fire on one side of the grill, and put the peppers on the other side to help keep them away from the heat. I use the smoked paprika often as a table condiment, where it adds a lot of flavor and aroma. After smoking the peppers were off to the dehydrator, which I have out on the front porch.
Dulce Rojo peppers ready for smoking
I’ve also been busy drying hot peppers for gochugaru flakes, which I use to make kimchi. I’m trialing several types of Korean peppers this year, and growing them all in containers. One is aptly named Kimchi (from Sherwood’s Seeds), and while it was a bit later to produce than the others the plant is absolutely loaded with fruit.
Kimchi pepper plant
The peppers themselves are hot but not too hot, and have a deep red color when dried. They should do quite well for making kimchi.
Kimchi peppers
I’m getting all the bull’s horn type peppers we can eat. This year the Cornito Rosso and Cornito Giallo have been more productive than their larger cousins Carmen and Escamillo. They’re all good though, and one of our staples for using fresh.
Cornito Rosso and Cornito Giallo peppers
The Astia zucchini I planted in a grow bag back in August has paid off with at least one squash so far. In the below photo it’s hanging out with Orange Blaze and Sweetie Pie peppers. Some of the zucchini and peppers wound up in a frittata I cooked up yesterday for lunch.
zucchini and peppers
And speaking of squash, I cut two more giant Turkeyneck neck pumpkins. They each weighed eight pounds, and there are at least five more on the vines that look like they have time to mature before first frost. These were sweet and tasty last year, and I am looking forward to getting another taste of them when they have cured a bit.
Turkeyneck squash
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 of any size or shape you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. There are no rules or regulations, and wonky veggies are always as welcome as the prize winners. And please be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting, or wishing they were harvesting!
We haven’t managed to harvest any sweet peppers at all this year. We always grow them in the greenhouse and I wonder whether it has been too hot in there this summer.
You certainly have lots of chillies – do you manage to use them all?
I dehydrate a lot of them for powder or flakes, and we go through a lot of them that way. In a good year like this one, I also dry the sweet ones in slices.
Wow, in addition to your skills you have September weather on your side for ripening peppers. Now I’m doubly jealous. They all look really beautiful. And what an impressive plant that Kimchi is. I’ve never had so many ripe peppers on any plant at one time. It’s amazing that you could plant zucchini in August and get perfect fruit in September. I’m sure you’ve said it before, but Turkeyneck is a moschata, right? Where did you get the seeds?
It is a moschata, and I got my seeds from NE Seed:
https://www.neseed.com/shop/vegetable-seeds/pumpkin/turkeyneck-f1-hybrid-pumpkin-seeds/
Hello everyone! I am returning after a year (Edible Gardens–Point Loma) and a change of name and platform. I’m now ediblegardens52 on Squarespace. I love the new platform and recommend it to anyone building a website. Tell me what you think the 52 is. Hint: I garden in coastal Southern California.
Dave, your peppers are amazing. Such variety. I also grew Astia zucchini in my small garden and was very pleased with it. The fruit seemed to be lifted up and pointed out of the soil and though smaller, much to my liking. Also, the plants didn’t take over the raised bed that they share with butternut, delicata and eggplant.
Look forward to seeing other harvests! Susan
Good to see you back Susan! I’m guessing the 52 is the number of weeks you can garden and harvest.
Yes! Can tell you’re a gardener. Not everyone gets it but decided to run with it!.
We had a stretch of sunny and warm weather so I experimented with sun drying some Aleppo and Aji Golden peppers, all cut in half and some seeded. I like the results, it’s different from dehydrating. I’ll have to put my experiments on hold for now because we have a good chance of getting the first rain of the season this week which is earlier than usual but most welcome.
I live only two blocks from the ocean and gave away my dehydrator many years ago because it took so long to dry foods when the humidity runs from 70-80% most of the time. A couple years ago I prepared my hot peppers for drying and put them in my car at work (inland) on a hot day. I turned them at lunch and they were ready to store after eight hours in the car. My grandmother would say, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Here’s the link to my post. https://ediblegardenspointloma.tumblr.com/post/98216615987/drying-chili-peppers-in-my-car-in-a-heat-wave
I am so envious of your squash, I didn’t even get a flower on the plant. The kimchi pepper plant is so pretty, like an ornamental plant, who needs decorations
Wow – that Kimchi pepper plant is amazing! My attempt at growing peppers in pots last year left a lot to be desired but I’m thinking a lot of that had to do with the wet weather and subsequent slugs. I’ll probably give it a go again at some point though, especially after seeing your success with it.