It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. The summer harvests are keeping me busy, which is not a bad thing of course. We’re getting a good selection of veggies from the garden now, and filling up the freezer and pantry as well. We had an exciting “first” last week, which was the first blackeyed peas of the year. They are actually a smaller “lady” pea called Fast Lady Northern Southern Pea. Lady peas are a bit smaller than most blackeyes, and have a sweet flavor and creamy texture. The pods also have a zipper, which makes them a bit easier to shell. The first harvest yielded over a cup of peas, and the second harvest a few days later yielded twice as much. We ate some and froze the rest.
Fast Lady Northern Southern Peas
peas after shelling
It’s definitely tomato season here now, and I’m keeping busy harvesting and processing them. I got 5 pounds of Juliet tomatoes on Friday, and along with other Roma types with turned them into Homemade Tomato Ketchup yesterday. I say this all the time, but Juliet is probably my favorite tomato ever and it has never failed to produce loads of tomatoes for me.
Juliet tomatoes
making ketchup
I’m growing several determinate short vine paste tomatoes this year (like Health Kick, Plum Regal and Early Resilience), but Granadero is an indeterminate type with big fruits that also does well for me here.
Granadero tomatoes
My wife and I did a taste testing of the new Galahad slicing tomato compared to my long time favorite Better Boy. We thought they both were tasty, with Better Boy having more acid than sweet and Galahad having more sweet than acid. The Late Blight resistance of Galahad is a big bonus. Even though it hasn’t hit our Indiana garden yet, I believe it will eventually and I want to be prepared with tomato varieties that are resistant. Both tomatoes wound up on a BLT we had for lunch one day, using my homemade Multigrain and Whole Wheat bread.
Better Boy(L) and Galahad(R) tomatoes
BLT sandwich
The summer squash harvests have slowed down a bit, but the plants are all still alive and the squash bugs have not done too much damage yet. The Korean avocado squash (Teot Bat Put) make a great squash for stuffing, as well for sauteing and roasting.
Korean avocado squash
The eggplants are all fruiting now and keeping us well supplied. Galine and Dancer are two I’ve grown for years. Galine is an oval dark purple Italian type while Dancer is a deep pink Italian type with mild flesh.
eggplant and zucchini
The Asian eggplants are producing too, and I got one each of the light colored Bride and the darker purple Machiaw. I roasted these two, and the flesh was mild and tender with this treatment.
Machiaw and Bride eggplant
The Orient bush beans I’m growing have been quite prolific. I only planted about a five foot row of them, but they have been covered in blooms and beans for weeks now. It’s almost time to plant the beans for a fall crop, which has been successful for me the last few years now and give us beans in late September into early October.
Orient bush beans
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!
That ketchup looks good. I’ve never grown black eyed peas. They look like a type of bean so why are they called peas?
They’re also called field peas and cow peas. They’re botanically related to the yardlong bean, and some varieties do have edible pods though most are for shelling.
So envious of your tomato crop and homemade tomato sauce.
Maybe I can sneak ketchup into my tomato processing this year. 🙂
This post reminds me that I grew Health Kick 2 and 3 years ago and they were prolific for me. I’m sure I grew them because of your recommendation; that’s also why Juliet is in my garden. Those plants are doing really great for me, while the Romas next to them have something going on that seems to be causing blossom end rot on a few fruits.
I have trouble with blossom end rot on Romas too, and I have found ones that don’t get it in my garden.
“Fast Lady Northern Southern Peas”…what an amusing name! But they look great. How many Juliet plants are you growing this year? I’m interested in the Granadero tomato…I don’t normally grow paste indeterminates, but this year i’m trying San Marzano (the heirloom one). They aren’t ripening yet but there are a lot!
I’ve got 4 Juliets in two over-sized cages. I’ve not had luck with any of the San Marzanos here, but it’s my second year grownng Granadero and so far so good!
I love black eyed peas! I grew them once but, from what I can recall, something got into them and many of the plants were eaten down to a few inches tall, so the harvest was not that great. I did get just enough seed for saving and I’ll be growing them again at some point. P.S. I didn’t plant Juliet this year and think I made a mistake as the plants, while doing well, are not as vigorous as they normally are – Juliet would likely have come to the rescue!
I know deer and rabbits both love the blackeye foliage and the young peas. Juliet is definitely part of my ‘tomato backup’ plan!
That’s a great amount of bush beans for a 5 foot row, and the Korean avocado squash is such an interesting shape size. I’m growing Juliet for the first time after reading about them on your blog. They’re incredible, and so prolific and disease free.
The Korean avocado squash is beautiful, I might have to try it next year. No harvest post for me this week, my Dave and I were out in the backcountry enjoying some solitude for a few days. I’ll be back next week.