It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Weather permitting, these days I am working in the gardens a couple of hours every morning. There’s much to be done, weeding and mulching plus planting and sowing for the fall garden. I have radishes and turnips coming up, plus broccoli, cabbage, kale and collard greens transplanted out and growing. The harvests are still summer-like, and the sweet peppers are finally ripening. Jimmy Nardello was the first to turn, with Carmen and Sweetie Pie ripening next.
Jimmy Nardello peppers
Carmen and Sweetie Pie peppers
I’m still harvesting mostly the early Robe Mountain beans, but the others are starting to set on. We’ve been eating these fresh, though when more come on I will be freezing them for later use.
Robe Mountain beans
A second planting of black-eyed peas is starting to set pods. I got about a pound of shelled peas from two pickings, with more pods maturing on the plants.
black-eyed peas
The eggplants are producing, albeit slowly. I see a new flush of blooms that should be giving us fruit in a week or so. Farmer’s Long and Orient Express are two I got last week, and they are hanging out with a Lemme’s Italian sweet pepper in the below photo.
eggplants and pepper
I got another round of paste tomatoes last week, a bit over four pounds this time. This was mostly a mix of Juliet and Granadero. These got cooked down into sauce for the freezer. I core the tomatoes, blend up in the blender skins and all, then cook down on the stove until thick.
paste tomatoes
Small fruited tomatoes are abundant, and we use them mostly for salads. A few wound up in an Ikarian Taboili salad I made for lunch yesterday using flat leaf parsley from the garden.
small-fruited tomatoes
A swallowtail caterpillar was munching on the parsley I harvested, so I carefully returned it to the plant before chopping the parsley for the tabouli. There is plenty of parsley to share, and I don’t do anything to discourage the caterpillars.
caterpillar on parsley
tabouli salad
The slicing tomatoes are still struggling, but I got three of the Chef’s Choice Pink for sandwiches last week. The plants are potato-leaved, which tells me there is likely some heirloom parentage like Brandywine involved in the breeding. Regardless, they are one of my favorite slicers and are flavorful and meaty.
Chef’s Choice Pink tomatoes
In the Wild Garden, late summer bloomers are attracting bees and butterflies daily. The Rudbeckia and Echinacea are winding down, while the Sedums are just getting started blooming. Picolette is a medium sized sedum with small bronze-purple leaves and clusters of pink flowers. The flowers are the attraction for the pollinators and butterflies.
Picolette sedum
bees on sedum
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!
Strange that your peppers are a month later than mine, although I’m guessing that’s because you grow yours outside. For my garden it’s a race against time now, all the summer fruits need to be ripened by October when I transition!
The peppers are outside, and I had to wait later than usual to get them planted due to wet conditions. They still have a couple of months growing time though.
Mine would probably appreciate a couple of months, but I only give them to October otherwise there’s not time to get the spinach, lettuce, pac Choi etc established
Which grain so you use in tabouli? Unfortunately we don’t have swallowtails here, so far we are only harvesting cherry tomatoes but this year we gave grown mostly cherries.
I use bulgur wheat in the tabouli.
I’m glad you’re getting your red peppers and larger tomatoes. How is the disease resistance package on the Chef’s Choice series? I love the swallowtail caterpillar–did it poke out its “feelers” when you touched it? The flowers on that sedum are really pretty.
Chef’s Choice seems to be pretty disease resistant, though I don’t know about late blight since we dont’ have it here yet. The caterpillar didn’t pay me much attention, it was focused on eating the parsley!
We only have two cherry tomato plants (may change that next year), and they’re generally gone within 24-48 hours of bringing them in. I’m getting maybe a pint ever 2-3 days. Seeing your large bowl full makes me want to grow 3 or 4 different variety next year so I have more of a color range.
I probably have too many cherry types planted (about 8), but it’s hard for me to say no to them!
I just got my first ripe sweet pepper too but most of them are still green. I love finding the swallowtail caterpillars in the garden, I usually find them on my fennel plants, they seem to prefer that to the parsley.
I like your tomato sauce method. I do the same. Why sieve out the antioxidant goodness in the skins? Your wild garden is enviable.