It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. As we near the end of August, the summer garden is still keeping us well supplied with warm weather crops like tomatoes and eggplant. And last week, the sweet peppers finally began ripening as well. Sweetie Pie and Carmen are two dependable and tasty performers for me, and I have both these AAS Winners planted in ground. I have lots of hot peppers both green and ripe coming on, and I have used a few of these already as needed.
August harvest
The pole beans are setting on nicely now. I have at least four different varieties yielding, with the rest of them blooming. I am freezing what we don’t eat. I string and snap the beans, then blanch in boiling water for three minutes before they hit the freezer. I find if I freeze them on freezer paper lined cookie sheets I can break them apart more easily for later use instead of having them all in a big frozen blob. We use the same treatment for blackberries and blueberries, though of course they don’t need to be blanched.
harvest of pole beans
Paste tomatoes are winding down, and I’m not exactly unhappy about that. I made another batch of tomato paste last week as well as another batch of freezer sauce. Granadero, Juliet and Health Kick have all done well and made a lot of sauce, ketchup and tomato paste.
Granadero and Juliet tomatoes
I also used the paste tomatoes for a fresh marinara sauce to make a casserole dish of grilled Eggplant Parmesan Casserole. I baked the sliced eggplant in the oven instead of grilling since it was so hot outside. After assembling the casserole, it finished in the oven until it was bubbling and cheesy. It’s comfort food for me and my wife, and we had leftovers for the freezer as well.
Eggplant Parmesan casserole
Slicing tomatoes are still coming on strong. Benevento is a new release from Artisan Seeds. This hybrid beefsteak is red with yellow stripes outside and solid red flesh on the inside. It has a great flavor, and the fruits keep well both on the vine and after harvest.
Benevento tomato
Benevento tomatoes
I have been growing Chef’s Choice Orange for several years now, and this 2014 AAS Winner always does well for me. It and Chef’s Choice Yellow are the only two large yellow/orange tomatoes I am growing. We have enjoyed these on sandwiches and as a side dish. Any extras wind up in sauces along with all the other tomatoes!
Chef’s Choice Orange tomato
Pink Cherrywine is another new release from Artisan Seeds. I think the flavor compares favorably with Sunpeach, which is a pink cherry tomato I’ve grown for several years now.
Pink Cherrywine tomatoes
This time of year, meal planning usually revolves around which veggies are available. One meal I made last week featured roasted eggplant and sauteed avocado squash along with a prosciutto and parmesan stuffed pork tenderloin. Most of our entrees are not so elaborate, but this one was easy to put together.
dinner with roasted eggplant and sauteed avocado squash
This spiderwort plant has gotten its second (or third) wind and is blooming again. I have heard some call it a weed, but the bees absolutely love this native plant. We have several planted and one or more has been blooming pretty much all spring and summer.
spiderwort
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!
Blight arrived in our polytunnel this weekend and the worst affected were the paste tomatoes. So far the fruits are fine, but the leaves have almost all gone and will no doubt be gone by the end of the week. So it’s a race against time to ripen them. Reading your blog each week it seems as if most of your meals all year round must depend on what’s available in the garden or in the freezer : All the best – Steve
Your harvest is so colourful ours at the moment is predominantly green.
Good to see your sweet peppers coming in, late this year, right? Now I’m really sold on the Benevento tomato. I grew a Granadero plant this year based on your results, and am waiting for the fruit to ripen. It had some issues after transplanting, but has recovered.
I know the feeling of relief when a crop is finishing. This year the fruit began with strawberry guavas in April and didn’t end until the Nectaplums in early August. I have so much more free time! I didn’t realize spiderwort (Tradescantia?) was a native plant for your area. Our peppers are coming along about the same time.
Oh! More lovely tomato pictures! Ours succumbed to blight so we missed out on a glut this year sadly. I didn’t realise that bottom plant is called Spider wort – it’s a lovely plant