It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. It’s another month, and time for a slower pace in the garden here. I’m harvesting a couple of times a week now, unless we need something specific. I’m bringing in more winter squash, and shelling peas and stringing beans for freezing. I’m still finding a few tomatoes for fresh use, though most of the plants are done for.
October Harvest
I harvested over five pounds of pole beans last week, and we cooked one pound of them for fresh eating and I froze the rest. It has been a good year for them here, and I’ve harvested a bit over 40 pounds of them so far. The freezer is now full of this winter staple, and I’m letting a lot of the pods get to the shelling stage now and freezing them like that.
pole bean harvest
The sweet peppers are ripening, and we are eating all we can fresh. I have started dehydrating them also for later use. Meals are often planned around using peppers, and I made ratatouille (again) one night for dinner and served it with pasta. I cooked the veggies on a sheet pan after tossing with olive oil and adding a few herbs. We liked it so much, it’s on the menu again this week!
assorted sweet peppers
Sweetie Pie, Escamillo and Carmen are three AAS Winners that are doing well for me this year. Carmen always does great for me in containers and for in-ground plantings. Sweetie Pie is classed as a mini bell pepper, but it has thick walls and typically weighs almost as much as a full sized bell pepper. Escamillo and Carmen are two hybrid bulls horn peppers that were bred by Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Sweetie Pie, Escamillo and Carmen peppers
Senorita is a jalapeno pepper with a mild to moderate heat level, at least as jalapenos go. It is plenty hot for me, and I usually turn a lot of them into hot sauce or smoke and dry them to make chipotles. I’ve got quite a few hot peppers ripening now and I will need to harvest and process them soon.
Senorita jalapenos
The container eggplants have gotten a second wind after I trimmed back the plants and gave them a drink of fish and seaweed fertilizer. Gretel and Fairy Tale are two AAS Winners that do quite well in containers, and they are two of my favorite eggplant varieties. They are mild and sweet tasting, and prolific as well.
Gretel and Fairy Tale eggplant
I have been cleaning out the greenhouse in my ‘spare’ time, getting it ready for winter plantings. It was full of cucumber plants this summer, but they are all on the compost pile now. Soon I will be setting out kale and purple sprouting broccoli plants in the beds, and planting lettuce and other greens in containers. The brassicas are now in individual pots in the greenhouse, are are ready to go once I finished prepping the beds with added compost and a bit of fertilizer.
looking in the greenhouse
I also processed a jar of the fermented smoked peppers last week. I used my Sriracha-Style Hot Sauce recipe for one bottle, and my Basic Fermented Hot Sauce recipe to make a second bottle with the peppers. This is only my second year to ferment the smoked peppers, and I am still experimenting with how to use them. Last year I made sriracha style hot sauce and it has been a big winner. The combination of sweet, smoky, hot and tangy really works well for me. Mixed with yogurt it makes a tangy salad dressing or dipping sauce that packs a mild heat and a lot of flavor.
making smoked hot sauces
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!
our peas and climbing beans are over now. Your greenhouse looks much tidier than ours.
Forty pounds of pole beans is impressive. You should be well-stocked until next season. They’re nice-looking too. The jalapenos look great. I guess some people are put off by the corking or netting they exhibit, but I like the look. The Sriracha smells great I bet.
I love the sound of your smoked fermented chilli sauce. I never seem to have time to make something like that, perhaps I need to be better organised! The climbing beans here are finished, and although My “poundage” is much less than yours, I have at least been able to freeze some. What are the Brassicas on the side in your greenhouse?
They are kale, PSB, cabbage and collards Kathy.