Harvest Monday July 3, 2023

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. We got much needed rain last week, right at three inches of it. Unfortunately it also came with storms, including one that resulted in a power outage that lasted for much of last Thursday. We got no damage here, and the garden should be growing leaps and bounds now with the soil moisture replenished. The harvests are getting bigger and more varied these days, and one morning saw me hauling in kohlrabi, cabbage and a lot of squashes. The cabbage is one I’m growing for the first time called Sweet and Tender, which is much like the Tendersweet I’ve grown in the past and is a good choice for fresh use.

morning haul from the garden

Sweet and Tender made a good sized head that weighed in at 44oz/1.2Kg. I can see it going in a stir fry meal I have planned this coming week. That would be a good way to use lots of the veggies we have coming, including some kohlrabi which will give it crunch.

Sweet and Tender cabbage

We have a nice assortment of summer squashes, from dark green and light green zucchini to the yellow Tempest variety. I’m still freezing it, and working on a post about how I freeze it and then how we use it afterwards.

assorted summer squashes

I pulled the last of the kohlrabi I had growing in a bed behind the greenhouse. These are Terek and Kolibri, which remained tender and sweet even though they could have been pulled a couple of weeks ago.

Kolibri and Terek kohlrabi

Another morning saw me harvesting yet more kohlrabi and squash, plus another head of cabbage, broccoli side shoots, blackberries and a single Fairy Tale eggplant. The container eggplants are covered in blooms, and more fruit will be setting on soon.

another day, another harvest

I also cut the first of the young Centercut squash last week. I love this dual-purpose squash which is useful at both the immature and mature stages. When young like this I usually cut them in pieces and roast in a cast iron skillet or on a sheet pan. You can read more about this unusual variety in my Variety Spotlight.

Centercut squash

Another first was a cucumber from the greenhouse planting. This one is Nokya, and it gave us our first taste of homegrown cukes since last year. The other vines are growing nicely and blooming so we should have more to eat soon.

Nokya cucumber

And my last first was a ripe Pot-a-peno Pepper. That went into a batch of Fermented Curtido I made last week using some of the cabbage I had cut earlier.

ripe Pot-a-peno pepper

The blueberries are about done for. It’s not been a great year but we’ve enjoyed over five pounds of them. We pruned one large bush back last year and it didn’t produce much. Thankfully we have a couple more mature bushes that did quite well.

end of the blueberries

I used some of the Artwork and Melody broccoli to make a batch of Broccoli and Walnut Salad. It’s a seasonal treat, since we only make it when we have homegrown broccoli on hand. It went well with my wife’s Curried Chicken Salad for a cool and light lunch yesterday. A slice of my fresh-baked sourdough bread completed the meal, and was handy for getting the last bits of goodness off the plate!

Broccoli and Walnut Salad

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 please check out what everyone is harvesting!