It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. The cool weather continues here, though the harvests are still the warm season veggies. Last week I got a couple of more cucumbers from the greenhouse along with peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from the vegetable garden. We are enjoying the summer veggies while they last, since our first frost could come at any time now. That said, there is none forecast for the coming week.
early October harvest
October harvest
I used some of the cucumbers in Farro Salad with Feta, Cucumbers and Sun-dried Tomatoes. My wife and I both enjoy this salad whenever I make it, and it makes good use of our cucumbers as well as some of our dehydrated tomatoes I soaked in water before chopping up and adding to the other ingredients.
Farro Salad with cucumbers
Our persimmon tree is loaded with fruit this year, and they are beginning to ripen. This is Nikita’s Gift, which is a cross between the native American persimmon tree and an Asian variety. The fruits are astringent until they get soft, and bigger than the native persimmons. Last year we only got about a dozen, but this year it looks to be more than 50 fruits that are ripening.
Persimmon tree
Nikita’s Gift persimmon
I got a few gaujillo peppers last week and several more ripe jalapenos. The guajillo plants are loaded with green peppers which I hope will ripen before frost. I dry these for turning into chile powder, which is what I did with these three.
jalapeno and guajillo peppers
My wife and I were gone for much of last week, and got back home Saturday from a great trip to visit our ‘new’ friends in Alabama. Steve is a woodworker and gardener, and he built raised cold frames to grow lettuce and other veggies in. The cold frames not only offer protection from the elements, but also keep the pesky armadillos from digging up the plants! He ran solar powered electric fencing around other garden areas to keep the armadillos and other critters out. We dined on some of the lettuce one night in a salad, which was joined by one of my greenhouse cukes I took down with us.
Steve’s cold frames
lettuce in cold frames
We also helped dig up and renovate a couple of beds while we were there that were planted in irises and daylilies that had quit blooming. We thinned each of them out and replanted, and hopefully they will give them some blooms next year. While digging up the plants, we found a couple of ‘mystery’ plants that our friends remember planting but don’t recall exactly what they are. One has tuberous roots/rhizomes, and thin strap-like leaves. The other plant makes a clump of thick, succulent leaves with serrated edges. Both are hardy in their zone 7 garden, and while both look familiar to me I can’t ID them just yet either! I am hoping someone out there can help ID the plants based on my photos.
UPDATE: Mystery plant #1 appears to be a Louisiana iris rhizome. That makes sense, since our friend Sharon said she was given the iris by a friend but they never bloomed for her. Thanks to Will (Eight Gate Farm) for the ID!
mystery plant #1
another shot of mystery plant #1
UPDATE: Mystery plant #2 has fleshy, succulent leaves with a fine serrated edge.
mystery plant #2
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!
I picked our last pepper bed this week Dave, so apart from root crops that’s the last of our summer crops harvested. Is the cold frame made from concrete blocks Dave, that would be a good idea for me as a lot of mine are starting to rot now and the bases will need replacing once they are 10 years old. Unfortunately we are not allowed to bring bricks/blocks etc onto our allotment site
I’d need to see the plants flowering to offer some sort of ID but the top one looks a bit like crocosmia. You had quite the working holiday.
The flowers would certainly make ID easier Sue! The roots are more like a ginger, and not a corm like a crocosmia.
I do believe your mystery plant is the “Zydeco Lousiana Iris.” No, I’ve never seen or even heard of it before. But that’s what Google Lens suggests. Yay technology! Now, what do I win (don’t say a persimmon)? I’ll never forget my first and only taste of an unripe persimmon, on a youthful dare. What do you plant to do with all of yours?
We have a winner Will – I believe it is indeed a Louisiana Iris! Our friends were given irises but they never bloomed because they planted them too deep. As for the persimmons, I plan to freeze some and hope to make persimmon bread or cookies with some as well.
Look at those persimmons! Enjoy. Our season is ahead still and I’m hopeful there might be neighbors who have extra to share. If not, an independent grocer nearby brings Fuyu persimmons in from San Diego County growers.