It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. We are harvesting mostly summer veggies now, with a few exceptions. The summer squashes are doing quite well, as well as the container grown eggplants. All featured in several of our meals last week. I’m freezing a lot of the squash for later use in addition to what we are eating fresh. We are enjoying these smaller eggplants roasted in the oven.
early summer harvest
Broccoli and cabbage joined the harvest one morning. The first cabbage ready for harvest this year is Quick Start, which is aptly named and gave us a head weighing just over two pounds. I used it to make a batch of Fermented Curtido, which is one of my favorite krauts.
mixed harvest
Quick Start cabbage
The curtido recipe calls for a hot pepper, and I got several of the Pot-a-Peno peppers last week just in time for the kraut. As the name suggests, I have two of the plants growing in containers and this AAS Winner can be counted on to give me the first of the ripe peppers.
AAS Winners
Another AAS Winner I harvested last week was the Purple Magic broccoli. I did not get the domed heads I was expecting, but I put that down to the extreme heat we’ve been having. It was tasty though regardless of the shape, and I’ll try growing it again in fall when hopefully conditions here will be more favorable.
Purple Magic broccoli
The lettuce I planted in a bed behind the greenhouse is holding up well given the hot growing conditions. I cut one each of the green Tropicana, red Karen’s Fave and the speckled Bloody Oakheart lettuce last week for our salads. The last two varieties are from Wild Garden Seed, while Tropicana is a heat-tolerant variety that is widely available.
leaf lettuces
And I got what will likely be the last blackberries this season. We’ve had our fill of fresh ones, and I have frozen about a gallon of them for later use in cobblers and such.
last blackberries
A first last week was two of the green Centercut squashes. We usually roasted these in the oven, and I sometimes freeze them for soups if we have a lot of them.
Centercut squashes
Another first was a Goldilocks acorn squash. This 2021 AAS Winner has rich orange flesh to match its bright orange skin. They are just the right size to share for a side dish, which is how we plan to use this one.
Goldilocks squash
And in non-harvest news, the hardy hibiscus flowers are starting to make an appearance. Midnight Marvel has large red flowers along with reddish-purple foliage that is attractive even when not in bloom. We have two of these planted and they are loaded with buds that promise more flowers soon.
Midnight Marvel hibiscus
And the swallowtail butterflies have been visiting our flowers. I saw this one flitting from blossom to blossom on this potted Wave petunia. They don’t often sit still long enough for a good photo, but I got lucky with this one.
Swallowtail on petunia
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!
We seem to be gathering similar harvests now. Lovely to see butterflies; there’s a lack of them here.
It’s really unbelievable that you get “winter” squash in early July, at the same time you are harvesting cabbage! They both look really nice. You sure do love your kraut; do you serve it with every meal??
We do love our kraut Will! It makes my gut happy for sure. And we do have it often, if not every meal.
Such abundant harvests! Your Purple Magic broccoli looks very nice and always the blackberries draw my eye and make my mouth water. Glad you can get some lettuce with the warm weather. A lovely head of cabbage too. Maybe I’ll grow some next winter. Thanks for keeping Harvest Monday going.