It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. The garden is still suffering from our hot and dry conditions, though we did get a brief shower Saturday that cooled things off a bit even if we didn’t get a lot of rain. The pole beans have not done as well as usual this year, but I did pick several pounds of them last week. I saved some out to cook for dinner one night and froze the rest, where they often wind up in winter soups.
pole bean harvest
The tomatoes are slowing down too, which is not unusual for late summer here. I got a nice haul of Raspberry Drops and a few slicers last week. Benevento is a tasty striped tomato, and the red Better Boy is one of my long-time standards here I can always depend on.
Raspberry Drop tomatoes
Benevento and Better Boy tomatoes
We are enjoying the tomatoes while they do last, since the season is never long enough for me. I sliced up a Benevento and a Chef’s Choice Orange to go with a wrap I had for lunch one day. That made for a cool meal on a very hot day, and with temps reaching between 90-100°F most every day lately, cool meals are often on the menu.
tomato tasting
I’ve been busy turning the hot peppers into hot sauce and pickled peppers. I’ve bottled one each of: Aji Rico, Sugar Rush Peach, Jalapeno hot sauce plus a batch of mixed peppers that includes a couple of the large and mild Wildcat cayenne peppers. And I got enough of the Aji Delight and Aji Rico peppers to make one jar each of them pickled in a sweet brine. I started a few more jars fermenting for hot sauce, pretty much more of the same varieties as before.
hot sauces and pickled peppers
I am still getting plenty of eggplant to keep us supplied, and last week we had Icicle, Fairy Tail and Gretel for our eating enjoyment. I’ve harvested over 20 pounds of eggplant this year, and much of it has come from these three container grown varieties – all AAS Winners.
Icicle, Fairy Tale and Gretel eggplant
I also found time to bake another loaf of my Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread last week. It makes a great bread for BLT’s and other sandwiches, since it is both sturdy and has a soft, tender crumb thanks to the oil and honey it has in it.
Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
And last but not least, our hardy hibiscus plants are still giving us a few blooms. Midnight Marvel is lighting up the sunny perennial border, and the reddish purple foliage is pretty even when it’s not blooming. And of course the blooms are huge!
Midnight Marvel hibiscus
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!
If that’s slowing down – I’d settle for that.
I’m sure you have, but I don’t recall you discussing Raspberry Drop tomatoes. They sure look nice. The sweet brine for the hot peppers sounds really good. And the hibiscus is a knockout.
Raspberry Drop is from the same breeders that gave us Purple Zebra, Sunset Torch and Sparky. It was prolific here last year and this year Will, and quite tasty too.
Looks like end of summer. Plans for any fall crops before your hard freeze?
I have kale, collards, turnips and Daikon radishes planted so far, plus a bit of lettuce. We have another couple of months of growing season before the usual first freeze.