It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. We continue to suffer from moderate drought conditions here, though we did get a few showers yesterday. It wasn’t enough to make a real difference though, and I continue to use the soaker hoses as needed to keep the fall crops going. I did manage to get a few more pole beans picked though, before the vines completely dried up. And I found another mature Centercut squash to bring in and finish curing.
harvest of beans and squash
The hot peppers are still producing loads, especially the one Sugar Rush Peach plant that I started last year and overwintered indoors. I have gotten five pounds of peppers from that one big plant! I also harvested more of the Aji Rico and Aji Colorado peppers, plus a lone Biggie Chile. Most of these will go into hot sauce, and I will dehydrate the Aji Colorados for chile powder. And in case anyone wonders – I make a lot of hot sauce! And since I usually make a ‘thin’ sauce it does take a good amount of peppers. The fermented hot sauces keep well for at least a year or more, and I think they actually get better with a bit of aging.
assorted hot peppers
The container eggplants are still yielding a little bit of fruit, and we’re enjoying every one we get since the in-ground plantings are struggling with the dry conditions. We’ve gotten over 20 pounds so far, which is a bit more than last year.
eggplant harvest
The Aji Delight peppers are producing well for me this year, and these peppers have the usual flavor of a C. baccatum variety but none of the heat.
Aji Delight peppers
We use the Aji Delight peppers much like we would any other sweet pepper, and I roasted some of them last week along with the eggplant. It’s a simple treatment – just olive oil and a little salt, but when the veggies are fresh and homegrown I don’t think the flavor needs a lot of enhancement.
roasted peppers and eggplant
And last but not least, the late summer planting of lettuce is slowly growing and I cut a couple of heads of Tehama last week. The leaves aren’t quite as tender as those grown in cooler temps, but it was quite tasty in a salad I made yesterday for lunch.
Tehama lettuce
In non-harvest news, my wife and I made a trip to Moab, UT last week to visit Arches N.P. and other sites. We had plans to go there last year, but I came down with pneumonia and we had to postpone the trip. It was well worth the wait though, and we enjoyed hiking and sightseeing at several locations. I’ll share more photos later on, since we took a LOT of them!
hiking to the Turret Arch
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!
Very nice haul of peppers! I have a few jalapenos but they are in pots and didn’t get into bigger pots in a timely fashion so not doing as well as they could. But the eggplants have done very well, even the ones in 3 gallon pots, those get a little afternoon shade and right now need watered twice a day because we haven’t had enough rain either. The only fall plantings I’ve actually managed to accomplish was garlic. It’s too hot yet to plant lettuce but I’m trying to get some kale and things in, just not enough hours in a day.
Very impressive harvests. That’s a lot of Sugar Rush Peach! I agree that hot sauces get better with aging, although I typically don’t ferment like you do. We spent a few days in Moab years ago, as part of my quest to visit all the National Parks in the Southwest. It was a fun place.
Do you manage to eat all those peppers?
The hot ones are either turned into sauce or dried and ground up. It takes a lot of peppers to make the sauce or powder. We eat all the sweet ones for sure, and I pickle some for later use.
Now that the temps have finally cooled down in Texas my tomato plants that survived are doing better. The Homestead 24 is doing great and the San Marzanos have produced enough to freeze some for soups this winter. The Shishito peppers were just making small dried up red peppers so I picked them off and lo and behold they are blooming again and setting some normal green peppers for grilling. The fall garden is coming along although something ate all my green beans after I uncovered them. The cucumbers are starting to make and the radish and spinach is coming up but I am afraid to uncover them because the deer and rabbits and grasshoppers seem to like anything green right now.