Harvest Monday August 18, 2025

Posted on August 18, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. It’s still hot and dry here, but the garden continues to keep us supplied with goodies for eating. Last week I got what will be the last of the greenhouse cucumbers. We’ve had a good run of them, but I will surely miss the ones I grow. I also got more of the Aji Colorado pepper that I dry and make into chile powder, plus some Fairy Tale and Gretel eggplants.

August harvest

It won’t be a good year for tomatoes however, but I did get more slicers and enough of the paste types to make another small batch of tomato sauce for the freezer. We’ve gotten 36 pounds so far this year, while we got 100 pounds last year and a whopping 185 pounds in 2023.

tomato harvest

Beefy Purple is a new variety of tomato I’m trialing this year. It comes from the same breeders (A.P. Whaley Seed Company and Frogsleap Farm) that bred AAS Winners like Purple Zebra, Sparky and Sunset Torch.  It and Purple Zebra are in the below photo, along with Chef’s Choice Orange and a Nadia eggplant.

more tomatoes and an eggplant

Beefy Purple tomato

I did a tasting of one of the Beefy Purple tomatoes one day for lunch, served up with a bean and cheese quesadilla. The tomato had a good flavor, though maybe not quite so good as Purple Zebra. More tasting will help me decide whether it’s a good addition to my growing list. That said, it’s not been a good year for the quality of our tomatoes and I will take that into consideration.

Beefy Purple tomatoes with quesadilla

I did get more hot peppers to go in a batch of hot sauce, and these are now fermenting for a week before I make the sauce with them. This lot included Hernandez, Sugar Rush Peach, Flaming Flare and Aji De Dedo Moca Yellow.

hot peppers for sauce

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!

 


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Harvest Monday August 11, 2025

Posted on August 11, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. The weather has been relentlessly hot and dry here lately, and the vegetables are suffering as a result. I did manage to bring in a decent amount of tomatoes last week, though small compared to the number of plants I have set out. I also got another picking of hot peppers, and I will start a batch of hot sauce with these. I’ve only been harvesting every two or three days, and doing that early in the morning before it heats up outside.

August harvest

I’ve been growing the Benevento tomato for several years now, and it is a favorite for flavor even if it is sometimes a shy producer. I used it for a BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato) sandwich I had for lunch one day last week.

Benevento tomato

BLAT sandwich

Other harvests last week brought in a few eggplants and cucumbers, plus more of the Queen Bee and Honey Bee tomatoes.

eggplant and Bee tomatoes

We had lunch one day of eggplant sandwiches made with the roasted eggplant, plus both Bee tomatoes  and pickled cucumbers. I am enjoying both the Queen Bee and Honey Bee tomatoes, and they have been appearing on my plate often!

roasted eggplant sandwich with tomatoes

I also brought in a few paste tomatoes last week. I used these and whatever other tomatoes I had on hand to make a batch of unseasoned tomato sauce. I just throw them all the in the blender and blend until smooth, then cook down to the desired thickness. I got four pints out of this batch.

paste tomatoes

tomato sauce cooking down

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!

 


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Harvest Monday August 4, 2025

Posted on August 4, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. It’s hard to believe it is August already, but that’s what the calendar says. Our harvests say it is summer time though, and last week I got a nice haul of eggplant, tomatoes and enough hot peppers to start a batch of hot sauce.

morning harvest

The tomatoes are of mixed quality, with some bad spots on the larger ones. Damsel is usually  a good performer for me here, and I also got fruit from Pink Delicious, Purple Zebra, and Garden Treasure. The smaller ones are a mix of Cherry Bomb and Sunpeach which also do well for me.

tomato harvest

Damsel tomato

We have been enjoying Queen Bee and Honey Bee from my trial planting. Both have been quite tasty, and I have been enjoying them sliced as a side dish. I think they will likely be back in next year’s garden based on what I’ve seen (and tasted) so far.

Queen Bee(top) and Honey Bee(bottom) tomatoes

Honey Bee and Queen Bee tomatoes

The bigger eggplants from the in-ground plantings are coming on now. Thanos and Gaudi are two dark-skinned Italian types I got last week. I roasted these as a side dish, topping some with grated Parmesan cheese and some with mozzarella pearls. My wife and I liked both treatments, and they went well with some crispy chicken tenders.

Thanos(L) and Gaudi(R) eggplant

roasted eggplant with cheese

The greenhouse cucumbers are still producing, but slowing down. It has been an awesome year for them, and I have harvested 30 pounds so far. We’ve given quite a few away, since even as much as we like our cucumbers, there’s no way we can eat that many! I used one of the cukes plus some cherry tomatoes in a lentil salad we had for lunch one day last week.

another morning harvest

lentil 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!


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Harvest Monday July 28, 2025

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. It’s another week, and the heat wave still dominates the news around here. Daytime temperatures peak out in the 90-95°F range, with the heat index (aka “feels like” temp) up over 100°F. That has resulted in daily heat advisories, and dangerous conditions for those working outdoors. We have done our outside chores early in the morning, and do our best to stay inside during the heat of the day. We’re not expected to get a break until later this coming week, so it will continue to bake until then.

weather station console

Harvests continue however, and I am out early in the morning to bring them in before it gets too miserable out there. We are getting a good supply of tomatoes for fresh eating, but I doubt there will be enough for processing into sauces this year. Still, nothing beats a home grown tomato and we have been enjoying these for sure!

one morning harvest

Black Angel is a new variety I’m trialing this year. The flavor is good, and I believe more tasting will be necessary as new fruits ripen. I’m not sure the hot and wet conditions this year will make for good taste comparisons anyway.

Black Angel tomato

Purple Zebra is a 2022 AAS Winner and remains of of my favorites for flavor. I use it as a yardstick to compare others – if they can beat it in flavor then they are truly keepers! As slicers go it may not be big in size, but it is definitely big on flavor.

Purple Zebra tomato

I enjoyed one of the Purple Zebras along with our pickled cucumbers one day for lunch to go with our bean and cheese quesadillas. That made for a tasty meal combo.

quesadilla with tomatoes and cucumbers

I also cut another tromboncino squash last week, along with a few more tomatoes and a cucumber. We used the tromboncino instead of zucchini in a batch of Sheet Pan Ratatouille I made one night for dinner using our eggplant and tomatoes along with some fresh basil. I like the way the trombo holds its shape better than zucchini, and is less watery.

Tromboncino harvest

In non-harvest news, I’ve found the time to make a small table for my wife’s studio. I got the metal legs from a craftsman on Etsy, and cut and finished the koa wood top and bottom shelves. I enjoy projects like these, and I’m working on a similar but taller table for my office area.

koa table

The hardy hibiscus don’t seem to mind the heat, and the Fireball variety has big red flowers on the tall plants.  We’ve got a good collection of hibiscus, and the Fireball is one of my favorites. The bees love it too, as well as other pollinators.

Fireball 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!


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Harvest Monday July 21, 2025

Posted on July 21, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. The weather has been hot and miserable here, and then it started raining pretty much every day. We got just under six inches alone last week, which is more than we would normally get in the whole month of July. I have accepted the fact it’s going to be a horrible year for gardening here, and I will try and be thankful for whatever we can harvest. That said, the eggplant and cucumbers are keeping us well supplied, and I got a few tomatoes plus the last of the spring planted kohlrabi last week.

morning harvest

cucumbers and eggplant

We have been roasting the eggplant and used it to make eggplant sandwiches one day for lunch. We use a piece of toasted naan bread for a base, spread with mashed avocado. Topped with pieces of roasted eggplant and a slice of cheese, it makes for a tasty treat we really enjoy.

roasted eggplant sandwich

The summer lettuce is hanging in there. I have more seeds started, but it will be mostly a fall crop. These are a mix of summer crisp types in this harvest.

summer lettuces

I did get the first Tromboncino squash last week, plus a few spring onions and some Pot-a-peno hot peppers.

first tromboncino harvest

I spiralized the Tromboncino, and cooked it in a bit of olive oil. It served as a base for a spaghetti sauce I made using some of our frozen tomato sauce from last year.

spiralized tromboncino

In other news, the bluebirds have been busy and now have a third brood in the PVC nest box. This round had four babies, which is about the norm for a third brood in my experience.

bluebird babies in nest box

And I’ll close with a pic of our Peppermint Flare hardy hibiscus. It is a fairly recent addition to our perennial bed, and has been blooming almost daily recently. The blooms only last for one day each, but they make for a stunning display when they open.

Peppermint Flare 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!

 


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