Finally! Warm-Season Veggie Harvests!

[digitS']

On today's lunch menu, for the 2nd time, were Giant Marconi peppers and Apple Green eggplant! A couple Shoya, black Japanese eggplants, were also ready. I'd Sho' ya but we ate 'em!



Tomato harvest this morning amounted to over a gallon of cherries! There were 3 or 4 larger tomatoes. (I say "larger" but none were the size of a tennis ball . . .) Included were the first of the Dr. Carolyn cherries and a Tigerella!

We've also had Rattlesnake pole beans, twice. There are plenty of cukes and the summer squash is going nutz. Ears of sweet corn should be ready by Sunday!

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

Steve, it's hard to believe it's taken so long for you to harvest something. I know you enjoy Tigerella. I've found that it's not for me. I think the size is alittle small. For some reason I'm not crazy about cherry tomatoes. How do you cook your eggplant? I'm always looking for easy ways to prepare it.

Mary

 

[digitS']

Well Mary, "something" was long ago with the salad & stir-fry greens but greens can't bring 'em in from the fields.

Anticipating these summer veggies has been almost as bad as waitin' on a sunny day back in June.

Eggplant was nothing more than batter-dipped and fried. I eat lunch so early that it should be cool enuf to start the oven but, didn't. Those early, round Apple Green fruits lend themselves to replacing the Italian bells in a casserole. What I figure is that after frying, there are still some bags of 2011 spaghetti sauce in the freezer. A few slices of Mozzarella, a sprinkle of Parmesan . . .

Steve

 

[NwMtGardener]

Anticipating these summer veggies has been almost as bad as waitin' on a sunny day back in June.

YEAH SERIOUSLY! Heh. I have had a few handfuls of cherry toms, but no big ones have been coaxed into turning red yet, darn it! And i now have the most gigantic zucchini plant that has given me absolutely ZERO zuccs. I have had to buy some at the farmers market, GASP!

 

[Smart Red]

And so it begins. . .

Yesterday I picked my first ripe tomatoes. Today there were 10 more tomatoes red and ready.

I fear spouse is tiring of green beans. Still, they are producing and we are eating. The same with cukes - way more than the two of us can manage. I'm hoping DS will be here tomorrow so I can pawn some off on his family - beans, tomatoes, and cukes. Too bad they don't like beets.

I also have a pile of onions to braid. I hang some with the garlic in the kitchen for easy access, while the rest will wait in the basement. And I dug my first mess 'o potatoes Saturday. Yum!

Still, with only 2.5 inches of rain since the first week of April, I think I'm done with the garden for this summer. That means no fall garden except for some garlic.

 

[Collector]

Thats great Steve, We are starting to harvest some things also finally. No big tomatos yet though, Soon I hope!

 

[baymule]

Wow. I read how excited ya'll are to get your first tomatoes....... Mine came in early and are about burnt up now. I bought 12 more at the feed store today for the fall garden. I will plant them under the PVC frame I made 2 years ago and wrap it in plastic for fresh tomatoes all winter long. Ya'll enjoy the fresh 'maters!!!

 

[ninnymary]

Well Steve, I was hoping you would have a healthier recipe on how to cook that eggplant. I just feel to guilty eating fried eggplant especially at home. Now, if it was at a restuarant, I would say it was a treat.

Mary

 

[digitS']

No, you cannot give me much credibility as a cook, Mary. With all the veggies and garden work, I am losing weight. Hopefully, I will see the usual 15 pounds melt away soon - can't say it has happened yet, tho' .

I don't have a whole lot of trust in days-to-maturity but as a kind of "early," "mid-season," "late" reference - the numbers kind of work. It seems that I have to stay away from any warm-season veggie that is rated at 80 days, or more. They won't show up 80 days after setting out, or 70 days, or whatever but maybe a 75 day variety will be along in 90 days, or so.

This is true with any warm-season veggie: tomato, pepper, melon, etc.

Time to maturity has to do with seasonal warmth as the days pass. As 75 warm growing days pass - that 75 day tomato will ripen. It may take 75 warm growing days but the 15 (or 30) days that were too cool, are just thrown in for good measure. Or, something. It was no different on the northern California coast when I gardened there than it is here near the Rockies. It was just too cool thru much of the season near the ocean. There were many, many weeks between frosts but warm days often didn't amount to much or to many.

So . . . this is what I am used to in my own gardening. Less than half the year frost-free, here. Often, cool springs, hot & dry summers, fall arrives with the first frosts. Avoiding them may give the gardener another few weeks but the temperatures are often so cool and hours of daylight dropping so quickly, that it hardly matters. I know pretty good gardeners who will do absolutely nothing when faced with a September night of frost. Certainly, by October - time's run out.

I like years when June is warm. That makes all the difference . Every crop will come early -- the 1st of August will arrive awash with tomatoes .

My first beefsteak this year was a Thessaloniki - right down in the center of the plant. Thessa isn't a very large tomato but that one wouldn't even go 4 ounces. Anyway, I don't remember Thessaloniki ever ripening earlier than my standard, Big Beef. Something must have jump-started them this year. In fact, those Thessa plants are small but loaded with green fruit!

Steve
edited to get the negatives & positives, right

 

[digitS']

Not a veggie but something else that has been enjoying the summer weather is the basil. (. . . good for that eggplant casserole .)

They obviously like the heat but the ones that are doing best have shade just about all afternoon. I should have found something for size comparison. (Leek leaves at the right edge of the picture may help.) The taller of these sweet basil plants are nearly 36". The basil leaves are huge!

Steve