Sunday, August 7, 2011

An Early August Harvest

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I won't say too much about this week's harvest. The tomatoes are still coming in slowly (annoying) and the corn harvest has been fantastic this year, despite our minor raccoon setback.

Homegrown corn, when picked at the absolute right moment and cooked soon after, is a completely different vegetable from what you get at the supermarket and even at the farmer's market in my opinion. For this reason, I will do battle with every insect and rodent to grow it each year.

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We picked our first years of Ruby Queen corn this week. This is my first time growing this variety and I'm happy to report it is incredibly sweet and tender - definitely one I will grow again.

And here is some of the other things we picked this week:

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I can't wait to see what all of you are harvesting this week!

27 comments:

  1. Your crop is looking very good Thomas. I've never come across Ruby Queen sweetcorn before, but it sounds good. My sweetcorn is completely netted in this year - having lost it ALL last year to the foxes, badgers, squirrels and birds.

    Everything except the mange tout, runner beans, salad and spinach is about a fortnight behind this year because of our strange weather in April and May. Looks like everything will be prime for eating whilst we're on holiday! At least our friends will get the benefit when they come to water everything!

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  2. That Ruby Queen corn looks gorgeous. I've not seen one like that before. Great looking harvest with lots of variety.

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  3. That is the most perfect corn I have ever seen Thomas! That's it, I can't look at your perfect produce any longer :) Why aren't your tomatoes splitting like mine are this year?? And those artichokes, I have to keep "The Italian" from looking at your blog!

    Just kidding, everything is absolutely beautiful! Hope you got your critter!

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  4. I've been wanting to try my hand at growing corn for a couple years now. It's safe to say that, after seeing your harvest this week, I think that i'm going to give in and plant some next year. Especially the Ruby Queen.

    Congratz on a great week!

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  5. I hope I can find some ruby queen sweet corn seeds to sow them this coming spring. Beautiful bountiful harvest. Nice beans and juicy tomatoes.

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  6. Your harvest looks beautiful! You are the second person now I have read blogging about this Ruby corn and I am sold, I have to try it next year.

    I feel the same way about our apples and pears straight from the orchard - no better taste from a market or store.

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  7. Gorgeous! I'm also impressed by the amount of artichoke heads you've been able to get this year!

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  8. Glad to see you've beat the thief to the corn! It looks perfectly ripe!

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  9. great harvest. That corn is just picture perfect! i have never seen the ruby queen before..its stunning

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  10. What a gorgeous harvest. Are those some sort of beet on the left side of the photo in the first photo under the corn?

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  11. Everyone else said it about the corn so I don't want your head to get too big. You are doing great this year.

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  12. Maybe they are slow, but they are colorful, and look how many flats you got!

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  13. Pristine looking corns, all other veggies are beautiful as usual.
    Too bad there isn't enough space in my garden for corn, otherwise I would love to trial the ruby queen, it's beautiful.

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  14. Thanks for your comments everyone!

    foodgardenkitchen - yes, I grew several kinds of beets this year, chioggia, red detroit and golden.

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  15. I'm glad to hear that the raccoon incident was a minor one. But still, don't you hate losing even one vegetable to the critters! That Ruby Queen corn is so beautiful, it almost make me want to make the space for some corn next year.

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  16. What great looking corn! What do you make with your Opo squash?

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  17. What do you mean your tomatoes are coming in slow?! I see a lot of really lovely looking tomatoes in those pictures! Corn is picture perfect beautiful as well. Looking forward to our first corn harvest - still a week or two away but coming!

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  18. Your corn always amazes me. I got some from a friend;s garden this weekend and ate it right away, it was so yummy. I think I'll have to try one more time next year.

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  19. Beautiful!! Love that corn. I need to try growing it again.

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  20. That is the most beautiful corn I've ever seen!!!! It's absolutely PERFECT and amazing. Hope it's yummy!!!

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  21. I have corn envy. I grew some in the community garden, but the ears were dwarfed and riddled with corn borers. That Ruby Queen looks fabulous.

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  22. participating in a local "Giving Garden" - putting about 4 hours of volunteer time each week. The group of regulars that meet up and work on Saturday mornings has been the highlight of the whole experience. Growing food that goes to our local food bank has been a blessing too. The need is great right now.

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  23. Your corn looks so much nicer than mine. I'm having an issue with cross pollination too. I planted to varieties, but they must be different kinds of sweet corn. One is sweet as heck and one is barely sweet (because it crossed). I can see the white corn that isn't so sweet have bicolor kernels from the yellow corn. I knew that some corn gets sweet with different genes too and they shouldn't cross, but it didn't even occur to me when I bought the seed. I think I'll stick to one variety next year.

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  24. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous harvest...your neighbors must love you!

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  25. Oh my wow, that corn looks amazingly good. I love love summer corn. If only we had more garden space for it.

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  26. I love the purple tomatoes. What variety was that? I tried to grow Cherokee purple this year but was unsuccessful. My Brandywines are coming through for me though, thankfully. Gorgeous pictures, amazing garden.

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