Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Mid-August Bounty

DSC_0002
This post is a bit late, but here is what we harvested in the past week. The tomatoes are finally starting to ripen in large numbers. This year I grew half as many plants as we did last year (forty), which in some ways is good since last summer at this time, it was quite stressful trying to keep up with the tomato harvest. However, this year I'm a bit worried that we may not have grown enough to get us by in sauce and salsa for the next twelve months. I may have to increase the number of plants for next year.

DSC_0038
Speaking of tomatoes, my Gold Medal and Brandywine (Sudduth's Strain) vines are producing enormous fruit. It's not uncommon for a tomato plant to produce a couple of whoppers but in this case, most of them are pretty hefty. I'm a sucker for big ugly tomatoes.

As you can see, I have a few green paste tomatoes here as well. They were salvaged when the branch holding the cluster snapped.

DSC_0010
I picked all of my Tongue of Fire beans this week. I've never cooked with fresh shell beans before. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

DSC_0012
The last of our sweet corn. :(

DSC_0003
Two delicious Athena cantaloupes. (On a side note, I bought two amazing Canary and Piel de Sapo melons from the market the other week. I saved some seeds to hopefully grow them next year.)

DSC_0025
I must be growing a different variety of purple tomatilloes this year because these are almost jet black. I'm excited to make a batch of purple tomatillo salsa. The watermelon you see here was picked because a section of the stem attaching it to the vine had died off. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite ripe yet.

DSC_0014
The last of the Spring-sown carrots and possibly the last of this year's artichokes. They will surely be missed.

DSC_0003
Finally, the last of the spring-sown beets. It will be at least another month before the fall beets are ready to harvest.

15 comments:

  1. Your garden is amazing, Thomas. I have missed my visits to your blog. That ruby corn is beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those ugly tomatoes are BEAUTIFUL. Such a wonderful variety. I know what you mean about not having enough marinara sauce to last the winter. I only got two quarts frozen this summer due to low tomato yield. Clare at Curbstone Farms said that her tomatoes didn't yield much this year either. Well, there are things in the garden other than tomatoes. Loved seeing your artichokes. I wondered how they were doing for you in New England. My plants are just now resprouting from the base, preparing for next year's crop. I get about three years out of them before I have to replant here in southern California.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Everything looks beautiful! Those Brandywines are known for being monsters, mine are always the biggest by far of anything else I grow. I'm glad that I did 20 plants this year, although I'm really glad I did 5 Brandywines since they ended up being the bulk of my canning efforts this year!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gorgeous harvests Thomas. I love the tomatoes and only wish mine were producing like that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am a sucker for big tomatoes also. I have never canned brandywines because I like the fresh taste too much. I also cut back the number of plants and might need to increase for next year.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a great harvest. I really like the purple tomatillos. We didn't know they existed. We grow regular tomatillos in our garden for salsa verde and pica de gallo. Do you know where we can find purple tomatillo seeds? We'd love to try them next year.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great Harvest! You are growing a lot of things that I am going to have to try next year!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thirty two tomato plants seem to be the right amount for us...I've tried less and more...but strangely...that's our magic number.

    Your bounty is truly wonderful and as the weather warms north of you..I hope, here in Nova Scotia, we will soon be showing a similar abundance. Peas were late strangely, coming on with the beans...can't keep up.

    Unusual year here abouts re gardening weather.

    ReplyDelete
  9. In the post has been good crop rotation in water lemon cucumber cabbage so on it is very healthy crop obtained and there are define that how to crop during of time and how to maintain in this types crop so that can be good cultivation and crop also.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your veggies are just beautiful Thomas! I wouldn't judge the amount of tomatoes that you got this year. Last year I had 16 plants and this year I have 42. It looks like I'm going to get the same poundage this year as I did last year! Crazy year!

    ReplyDelete
  11. So colourful! Your sweet corn, tomatoes, melons, beans and carrots look great. All of them look so good. Another amazing harvest this week Thomas.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Beautiful veggies...look at those tomatoes, wow.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wonderful harvest...and I really appreciate you throwing in a bit of info on your garden challenges, too...such as snapped vines, dead vines, etc. It gives me hope...that even experienced gardeners face challenges. :)

    As for those fresh beans...a friend of mine sautes onion, garlic, carrot and celery all chopped up in olive oil. When it's tender and translucent she adds the beans and the broth of your choice then simmers them. You can also add a bay leaf if you like. Simple...and delicious. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your vegetables are lovely, and that corn is exquisite! Your hard work has paid off.

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a gorgeous harvest! Those beets and tomatoes are so pretty.

    ReplyDelete