8/7/2017 High Summer Harvest

The weather for the last couple days has been cool, and today rainy, more like mid-September than early August. Summer crops are starting to peak but already it feels like fall.

Cabernet and Copra onions curing is a shaded area on the patio.

I’ve been harvesting Cabernet onions for two weeks and most are cured and ready to go into storage. This is the entire crop of Cabernet but only about half of my Copra onions. The plants were shredded by hail in early June but recovered remarkably well – these are the biggest onions I’ve ever grown of both varieties. I attribute this to the regular rains we’ve been getting.

Each of these onions weighs about 7 ounces, together 1 pound including foliage. Typically, the Cabernet would be about 4-5 ounces and the Copra about 3 ounces.

The Yaya carrots are not as happy as the onions without supplemental watering. The split carrots require some carving but still taste great.

We’ve had a couple of periods of 8-9 days with no rain when I wasn’t watering. The carrots probably split after the next rainfall. I finally laid out the soaker hoses two weeks ago so subsequent plantings should not have this problem.

I’ve been checking for cucumbers but found only one – I picked the first last Thursday. Suddenly there are a gazillion and by their size several of them were there and ready last Thursday. Strange how they suddenly snapped into focus.

Cucumbers, H-19 Little Leaf. This is a pickling type with high resistance to bacterial wilt. The taste is good.

I’m not able to judge the resistance claim yet as the plants were protected by a row cover until the start of flowering. The foliage was clean when I removed the row cover but it is starting to show signs of disease now.

Tomatoes – 3 pounds of Sungold cherries and 1 pound of Garden Gem.

I cut then slow roasted (275°F) the Sungolds with garlic, basil & olive oil. I freeze them on a tray then pack them into freezer bags for use on winter salads. Summer has been cool and my biggest tomatoes are only just starting to show a bit of color.

One pound bush beans – most are Bush Blue Lake. The darker green beans are Hickock.

Lettuce Rouge Grenoblais and Muir. Muir stands up to hot weather much better than Rouge Grenoblais.

Everything above came from my community garden plot. I try to alternate harvests. Every second day at home I harvest a basket of beans and a handful of Jasper tomatoes. Zucchini is rarer, but still sufficient, since I prefer not to freeze it. Plus there is a daily harvest of greens – chard, kale, or Tyfon-Holland greens.

Helda pole beans, zucchini and Jasper cherry tomatoes.

Linking up with Dave at Our Happy Acres where the season is much more advanced.