What are you harvesting, the 2010 Edition!

[crowjoy]

Since I know y'all are likely harvesting and the old thread didn't revive, a new one for the new season!

I got home after 4 days away yesterday and harvested 2 (!) Aunt Ruby Striped tomatoes. They're a paste variety but we sliced them up and enjoyed them out of hand anyway! With the addition of some black lava salt I brought back from my trip, SO yummy.

Naturally there are squashes... Rond du Niece, ucchini, yellow summer squash, etc. I can't believe how big the pumpkins got in just 4 days too, though we are far from harvest there. We've taken up the garlic and it's drying and the onions are looking a bit like they're ready to start coming out too. Seems early for them, though.

What are you harvesting??

[Roxy]

Similar story here. Currant tomatoes and a another variety I've lost the name of, heh heh - been eating for a week. Costata romanesca squash got ahead of me - I've got the pickle recipes out and found some nice cold salad recipes also. Garlic done drying - I need to put it away - also thinking about pulling onions. Peppers like crazy! Mostly Feherozon and Hungarian Wax. Jimmy Nardello's full size but no color yet. Oh and some peacework peppers (I think, yellow and sweet). Basil and dill of course - both need to go into some keeping form. Cabbage coming on - I've stolen a little one. Celery could come but I've not watered it well and keep thinking about doing that so it plumps up a bit. Oh, cukes this week I'm sure - got some pickable ones now but waiting for a touch more size. Oh again, stealing potatoes from under the straw also.

[crowjoy]

Ooh care to share your squash recipes?

[Roxy]

I googled for cold summer squash salad recipes - found several - will be testing them this weekend. Going to make zuc dill pickles from 'Pickles and Relishes, 150 Recipes from Apples to Zucchini': 3q zuc, 1/4c salt, 2.5c w vin, 2.5c water, 6 cloves garlic, 3 sprigs dill, 18 peppercorns, 3 grape leaves. Cut zuc in sticks. Boil salt, vin, water. 2 garlic per q jar, 1 sprig dill, arrange zuc's in jar, top w/ 6 peppercorns and a grape leaf. Pour brine over, leave 1/2 in headspace, boiling water bath 10 min. Eat in a few weeks :-) I have an old Sunset Western Gardener recipe for bread and butter pickles that is spectacular and beautiful done w/ yellow summer squash - but I'll have to forward that when I'm home ;-) Also, a great 'I can't believe it's not apple pie' zuc recipe at home too. It's not good for you - but it sure is tasty!

[Katie Quinn-Jacobs]

We've harvested black raspberries, raspberries (in full swing), blackberries (just starting). Garlic is hanging in the garage. Peas, of course. Beans will be ready in a day or so. Our infamous East HIll bitter lettuce. Radishes, spinach. Currants: blk & red.

And the BIG news here is my first English Walnut! Whoo-hoo! Planted 10 trees in '06 and here we are today with our first nut. I keep watching it. It survived the extreme heat we've had and just keeps swaying at the top of its branch. Woe to the squirrel that dares...

[IthacaNancy]

Lots of cukes, basil, swiss chard, and cherry tomatoes. Blueberries, and Reliance peaches - yum!

The foliage on the onions and shallots is starting to flop down - sign to harvest, right? The potato foliage is looking tired too - again, ready to harvest? A few ears of corn have brown dried looking tassels . . .

I haven't grown Hungarian Wax peppers before, so they are unfamiliar to me. I'll have to look up to see when they are ready and what to do with them. The eggplants are still small . . . but the spaghetti squash and muskmelons look like they are almost ready. My dear granddaughter looked at them today and we talked about whether they were ready or not. She just got right down and put her nose on the largest melon and said, "We'll see if they smell sweet yet . . . just a little . . . we should wait a bit." She will be four in November - it seems to me she has a good start on knowing how to feed herself already!

Such a lovely time of year - even if the lettuce is bitter.

[marlo capoccia]

i tried a few "black" tomatoes this year of different varieties and have had one of those come ripe. (not quite as good as last year but maybe other varieties will be better?) our raspberries are near the end of their time and the black raspberries are all done, but boy were they delicious. we're harvesting garlic at my mom's house this weekend- a little late but i'm hoping for the best. we have a few watermelon that are looking good and of course lots of squash. chard is soldiering on despite my neglect of it.

sadly, we put our raised bed close to the house and there's a septic pipe there that needs to be dug up. i'm glad it's a raised bed and can be moved easily, but am very worried about my heirloom tomatoes...

[crowjoy]

Oh bummer about the pipe. I hope it works out ok for your maters!

[Alison F]

I'm growing some small black tomatoes too, Marlo, but I don't know when to pick them! Looks like I waited too long for the first few -- they looked kinda light purple to me, but now they are soft and definitely past their prime. I did get a couple tonight, and they taste pretty good.

Other stuff I harvested tonight (sounds so funny to say harvested, when it's just a handful): jalapeno peppers, tomatillos, and a few cherry tomatoes. Anybody want to guess what spicy dish is in my future? The tomatillos seemed unusually yellow, but the husk was papery, so I went ahead and brought them inside.

I haven't had great luck with green beans this year, and I have a question for those of you with more experience. The beans seem sticky on the outside. Is that because I'm not waiting long enough to pick them, or waiting too long, or are the conditions bad?

Onions are looking good, as are the parsnips and carrots, but of course it'll be a while before those are ready!

[crowjoy]

I don't know about the beans, but it seems like mine are always a little sticky... The heat might have done weird things, I'm getting hard skins on my summer squash!

[crowjoy]

Pulled 3 heads of Chinese cabbage! Kimchi here we come!

[IthacaNancy]

I tried a muskmelon, and it was not ripe. [It didn't smell sweet or make a 'thunk' when I rapped it either.] I gave it to the canaries, and they ate it down to the rind though.

A spaghetti squash was fine.

A friend was visiting from out of town and he got excited digging up the potatoes and dug about 3/5 of them up. After checking my root cellaring book, I read that the potatoes could stay in the ground for up to six weeks after the foliage is dried up, so our harvesting was premature. I'll put straw over the ones still in the ground, and hope to extend the harvest. It looks like we'll be eating potatoes often in the coming weeks, so the ones we dug don't go bad. I've got them curing on wire racks in the basement for now.

[crowjoy]

Timely warning Nancy, I am getting tempted by those tater tires... maybe just a few new ones for snacking now.