The garden is in peak harvest season right now, and it seems like we're bringing in a big basket full of produce almost every day. The heat has started to cause the fragile lettuce to bolt, and I've let this Winter Density go to seed. They really are pretty like this.
The Jade bush beans have been pulled up and I'm covering that area with cardboard and hay to await the fall garden. Now we're picking these Gold Crop beans and the Calima. So delicious. We've had beans a couple of times a week and just love them. I'm also freezing several bags each week.
Gold Crop bush beans
The beets are being pulled as they mature and I made a batch of pickled beets. There are more beets in the fridge and I'll probably do another batch before long.
Same with the carrots - they are starting to get some size. These are Tendersweet.
I'm trying my hand at making sauerkraut with the big 3 pound cabbage I brought in last week. The recipe I'm following seems pretty simple, the waiting will be the hardest part! If this works, I'll make Bavarian sauerkraut out of it, we like that style best.
I pulled up the entire crop of Granex white onions and they are being cured. This is the best onions I've ever grown and I hope I can duplicate whatever I did right, if I can remember what that was. Ha!
The spinach crop is done for the summer - in total we harvested 6# 13 ounces of this Regiment Spinach, and 5# 7 ounces of the Red Kitten spinach. I froze several packages to use until we plant our fall garden. I'm planning to try a spinach dip recipe I found, I think John would even enjoy that. The plants were trying to bolt, so out they came and the chickens got lots of it.
The squash plants are all at their peak now and we've been eating and freezing these weekly. This is the Alexandria squash (pale green and delicious!) The patti-pan squash (Benning's Green Tint) have been the most prolific.
Some of the pole beans have started to show up - these are the purple podded beans. I've also gotten a few Fortex pole beans as they've just started to mature.
These Fortna pumpkins are continuing to grow - I've put strainers under them to protect them from the ground. I just buy these at the Dollar Store and they work great, and I re-use them from year to year.
Today I had to clear some of the squash from the fridge, so I froze several bags of each type.
And the tomatoes!! They have been adding up alarmingly! I made my first batch of salsa today and now have 8 pints in the pantry. I'm hoping that I'll make several batches during the summer, because we use this stuff almost daily.
The okra is looking good and should start producing as soon as it gets HOT! This is the Hill Country Red variety, and I have two rows of Jambalaya okra.
We harvested the entire plum crop - just at 1-1/2 pounds. Not that great, but it's something. These little Methley plums are just as sweet as can be. I really wanted to try some plum wine, but its not going to happen this year, darn it! I think I'm going to make Chinese plum sauce with some of them, and we're eating the rest.
More soon! Happy gardening!
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