Just when I thought that summer was on it’s way quickly into fall, we’ve had two steady weeks of heat. Go figure, right? The garden is in full production mode, though everything is later than it was last year, and even the year before that…I still haven’t even harvested any corn.
I mentioned in my last Grow, Harvest, Eat post that the garden has been looking a little ragged, and this is still true. My Three Sisters bed looks just plain sad. I’ll be tearing it out completely as soon as we harvest our corn along with our bed of squash in the backyard that has succumbed to borers for the first time ever. Those things are disgusting.
Harvests are trickling in, and yes, there have been some big ones, but with everything behind schedule due to our funky spring into summer into fall transitions, I am continuing to worry about our totals and what we’ll be able to put up for the cold months. Not that worrying does the garden (or me) any good, but it’s there none-the-less. We haven’t been home very much over the last couple of weeks (work is still kicking our butts) so our harvests have been quite large (for us) when we do get to them.
Grow
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| Bi-color Cherry Tomato |
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| Bunches of tomatillos |
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| Cayenne Peppers |
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| Indigo Rose Tomato cluster |
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| Late August Echinacea |
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| Lemon Cucumber on pallet bed |
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| Long Early Purple Eggplant |
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| Morning Glories climbing up a Juniper |
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| Roma Tomatoes |
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| Tomato Hornworm. Tool Lady caught him before he did too much damage. |
Harvest
Harvest totals for the past two weeks:
- Basil – 8 oz
- Beans
- Tri-color Bush – 1 lb 2 oz
- Trail of Tears Pole – 10 oz
- Eggplant
- Florida High Bush – 11 oz
- Early Long Purple – oz
- Peppers
- Ring-o-Fire Cayenne – 1 lb 6 oz
- Shishito – 1 lb 1 oz
- Squash
- Patty Pan – 3 lb 5 oz
- Summer – 10 oz
- Tomatoes
- Black from Tula – 1 lb 7 oz
- Cherokee Purple – 1 lb 13 oz
- Indigo Rose – 3 lb 3 oz
- Roma – 14 lb 3 oz
- Yellow Taxi – 4 lb 11 oz
- Eggs – 119
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| Late August harvest baskets. This haul brought in 16 pounds + |
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| We love our multi-colored organic eggs! |
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| August bounty! |
Eat
Alright, truth be told, we are still struggling to eat at home instead of purchasing food on the go. The past several weeks have had us leaving the house very early not getting home until anywhere between 7 and 9pm. With Sprout only 6 weeks from his or her due date and our sanity at sake, we are really trying to find a balance between work and home…we just haven’t found it quite yet.
When we went on our two-week shopping trip last Saturday, we tried to be intentional to purchase only items that would round out the foods we have on hand. For example, we have tomato sauce, basil, plenty of garden veggies and flour, so we bought some mozzarella to make some pizza…we have corn and flour tortillas, cheese, potatoes and chile, so we bought some chicken breasts to make some enchiladas one night and chicken and potato burritos another night We also purchased a bunch of bagels and cream cheese and some protein powder for shakes and have boiled eggs on hand for on the go mornings.
So, piecing it all together, here are a few things we are determined to cook at home in the next two weeks:
Breakfast
- Bagels and cream cheese
- Omelettes filled with garden veggies
- Oatmeal with berries
- Protein shakes with berries or bananas and peanut butter
Lunch
- Leftover dinners from previous nights
- Sandwiches (PB&J or turkey)
- Egg Salad sandwiches
- Frito Pies
Dinner
- Green chile, chicken enchiladas
- Chicken and potato burritos
- Spinach salad with chicken, avocado and tomatoes
- Pasta with Grandma Roth’s sauce
- Make-your-own pizza
- Spanikopita
- Vegetarian Lasagna
- Steaks and a garden veggie
- Bean burritos
Nice harvest, when did you started your tomatoes? I’m still waiting for my slicers to ripen, the patio variety stop producing for couple weeks due to cooler weather and is now ripening one at a time. Our weather is really strange this year, the veggies are confused, they stop and go stop and go.
Hi Mac! I started seeds indoors under grow lights in late February and through early April. Our first producers are always the Yellow Taxis, which we love 🙂 Our veggies are doing the same thing…very strange, indeed.
Great looking garden.
I have been happy with the warmer days. My tomatoes are still ripening!
Great looking harvest this week, good luck with all the preserving. Our garden has been behind this year too. Our big “glut” of tomatoes, peppers, corn and melons usually happens the middle of August and it is yet to really hit. I think this week be the week though!!
Glad to hear that we’re not alone here in the way of late harvests…strange weather all around!
You can certainly see from your harvest baskets that your garden is in full production! It’s funny, but it seems that gardens are behind in even the most diverse parts of the country this year.
I’ve noticed it, too. Very strange weather in all corners! I am definitely grateful for every fruit and veggie coming out of the garden at this point 🙂
Your garden and your harvests are looking beautiful! We are expecting a week in the mid 90’s this week, after such a lovely summer…blech!
90s at this time of year is just exhausting. I don’t know about you, but I am very ready for cooler weather as long as the harvests come in first 🙂
You’ve got a lovely variety of goodies there. And what a haul of eggs!