Today's harvest

[blissful]

Yesterday 4 gallons packed, fresh kale, steamed down to 8.5 cups. Frozen for later canning when I get enough for a canning load. (21 cups)

61 raspberries today! lol I hope we are not laughing so much as they all start to ripen.

 

[blissful]

The lone scape looped over soon to be straight up like a flower. Then, they say, garlic is ready to harvest. (we'll see)

 

[pepperhead212]

SVBs are the reason I started growing these relatives - Bottle Gourds. Here's my first one of the season.
First bottle gourd, 22 oz, harvested 7-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Eggplants are starting to produce well, though I'm going to have to trim that LA long green, which is not at all long, as there are just way too many fruits on it, clustered together.
An Ichiban, a Choruoku Green, and 2 Asian String eggplants, harvested 7-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cukes are starting to produce well, too. I'll have to have a taste test with the different varieties.
A 14 in Jin 301, a yellowing Snowy number 6, and a smaller County Fair, 7-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The Kajari melons are starting to shape up - the largest is about 2½", so far, with at least 2 more started (I may have missed a couple).
Kajari melons beginning to shape, this first one about 2 and a half inches, so far. 7-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A few okras harvested, including the first Hill Country Red, despite the plants not really being that large.

 

[blissful]

@pepperhead212 A friend from TN came up to visit and she brought me some calabash, bottle goard squash, 5 of them. She said to use them like zucchini, just peel them and take out any spongy middle. She also grew them because the squash vine borer beetles wrecked her zucchini each year. I ended up dehydrating them, shredded, and I used them in zucchini bread (rehydrated). They worked just the same as zucchini in bread.

 

[pepperhead212]

@blissful I'll have to try dehydrating the shredded bottle gourds. I've tried dehydrating cubes, as with eggplants, but the gourds seem to have more water, and they shrunk up much more than eggplants.

 

[dragnlaw]

How do you use your dehydrated Eggplant?
and
and do you do them in slices?
make a mash?
soak first?
just grate?
specific recipes?

 

[pepperhead212]

I dehydrate eggplants in large cubes. Approx. 1.35-1.45 oz. Is equivalent to a lb., and I usually just use 1.5 oz for a lb. I usually soak them first, in hot water, and I have some ceramic weight things I use in two different containers I soak them in (they are very buoyant!). And I use them in soups, plus, one of the things I use them in a lot, curries! I knew you'd like that, @dragnlaw, and surprisingly, the eggplant keeps some texture, even when cooked in the IP, under pressure. I have also used it in a number of stir-fries - in these, I soak them until totally soaked through, while with the curries and dals I often only soak them 20 minutes or so, while prepping other ingredients, before adding them, and starting the cooking. . They can also be puréed - again, I soak them all the way through, before cooking with other ingredients, then puréeing in the Vitamix. The skins and seeds disappear.

I've also made flour out of the dried EP, and used it in things like flatbreads.

 

[pepperhead212]

FWIW, here's a photo showing those weights I use to soak the eggplant pieces - one fits a quart container (and the tops of 2 c pyrex cups), and one in a 2 qt container. Someone I knew many years ago made them for me, when she was taking a ceramics class. They were originally mainly for dried peppers, for Mexican cooking, but that was before I had all these eggplants!
ceramic weights, for soaking dried eggplant, chiles, and mushrooms, and other things. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[dragnlaw]

Fascinating! thank you so much. I bought 3 plants this year (Globe) and have seen flowers. - Last year 2 plants, they kept producing little fat eggplants beautifully.
And a little rabbit came along and would take 2 or 3 bites out of each and then knocked the plant down and chewed the leaves - then the bugs chewed the rest of the leaves and that was the end of them.

This year they are in tomato cages and surrounded by nets. Have seen flowers -

 

[Kathleen]

I am giddy! I was able to pick some beans today for dinner tonight. To be honest, these style beans should have a bit more bean in them, but I could not wait. I left plenty to ripen up for the next bunch. These are like the beans my grandmother grew. She called them Shelly Beans. I found seeds in a Mom & Pop hardware store in Tazewell, TN. It's the first time I've seen them in years. The man who rain the place told me that the beans are not really sold outside of the region which is likely why I could not find them here. They have thick, heavy strings and colorful beans within. If too fibrous to cook, shell them out to cook along with the rest.

Definitely a taste of "home."

 

[larry_stewart]

Potatoes and Onions. Just picked the Red Potatoes today. This is about 1/5 of all the potatoes beds I have so of the others are the same, it will be a good year. onions did well. Not great, but average. One bed did better than the other ( probably just due to location ), so Ill probably just grow in the more successful bed next year.

 

[larry_stewart]

Another pretty good day in the garden. Picked some peppers, Shishito Peppers, Kirby's, cucumbers and a sorry looking zucchini. Made some pickled cabbage, cucumber salad and kind of pickled shishito peppers. Also French cut some string beans, blanched and froze for later use.

 

[blissful]

I cut lavender today, to dry and use in tea, cooking, and to freshen drawers of clothes.
There's another 4 gallons (pressed tightly) of fresh kale to pick yet today. I'll pick a few of the squash leaves which are huge and tender right now, to add to the steamed kale. Eat your greens it will save your life, that's what I think when I have to pick greens in the heat of the day.

 

[bethzaring]

Gardening season has been off to a slow start, with the last freeze three weeks ago, June 25th. Garlic is ready to harvest, the pea pod season is about over, pepper and chile plants are starting to flower, summer squash plants are thinking about flowering. This is the first harvest worth mentioning; cos lettuce plant, first broccoli which is bugless! and a few more pea pods.

 

[blissful]

Oh my goodness June 25th. My lettuce started out okay but the heat is making it do nothing, soon to bolt.

 

[larry_stewart]

My lettuce started out okay but the heat is making it do nothing, soon to bolt.

My Chard pretty much went straight to bolt. It's one of the crops I never had an issue with, this year I'm up to my 3rd planting ( first two never made it to harvest).

 

[pepperhead212]

I also pulled a bunch of bolted greens out today, along with weeds that took off, after all this rain I've been getting! The things I can compost went in there, but the rest of that stuff went in the lawn trash.

Today was the first time the humidity was down enough to do a lot more out there. I started by uncovering those 3 EBs with peppers prone to pepper maggots, and harvested 3 varieties of jalapeños and 2 Numex varieties, though they were just getting started, and none are ripening. A couple of the Numex peppers have brown tips on them, because they were touching the soil, but they were the only ones low enough. The other varieties are just starting to form the peppers, which is normal for those varieties, which start ripening about a month from now. Another Numex variety - Joe Parker - that eventually gets much larger peppers, only had some small peppers started on them, which is also normal. Before covering the SIPs again, I sprayed them with potassium bicarbonate, as a prophylactic, and dusted around the bases with DE. Here are the few peppers from those plants this time:
Numex 6 and Big Mic, first harvests of the season. 7-10 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

First jalapeños of the season, from 3 varieties, on 7-10 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I am also starting to get eggplants on a daily basis, today, 12 of them, after 5 of them yesterday, when I made the Thai Curry.
12 eggplants harvested today, after 5 yesterday - it is that time of year again! 7-10 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[pepperhead212]

My tomatoes are starting to ripen faster now, though I also noticed some of them with far fewer blossoms on them, I assume due to this heat I've been getting. And I've started noticing diseases related to the moisture, due to all this rain, as well as humidity, on some of the varieties most prone. Yesterday morning I sprayed them all with potassium bicarbonate, though I don't know if that will help.

I have about enough to get the 2 lbs of diced tomatoes, to mix with some of the fresh garlic and a bunch of basil - a favorite pasta dish of mine in the summer, when all these things are coming in!
Tomatoes from 3 day ago. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Tomatoes from 2 days ago. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Tomatoes from yesterday. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And more eggplants the day after those above. I'll definitely be dehydrating those soon.
More eggplants, a few tomatoes, and another bottle gourd, from yesterday, 7-11 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

My tomatoes are starting to ripen faster now, though I also noticed some of them with far fewer blossoms on them, I assume due to this heat I've been getting. And I've started noticing diseases related to the moisture, due to all this rain, as well as humidity, on some of the varieties most prone. Yesterday morning I sprayed them all with potassium bicarbonate, though I don't know if that will help.

I have about enough to get the 2 lbs of diced tomatoes, to mix with some of the fresh garlic and a bunch of basil - a favorite pasta dish of mine in the summer, when all these things are coming in!

I'm noticing the same with my tomatoes, other than the smaller varieties , I see a lot less blossoms than usual. My smaller varieties have started to ripen ( not enough to make anything with, just enough to pick and eat in the garden while makiing my rounds). Not that I'm glad you're having issues too, but I'm glad it's not just me. Most of the varieties I have out there are varieties I've planted and had success with ( which is why I keep planting them), so it's a little disappointing seeing that they are not thriving. Still a little early for me, but just the decreased amount of blossoms and even unripe tomatoes, at this time, has me concerned.
And that is my favorite summer pasta dish too. Nothing screams summer like fresh garlic, basil and tomatoes. I only eat that dish in the summer when I have fresh ingredients ( winter tomatoes don't do it justice). My basil is doing great, and garlic did well, so just waiting for the tomatoes to catch up.

 

[Marlingardener]

Our tomatoes are slowing down. We may have another picking of Romas and Celebrities before they just go "dormant". We'll cut them back and keep the vines watered, and hope for a fall crop. It will be smaller, but still . . . .