I'm a little late for Harvest Monday, a tradition created by Daphne's Dandelions where gardeners share the past week's harvest.
It rained hard all day Sunday and throughout the night which spells big trouble for ripening tomatoes. I work long shifts so was unable to get out into the garden to save the tomatoes, by Monday morning yesterday a lot of the tomatoes were split open and there were even a few slugs sucking on the fruit. There were 36 pounds of salvageable tomatoes, and I went ahead and picked 8 pounds of sweet peppers since some of the plants had been knocked down by the deluge and were liable to get sun scald.
Then I got busy canning salsa, since tomatoes that split open when they are ripe can spoil quickly. I was only able to can two batches yesterday which equals 8 quarts of salsa. Hopefully with my husband's help we can get through 16 more quarts tomorrow.
I have to say this year's salsa is outrageously delicious. The flavors are so complex, bright and sweet with an undercurrent of fruity spicy smokiness, which is probably due to the huge variety of tomatoes and hot and sweet peppers used.
This week's harvest:
20.6 pounds tomatoes
5.76 pounds zucchini
4.52 pounds cucumber
3.14 pounds crook neck summer squash
1.29 pounds okra
0.98 pounds straight neck summer squash
Total: 36.29 pounds of vegetables
6 comments:
Beautiful harvests! I wish I was picking tomatoes like that. My tomatoes are being very pokey.
You are getting a lovely variety of vegetables from your garden. Your striped eggplant and purple peppers are just gorgeous!
I did get some strange looking tomatoes, they look like 2 or 3 tomatoes merged into one.
Those are beautiful tomatoes, Phuong! My tomatoes are pitiful this year, one is now completely wilted. Of course it had to be the one with the most fruits. I don't know why. If there was anything I could grow, it was tomatoes. Guess not anymore. :-(
Oh my goodness - wonderful tomatoes!! Here in the UK mine are nowhere near ready, although I live in hope!! Such a shame that some were spoiled by slugs (yeeeuch, hate them!) but making salsa seems a good solution!
That's sad about your wilting tomato, it makes me wonder if something is eating at its roots or if it's some kind of fungal disease. Don't feel bad, we all get bad years where pests or the weather does the plants in.
I have to say, your potatoes and eggplants are looking gorgeous!
Since the UK had such a long cold spring, it's understandable for your tomatoes to be a little behind. Hopefully you will be getting tomatoes soon!
I am happily tired after making salsa, we ended up with 26 large mostly quart jars of it!
Post a Comment