July 2, 2018

Harvest Monday, 7/2/18

June 25th was the first picking from the bush bean beds. The earliest and most prolific bean so far is Triomphe de Farcy beans, too bad it's the stringiest bean ever. The strings are so tough and difficult to get off they actually make my fingers sore. Thank goodness Landreth's Stringless is making up for it.
Dark Brandywine is the first large tomato I picked. (Berkley Tie-Dye would've been the first ripe but a critter ate half of it.) On the left are three Jaune Flamme tomatoes, they produce large trusses of fruit.
On June 27th I only got half the bush bean bed picked before it threatened to rain again. A mixture of Triomphe de Farcy, Contender, and Tendergreen.
I started picking the tomatoes early just to keep them from splitting too badly with all the rain we'd been getting.
The other half of the bush bean bed got picked on the June 28th. Mostly Landreth's Stringless and Derby.
In the back is a Berkley Tie-Dye tomato and a small Green Zebra.
Out of the 4 cucumber varieties I'm growing, only Salad Slicer and Heike have produced. The other two have yet to make female blooms.
On Sunday, July 1st, I harvested more green beans, cucumbers and tomatoes.

I mad a chicken, onion, and green bean dish yesterday using Aldi's Harissa Simmer Sauce and it was fabulous. Spicy and delicious over a bed of rice with fresh herbs and a dollop of homemade cucumber yogurt sauce. Yum.
A plate of homegrown Mrs. Burn's Lemon basil, Siam Queen basil, Gigante d'Italia parsley, and cucumbers with some store bought cilantro. This was served with the chicken and green bean harissa sauce dish.

We got 8 days in a row of heavy rainfall. The wind was so bad on June 28th it made me worry about a tornado. Lots of tree damage in the neighborhood and power went out for a little bit. But it looks like that stormy weather pattern has finally broken. All this rain means disease is running rampant in the tomato beds, and half the onions were lost. I've decided I'm done growing onions, it's a lot of work starting them so early in February only to have most of them die or not do well because of the amount of water we tend to get.

The bush bean bed will probably be done in another week or two, Gilfeather turnips will be directly sown in that bed. Broccoli and Brussels sprouts will get planted in the early Buhl sweet corn once it's done in few weeks. It'll probably be late before the Morado corn is finished so fava beans/broad beans probably won't be planted until October or November in those beds.

I might try a planting of peas along the fence in the Buhl corn bed. The only reason I've been able to keep up with the weeding this year is because the kiddo is vacationing with the grandparents. They've been going to the beach and out cherry picking, so lots of fun stuff.

Join us for Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres. A place where garden drama unfolds as gardeners share their trials and triumphs, as well as their weekly harvests.

13 comments:

Michelle said...

I like that bit about garden drama. There's always always something, be it drenching rain, searing heat, drought, bugs, diseases, critters. There's nothing boring about gardening!

I am so envious of all your summer goodies. Things grow so much more slowly here because of the cool weather. The only summery things in my harvests so far are squash and basil. What I wouldn't give for a ripe homegrown tomato!

gardenvariety-hoosier said...

In spite of the weather, a very nice harvest of beans and tomatoes. Here in SW Indiana we did not get nearly as much rain as you but the weather has still been difficult. My onions will make it but they will be small.

Dave @ HappyAcres said...

The green beans looks great! Too bad about the stringy ones though. It looks like we reached the same conclusion about onions. Some of my tomatoes are struggling too, but I'll keep on growing them. Yours are ahead of me though since I'm still waiting on the first big one. I planted a couple of Brandywine types this year since they do so well for you. I just hope things dry out soon! I would rather have no rain than the continual rain we've been getting.

Shawn Ann said...

So many beautiful tomatoes so far! And LOTS of beans for you too! Your tomato varieties look amazing. I'm not a fan of really stringy beans either.

Sue Garrett said...

It’s all or nothing with the weather isn’t it. You have too much rain and we have none.

Margaret said...

All of your harvests look amazing - of course am envious of the tomatoes! That's too bad about the onions - sometimes you just have to call it quits on a veg where the effort is simply not worth the result.

Phuong said...

Hi Michelle,
I'm kind of down about the diseases on the tomato plants, potatoes, onions, etc. The squash and zucchini plants aren't likely to do anything since their stems have split from the terrible storms and too much water. But I'm still excited to plant some greens next month in preparation for fall.

Phuong said...

Hi Mike,
You've had a lot of rabbit troubles this year in the garden and it's definitely been a strange year weather wise. The beans are nicely prolific but that might be because we don't have a rabbit living there this year.

Phuong said...

Hi Dave,
I hope the Brandywines do well for you, but I'm definitely having issues with diseases. And the tomatoes have been waterlogged, so the flavors aren't as intense but they're still pretty good. With all the varieties of cherry tomatoes I tried this year, I'll probably go back to just growing Black cherry, Fat cherry, Sun Gold, and maybe Grape. Onions and shallots are so troublesome, I don't think I've ever had a good harvest from them.

Phuong said...

Hi Shawn Ann,
With so many varieties of stringless snap beans, I'm surprised they even sell stringy varieties. I have to admit they're pretty early and prolific, but the others are coming in as well so it's not as tedious.

Phuong said...

Hi Sue,
The weather just seems extreme this year. And the last two years the peppers and chilis have hardly produced anything. It's crazy that you're having such a hot dry summer.

Phuong said...

Hi Margaret,
Fresh garden tomatoes are so great in sandwiches. BLT's here we come. And the cherry tomatoes have been perfect for omelets. The tomatoes aren't at their best with all the rain but they're still wonderful to have.

World of Animals, Inc said...

Your bush beans look amazing! All of your vegetables look great, I hope that my garden will start looking more like yours! Thanks for the share. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
World of Animals