Rain Showers in the Vegetable Garden

A nice heavy rain knocked down a couple of the Philippine Lady Finger okra plants

Stewart's Zeebest okra plant

Costoluto Genovese tomato almost ready to be plucked

The five thicker okra pods on the left belong to Philippine Lady Finger and the three on the right belong to Stewart's Zeebest. Usually I let the Stewart's pods grow to about 9 inches in length but these were picked small because the plants they were growing on are still tiny.

Swiss chard

We had a nice really heavy rain on Monday and the plants were just soaking it up. The okra pods has grown twice as fast since the downpour. A few of the Philippine Lady finger okra plants were knocked down but they are just fine after being righted.

The tomatoes are finally starting to look less brown and burned with many young fruits burgeoning and growing tips starting to swell again.

I haven't been very creative with the Swiss chard, this batch was sauteed in butter which I admit was a little bitter. The thick succulent leaves makes me want to wrap it around a meat filling. Hmmm.

Harvest Monday, July 9, 2012

Tuesday's harvest of green beans, okra, and tomatoes

Thursday, the first harvest of Zephyr summer squash

Thursday's harvest of okra

Two of the okra picked on Thursday were 9 inches long and still tender

Sunday, more sunburned tomatoes and a couple of summer squash

Sunday's okra harvest

Thank goodness it rained a couple times this week and put an end to the 108˚ F heat wave (42˚ C). The tomatoes have some sunburn on their fruit and two summer squash plants have succumbed to vine borers without ever producing any fruit. The beans and tomato plants have gotten fairly burned up in the heat, they're just a little crispy. And I've been finding tomatoes that have been nibbled or pecked at, looks like critters are finding their way through the bird netting looking for water sources.

The first summer squash of the season have been picked! The Zephyr hybrid summer squash is excellent, it has a wonderful texture and flavor that is sweet tender and firm when sauteed with a little butter. Not at all watery or spongy like summer squash can get.

The main green bean bed is definitely winding down production but the smaller plantings are just starting to flower.

This weeks harvest:
2 pounds, 14 oz tomato
2 pounds, 4 oz squash
1 pound, 6 oz green beans
1 pound, 5 oz okra

Total: 7 pounds, 13 ounces

Thank you for visiting. Check out Daphne's Dandelions and her Harvest Monday posts, where gardeners from all over the world take part and post their weekly harvest.