Harvest Monday

The night temperatures have been unusually cool for August, which is not so good for the remaining summer veggie plants. But it's great for the fall veggie seedlings.

The last of the carrots were pulled out and I need to sow some more seeds for the fall/winter crop. I had no idea that the home-grown carrots could taste this good!

I have been harvesting herbs and drying them. They have been good to us all throughout the season.

Earlier in the season, my basil was getting attacked by something. They were so bare at one point that I thought I would just pull them out...

But I'm glad I didn't! They all came back and the more I snip, the more they give.

I used the basil in my first batch of tomato sauce this weekend.

I wish I could say these tomatoes were from my garden, but I've been having trouble with my tomato plants all throughout the season and they didn't produce much. They recovered for a few weeks, but then with all the rain we've been getting lately, they were hit by blight and are quickly dying. The good news is I can buy a box of canning tomatoes for $3 around here. It's ALMOST not worth gardening when they are this cheap!

I canned 15 quarts of sauce from the beginning to the end. 3 quarts did not seal in my pressure canner. I have been having a problem with that lately. I can't figure out why. It does seem to happen more often with the wide-mouth jars though. I give plenty of head space, wipe the rim, etc.... Anyone has suggestions?

The rain has been great for some things in nature - wild mushrooms! My husband and I collect all sorts of wild mushrooms, but we especially look forward to this time of year when our favorite ones come out.

Happy Harvest everyone!

Linking up to the host of Harvest Monday, where people share their wonderful harvests!

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard

Here are some of the things we've had this week. It's so great to be able to have fresh veggies right from your own backyard.

Monday, we had the beef kabobs marinated with lots of garlic, onions, oregano, wine, balsamic, olive oil and whatever else I felt like putting in... On the side, we made grilled zucchini and peppers (no picture), plus stuffed Jalapeno peppers from the garden:

I love this tool - well, it's actually my husband's tool. You just remove the stems and seeds, stuff them with cheese and grill them. So easy and delicious! Some Jalapenos were too small for the size of the holes, so I stacked 2 pieces together and it works fine.

Last night we had some flounder with veggies from the garden. I was supposed to make rice pilaf, but made sour cream parmesan potatoes instead. I also sauteed zucchini, carrots, and beans.

I'm excited that I have been able to freeze some of these veggies for the winter! I was hoping to make 100 packets of veggies in the freezer, but I think I need to plant a little more to be able to eat everyday and preserve enough for later.


I'm linking this post to The Gardener of Eden - the host of Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard!

My favorite salad

I absolutely love cobb salad! Especially when some of the ingredients come from my own garden, it makes the salad extra delicious. It's sort of like making soups, in that, you can just throw in anything you have in the fridge/garden. I wish I could say that the lettuce is from my garden, but it has been too hot for them.

For the toppings, we had onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots from the garden, plus bacon, shredded cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and cut up leftover grilled chicken from 2 nights ago. I usually make ranch or blue cheese dressing for this, but I wanted to go a little lighter. So I made a honey mustard dressing. Yummy!

Harvest Monday

This is my first post for Harvest Monday, which is hosted by Daphne's Dandelions at http://daphnesdandelions.blogspot.com/2012/07/harvest-monday-july-30th-2012.html#comment-form

Tomatoes: 2lb 7oz - We planted about 40 tomato plants hoping they will give us some a plenty for eating and canning. But unfortunately, they have been struggling due to what we believe is Fusarium or Verticillium wilt. They are not completely dead, but not performing well either, so I had to put some of them out of misery this weekend. Thus, the green tomatoes that I picked that were left on those poor plants.

Carrots: 1lb - After complaining about them a few days ago, I realize I probably should be happy. Today, I pulled out some nice straight carrots. I probably have about 1-2lb left in the bed, hoping they will grow a little more. I also sowed some seeds for the fall crop.

Yellow wax beans: 4oz - They have been very good to us and providing consistent harvest for several weeks. I think they are just starting to get tired. But my haricot vert plants are now in full bloom. I think we'll start harvesting these by next week.

Zucchini: half rotten one.... We have one zucchini plant, that has been producing just the right amount for 2 of us. This one probably didn't get pollinated properly.

Broccoli side shoots: 2oz - I have 6 broccoli plants that keep on giving. The heads were cut off 2-3 weeks ago.

Carrots

I harvested some carrots today. Carrots are one of those mystery vegetables that I have a hard time growing. Here are the reasons: 1) the germination rate is not so high, 2) the birds love the seeds, 3) insects and animals love the leaves, 4) you never know how they are doing under the ground, 5) they take A LONG time to mature. Mine have been growing since March and some of them are still the size of my pinky. I have been pulling out a few at a time to see how they are doing for the last several weeks, only to find them disappointing. Then two days ago, when we came back from a weekend getaway, I found out that something got into the garden (most probably a groundhog) and ate the tops of my carrots and hard beans. So today, I decided to pull out the ones with the tops chewed off. There was a few nice size ones, which  I broke off, underestimating the length.

I am happy about the length and how straight they are. My husband will be happy because he was the one who dug the carrot/potato bed extra deep and spent hours sifting the soil (while telling me "carrots and potatoes are a dollar a pound at the store"). I just wish they were fatter! Maybe it's the soil, but I read somewhere that they don't require much nutrients. I need to do more research. I have been sowing more carrot seeds for the fall crop. They are germinating nicely.

Carrots - 12 1/2 oz