In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen

The supply of late spring and summer lettuce has been steady this year—unlike other warm seasons when I struggled to grow it. Some of my methods are chronicled in Summer Lettuce. My favorite this year is ‘Pomegranate Crunch,’ an impulse buy when ordering from Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply. It’s easily my new favorite warm season lettuce. It’s sturdy and gorgeous and may replace ‘Marvel of Four Seasons’ in the winter.

I’ll stick with the description at High Mowing Organic Seed: ”Stunning mini red romaine with speckled green hearts and smooth texture. Vivid red outer leaves and sparkling green interiors. Faster growing and more open habit than most other red romaines for a foolproof, disease resistant combination.”

Here’ what’s going away or gone. (Kumquats, oranges, artichokes, strawberry guavas)

And here’s what’s coming on strong and keeping me busy in the kitchen.

We’re gathering 2-4 pounds of apricots every day and soon will do a major harvest before they drop off the tree. Here’s an Apricot Almond Cobbler I made last week. I also froze eleven pints of apricot compote over the weekend.

I made the last batch of strawberry guava puree for the freezer and gave away the remaining five pounds of guavas. This spring harvest was an anomaly. Usually the major crop is in September but we’ve had cycles of small crops over the last eight months.

With previously frozen strawberry guava puree I made 24 jars of jam. It’s apricot jam this week.

Fruit salads are frequent and luscious.

It’s good to have neighbors who like zucchini and don’t grow it. I think I said last summer that one, instead of two zucchini plants, might be sufficient. Lemon Zucchini Bread with Olive Oil and Thyme is the next baking project.

Flowers still abound in the late spring garden and with them the monarchs.

You may enjoy seeing what other garden bloggers harvested last week at Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.

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