In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen

The first harvest from our two nectaplum trees is underway. I remember why we decided to plant nectaplums after tasting just one two summers ago. Think the best white nectarine, freestone of course with a thin skin resembling a plum but without any bitterness and exceptionally sweet and juicy. More later in a separate post on nectaplums.

We’ve picked about a third of the crop and we are learning as we go. Leave them on the tree too long and they fall or develop soft spots or the green fruit beetles find them. Today we’ll do another major harvest since they all seem to be full-sized.

The apple file returns to drawer after several nights of an apple-pear crisp; likewise the collection of orange recipes. We savored a final quart of orange juice before putting a few oranges and apples in the produce drawer for other uses.

Noteworthy is the long-awaited arrival of tomatoes and corn.

Black Krim is my favorite tomato but for reliability, I planted Early Girl and San Francisco Fog since here at the cool and sometimes foggy coast it’s a race to get tomatoes before the leaves all disappear. This year I reduced the number of plants from four to three in the 4x8x2 foot raised bed. A modified staking plan has been helpful this season but we still had a gloomy June. So far no opossums, raccoons or rats to steal the harvest.

We’ve picked four ears of our reliable and favorite ‘Sugar Pearl’ corn but two were underdeveloped though showed the signs of being ready to pick. Check out my post last week When is corn ready to pick?

Last year the raccoons got their share so this year the two foot high raised bed is encased in a bamboo and bird netting structure—very inconvenient for checking readiness for harvest. Before adding the bird netting we hung purchased foil strips from the bamboo cage to keep the birds from pecking at the shoots and taking the silk. These are new problems.

Here are two of the dozen or so ‘Raven’ zucchini I picked last week. Zucchini fulfills the three-family garden promise. We’ve consumed a few but the rest went to neighbors without gardens who are eager to receive them.

The ‘Chelsea Prize English cucumbers are somewhat slower than the zucchini, perhaps because I only have two plants climbing the trellis. Last year four sprawled everywhere including up the trellis and I was overrun with cukes, though these beauties are neighborhood favorites.

Exactly one month after planting ‘Rocket’ arugula in a 12-inch container I harvested this while waiting for my summer lettuce.

Nestled in a favorite pottery bowl made by a friend were my cucumbers, oranges and arugula for a pleasant lunch.

The guava-lime agua fresca is a refreshing summer drink. I make a pint jar of the mix then add sparkling water to a third of a glass for a low-calorie summer drink.

Backstory is that I’m trying to use up the remaining strawberry guava puree in the freezer before September when another crop arrives. My neighbor, Betsy loves the puree as I do and has accepted three frozen quarts over the last month. Recently, I’ve also made strawberry guava sherbet and tapioca, guava paste and the usual jam. I think I’m down to four quarts in the chest freezer.

Zinnias cheer me every day as I pass them in the garden—this year standing tall in front of the corn. They never disappoint.

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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