In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen

Strawberry guava season has arrived. This year it’s three weeks earlier for no predictable reason. Occasionally, it’s as early as July but September is typical. I still have three quarts of guava puree in the freezer so there will be guava gifts for a few friends who share my fondness for this tropical fruit.

You can read here about my early memories of Strawberry Guavas and why I planted the tree. I’m gearing up mentally for the upcoming harvest. I checked and last year the total came to 60 pounds. I’ve compiled a list of five friends who look forward to guava season.

I’ve not harvested any rhubarb for a few weeks, letting the plants gather strength for next year. My freezer is well stocked with various sauce combinations of rhubarb, apples and strawberry guava puree. There may be another fruit crisp ahead with rhubarb and summer fruit.

We’re in a heat wave in SoCal with desert temps up to 120 degrees. Thankfully, here at the coast we’re only in the low 80’s but the humidity tracks with the temperature. I could see the ‘Lollo Rossa’ was thinking about bolting so I cut all the heads.

They are stunning growing in the shade and do well in the summer here.

Another small sowing of ‘Provider’ squeezed in near the squash gave us a first picking last week. I’ll plant ‘Royal Burgundy’ bush beans this week. They did well into October last year.

The ‘Baby Belle’ peppers don’t mind the heat and I don’t mind having them for summer salads, snacking and various veggie combos.

Last week I made a gallon of spaghetti sauce for dinner and the freezer with the bounty of tomatoes. My recipe is from the mother of a friend in college. Their very Italian family grew garlic in Gilroy, California.

I’m not a purist for my tomato sauce. I rough chop them in the food processor seeds, skin and all then cook them lightly to maintain good color. I use an immersion blender for the desired texture. I figure it’s all good for me—antioxidants, lycopene and other good stuff we don’t yet know about.

Here are some of the veggies for gazpacho from my favorite recipe in the original Moosewood Cookbook.

I usually find a friend who likes gazpacho (and their spouse doesn’t) to share some of the cold soup.

And of course, more zinnias with feverfew and grevillea foliage.

Oh, and anyone having a hard time finding seeds for some cool season seed varieties? I resorted to a spreadsheet to keep alternate seed sources and varieties straight. I’m growing more from seed since the availability in the local nurseries was sketchy this spring with so many new gardeners.

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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