In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen
October is the month to plant the cool season vegetable garden so there are few harvests now. It is the time of anticipation as the winter crops take their place in the raised beds. The bell peppers remain as the last of the fruit changes to red and a small patch of arugula yields enough for salads.
The baby butternut Climbing Honeynut Squash completed the two week curing time as per Harvest to Table and is stored in the garage. The yield of 10 pounds was acceptable for a trellis only three feet wide and stashed behind the corn. Some of the vines left the party early and their fruit was undersized.
The rhubarb benefited from cooler weather and some rain. Seemed an occasion for a apple-rhubarb-berry crisp.
Fruit is the focus of this month as another round of strawberry guavas arrives and we wait for the second crop of ‘Dorsett Golden’ apples. .
The strawberry guavas in the fall crop are usually smaller—grape size which increases the labor. For this crop we shake the tree and guavas drop to the garden trays below. We gather and sort daily. We’ve given away the best ones to a cadre of friends who crave them. The remainder I make into a concentrated strawberry guava puree that is rich in flavor and requires no sweetener. The puree is used atop plain yogurt or fruit, in smoothies and frozen for later. Use the blog search feature for other posts on strawberry guavas.
The thyme and basil thrive with the warm autumn days. I keep the basil trimmed and give away “bouquets.” With low humidity Santa Ana conditions recently, I harvested a large handful of thyme to dry for my daughter-in-law in Seattle. The coastal humidity returned so I’ll finish with a dash of heat from the oven.
Anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’ reliably shows up in October when other perennials have faded from the scene. Design inspiration is from @nataliedesigns with her seasonal use of garden anemones.
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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