In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen

Cucumbers are having their final fling as the summer garden winds down. ‘Chelsea Prize’ from Renee’s Garden always performs well, but about now it slows.

Kumquats keep well in the fridge but it was time to follow through with my plans for Snacking Chocolate with Roasted Kumquats and Pepitas. Oh what a treat! Next year’s crop looks promising on my small patio kumquat tree.

My trial of cranberry beans has done well. It was only a 1 foot x 4 foot area but I’m pleased with the production so far. Another 25% of the beans are drying on the plants. I’ll expand the plot next year and use some of my saved “locally adapted” seeds.

Days have been warm and humid recently. I made one of my favorite summer beverages with frozen strawberry guava puree. Guava-Lime Agua Fresca (lemon in this case) quenches my thirst when in from the garden. I just add sparkling water to the mix I keep in the fridge.

Two other favorites from the past week were some near perfect marionberries. Rather than complain about the botrytis, I’ll just say these were incredible. Some apples from the first late spring harvest became baked apples but with a new topping—blended gingersnaps and a dab of butter for each. I forgot to take a photo of the finished product.

And one more photo capture of the ‘Queen Red Lime’ zinnias, this time with a few sprigs of westringia.

I’ve added a new to page my website. Check Garden Tasks This Week. Notable was the removal of half a dozen tomato hornworms. Then head over to see what other garden bloggers around the world harvested last week at Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Happy Acres blog.

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