August 27, 2012
While your garden may be winding down and you’re thinking about fall crops, I’m still waiting for the zenith of my summer garden. Everything but the zucchini seems ponderously slow.
I’ve consistently harvested six to ten zucchini daily from a 4’ x 4’ square. This makes our co-workers and neighbors who are not gardeners happy, at least for now.
I’m finding plenty of ways to use the zucchini and so far we’ve not tired of it. Tonight I improvised a vegetable saute based on what was available in the fridge and garden.
Broiled salmon with sauteed zucchini, scallions, green pepper, yellow tomato, oregano, pepper and lemon zest.
This year’s tomato harvest is disappointing. Is the weather to blame–the foggy months then recent persistent heat and humidity? My blogging friend on Coronado Island, where weather conditions are similar, complains of the same lackluster tomato harvest. The lower leaves of my plants have withered, fruit set is less than expected and they are slow to ripen. I didn’t plant my usual hybrid ‘Early Girl’ which does well most years. I fell instead for 'Indigo Rose’. The fruit hangs on the vine in lovely purple and green clusters, but does not ripen.
Elsewhere in the garden we’re gathering marionberries enough for cereal, a few apples, the last of the chard, all the rhubarb we can eat and a little bit of lettuce grown under row cover. The green beans, peppers and cucumbers are waiting in the wings.
But like most gardeners, I remain hopeful.
The butternut squash in the 4’ x 8’ raised bed is thriving. There are dozens of little squash like the four inch one pictured above.
The corn heads are coming along. The plants are two feet taller than the seed package predicted. Hopefully, that vigor will translate to a good harvest.
It may be a bad year for tomatoes, but maybe I’ll remember this summer’s garden as the one with the amazing butternut squash harvest and my first corn crop.
Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne’s Dandelions. It’s a time to share what you’re harvesting in your garden or how you’re using it.
