Cucumber harvest

Cucumber harvest has started, about 3 so far in the last few weeks.  The vines are fairly sparse at this point, but at least they are producing something.

Cabbage woe

Alas!  I'd been thinking I should really harvest that one gorgeous cabbage head.  And then this morning after a day of solid rain, what did I find but it suddenly split right open!  A deep crevice, and with a bonus little green worm easily visibly within.  I decided Scooter would enjoy this one more than I would.

Cucumber harvest has begun... but measly so far

Finally harvested the first cucumber today.  There appears to be one more which should be ready within a week or so.  There have been lots of male and female flowers, but not many takers.  Tried handpollinating at first several weeks ago, but for some reason couldn't get any pollen from the males.  Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

Brussels sprout -- first harvest!

Harvested 10 or so smallish Brussels sprouts.  Roasted them with oil, salt, and pepper.  Quite edible, actually.

However, the plant I harvested them from was so incredibly huge, that I decided to pull it after this harvest.  (Needed to make room for other stuff.)

Some of the other Brussels sprout plants are looking fairly promising, others not so much.

Peas almost all done

Pulled out 2/3 of the pea plants today, as their harvest had stopped and the vines were drying out.  The other 1/3 still have a few flowers/peas so I'll leave them a bit longer.

It was a pretty good pea harvest this year, after all that early season drama!  It's a mystery to me how I ended up with three types of peas when I thought they would all be sugar snaps.  Ended up with some snow peas, as well as some non-edible pod ones.

Soon will start a new batch indoors, in the hopes of a fall harvest!

Carrot harvest -- disappointing flavour!

Have harvested a handful of carrots so far.  All of them have been... pretty blah.  In fact, almost even bleh, not suitable for eating raw.  Bitter, and a bit woody.  Probably ok for hiding in muffins or whatnot although I haven't tried that yet.  Scooter has enjoyed that as much as ever, and Lucy likes them too, but me, not so much.

Past years they've been delectable -- so sweet, juicy, crispy.

Oh well!

The carrot seeds I broadcasted a few weeks ago are coming along, looking good, though of course still very small.  They were MUCHHHHHHH easier to thin this way, compared to the thickly sown rows I had done with the spring plantings.  Maybe this batch will taste better!

Zucchini update

The crazy huge, multi-directional, world's biggest zucchini plant next to the air conditioner, has produced quite a few male and female flowers over the past few weeks.  Some of the fruit appears to have taken (hand pollinating new females as they come up), but geez are they ever slow to grow; none harvested yet.

The normal sized plant next to the compost bin is doing well, has produced 3 or 4 nice zucchinis so far.  Today however, I had to pull one whose end had softened -- hope it's not a sign of squash vine borer already -- noooooooooo!!!!

The one in the pot as an experiment -- well, good thing it was just an experiment.  It's puny, and has produced only a few males, no females other than maybe a few which self-aborted at the tiniest size.  The few males  have come in handy on occasion for some females on the other plants.

The good type of pea flop

A great pea harvest this year!  The plants had gotten so tall, 2-3 feet over the top of the support, and loaded with ripening pods, that they finally flopped over a few days ago.  Good thing, as I was wondering how I was going to reach those 8 foot high pods!

So yes, in the thick of the pea harvest now, although near the end as there aren't many flowers left except for on the snow pea vines.  (I have no idea how I ended up with snow peas though!)

First zuke!

First zucchini harvested today!  Surprisingly it was from the smaller plant next to the compost bin.  That plant seems to have put everything into that one zucchini; all of the others are teency.

The other, huge plant by the air conditioner has some promising ones that I'm hoping have taken.  (I helped out along the way.) 

Peas!!!!!

Yes, that's right!!!!  A pea harvest!!  After such a roller coaster ride, they're here, they're really here!

Lots on the way, but so far have harvested just a dozen or so, spread out over the past week, and shared with the dogs of course.  Most of the plants are well over the top of the frame now; I assume they will flop over at some point given the lack of support up there.

One pea plant died.  I noticed the leaves were dried up and it was wilted; checked the root, and I was able to pull it right out with hardly any effort.  Hope it's nothing contagious!

The peas I've had so far, while I won't dare complain, mostly weren't particularly sweet.  I wonder if I'm picking them a bit too soon.  The plumpest one was the sweetest one, so will try to be a bit more patient to see if that's the key.

Radishes, bleh!

The radishes sown on May 21st are mostly all harvestable now.  I tried one the other day and was promptly reminded why I don't grow, buy, or eat radishes!  So, these will go to my dad. 

Lettuce out; carrots in

Harvested the leftover lettuce tonight, will it up for falafels.  There was lots of it, and even though it didn't seem to have gone to seed yet, I hadn't eaten any in a long time.  I'm just not a lettuce person, I guess!

So, in went another round of carrots.  This time I broadcasted the seeds instead of putting them in little rows that needed major thinning and still resulted in gaps here and there.  I think this way will work better, with less thinning.

Harvest: Kale, chard, bok choi

Just like the title says.

For the kale, tried a new recipe.  Kale salad (i.e. chopped kale) with a great chickpea dressing.  So easy, and pretty good!  I omitted the suggested "potato croutons" out of laziness, but will try them sometime.

Used the chard and choi for my tofu / yellow pepper rice dish.