Harvest Monday: November 20, 2017

We've had our first snowfall of the season. Which made me think I should pick this last bit of spinach in the greenhouse. So I'm done for the winter now, nothing left to harvest.  But had a nice spinach salad for lunch (bacon, hard-boiled eggs),

I'm looking forward to seeing what other gardeners have going on this time of year at Harvest Monday hosted by Our Happy Acres.

Also just to mention my neighbour's cat.  After my kitty Sugar Ray passed last year, I thought it might be OK to have bird feeders, but my neighbour kitty (pics from last week) has recognized the buffet opportunity.  This doesn't look look good for the bird population ...

Harvest Monday: November 6, 2017

It is so close to the end of the season here, but I might still have a goodie or two left in the garden for another week.  In the meantime, a dip in the temperature forced me to harvest all remaining (mostly unripe) peppers in the greenhouse (it isn't heated).  Most of these are Feher Ozon, with more Hungarian Hot Wax.  They were chopped up, along with what was left of the last pepper harvest, for a mixed sweet and hot pepper jam.

I also took the opportunity of a less rainy day (Saturday) to harvest the carrots and parsnips so I can wrap up that part of the garden for the year.  The carrots were mostly Nantes with a few mix coloured carrots for a total of 4.5 pounds.  The parsnips are Hollow Crown - not as rust-resistant as my previous type Albion but ended up with an okay batch of 2.5 pounds.

And a few days before a recent frost last week, I picked a big bunch of parsley.  It's been a pretty good season overall, and I look forward to tallying up the final results soon - pretty close to last year from what I can tell weight-wise, but I had much better luck with the summer squash and cukes this year so no surprise!

I will be popping over to Our Happy Acres to see what Dave and the Harvest Monday gang are doing this week ... you should check it out too!

Harvest Monday: October 30, 2017

Well, it's getting close to the end of the season but I do still have some carrots and parsnip to be harvested - maybe in a couple of weeks.  These peppers (which were planted in hay bales outside) were harvested about 10 days ago just before a frost.  And I picked another handful of Hungarian Hot Wax peppers from the greenhouse yesterday morning.  I have more Feher Ozon in the greenhouse, but I'm not sure how long they will hold out with some cooler weather forecast for later this week.  In the meantime, it is RAINING.  The forecast was for 100+ millimeters of rain between Sunday and Monday and I am quite sure that amount fell.

I will be popping over to Our Happy Acres to see what other gardeners have going on this week.

Harvest Monday: October 9, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!  And I hope everyone is enjoying some good treats from the garden.

This beautiful basil was made into a pesto that went straight into the freezer. I hope I can keep the plants alive for one last harvest, but they are rather more bare looking now than in the photo.

I've harvested some carrots and more peppers, with a bit more of each still in the garden.

There might be a bit more swiss chard to pick, but I harvested most of it as it is getting nibbled by something else.

I have shelled all of the dried beans but haven't tallied them up yet.  Will get to that soon.   I look forward to seeing what other gardeners around the world are doing in this beautiful Harvest Monday but stopping by Our Happy Acres.

Harvest Monday: October 2, 2017

I've been a bit busy with my day job, so haven't had much time to work in the garden until this weekend.  The forecast of frost last night thankfully didn't come to fruition as I couldn't be bothered to cover all of the flowers that are blooming (although I did put some plastic on the pepper plants).  Good news, as warmer weather should stick around for another couple of weeks - fingers crossed!

It 's the time for clean-up though. I pulled up the zapollito del tronco squash plant and was happily surprised to find a tromboncino as well!  I thought they were all harvested and eaten by now (an earlier harvest shown below used "pasta" style with shrimp a few weeks ago).

I thought the peppers in the greenhouse were done (most recent harvest shown below), but the recent heat wave has some of them flowering again.

I finally have some chard to eat!

And the final harvest of potatoes is dismal ... but it's something, right?!  I was hoping very several pounds to get me through the winter but this won't last a month.

I sure hope the weather lets me enjoy the Cosmos and other flowers for a few more weeks.

And I plan to pop by Our Happy Acres on this Harvest Monday to see what other gardeners around the world are doing this week.

Some Bee Action

My sunflowers have drooped over from the recent windstorm, but the flowers heads are still intact and still attracting the bees!  A bit wonky as I was still getting into place the first ten seconds or so but fun to try a video on my blog ...

Harvest Monday: September 11, 2017

I did not post last week as I was busy with the harvests.  I've harvested 48 pounds of veggies this past two weeks, almost as much as I've harvested the previous few months.  Of course, it's that time of year for cukes, zukes and such that tend to weigh more than, you know, radishes and greens. So I've had a few more tromboncino squash ...

This trombo managed to get inside a square container while growing

I used some of it to make a mock apple pie - this type of summer squash is perfect to replicate apples as it has a firmer texture than most zucchini, and I just added a bit more sugar to the recipe.  It's not intended to be healthier than regular apple pie, just helps to use up all of those squash!

I managed to pickle many of the cucumbers but did give quite a few away. I've also put up about 10 pounds of tomatoes with another few pounds waiting - mostly my red wine-herb tomato sauce or just plain tomatoes.  And more than a few sandwiches have been eaten.

And some pasta.

And I have 22 pounds of winter squash - I believe these are all Fordhook Acorn.

I was away in the spring and didn't start squash seeds indoors, so I took more than a dozen mixed seeds from the varieties I was planning on growing and scattered them around the garden space.  I didn't get any Waltham Butternut or any Spaghetti Squash.  But I got several of these (two more on the vines).  The only other thing they could possibly be are small versions of Dickinson pumpkins as I planted those as well, but that seems unlikely.  So these are shaped like the Fordhook Acorn shown by The Cottage Gardener, from whom I bought the seed.  It's just that they were supposed to be whitish, not full on orange?  Ah well.  I'm sure they'll be delicious either way.

And yesterday I pulled the few pathetic beets I had, and have started to harvest some carrots. I've picked another Tiara cabbage and there is just one more of those left in the garden.

Please pop by Our Happy Acres, where Dave graciously hosts the Harvest Monday postings, to see what other gardeners have going on this week.

Harvest Monday: August 28, 2017

Tromboncino squash

I spent four of the last five days at the LPGA tournament in Ottawa, pretty fun to watch some amazing ladies play golf!  So I have not spent much time in the garden.  And the little time I did spend was harvesting ... mostly cucumbers.  These are Spacemaster cukes.

I've pulled the cucumber plants as they were dying off and I now have about 15 pounds - guess I'm making pickles this year!  The picture above is only about half of what I now have in the kitchen.  And in the bottom left corner, you'll see a Sweet Dumpling, the first winter squash to be harvested.

And the main photo shows three more tromboncino squash - in the picture, you may see that two of them had started to sprout and one even has a blossom on its sprout!  One was sliced and grilled for dinner Sunday.

I've also harvested about 5 pounds of tomatoes.  Some (shown above, mostly forme de coeur) have already been processed into 3 litres of salsa, along with a few sweet peppers from last week.  And the rest will likely be canned as puree or as a pasta sauce - haven't decided yet.

And here's a link to the Harvest Monday collections hosted by Our Happy Acres.  I will pop on over there myself and see what other gardeners are doing this week!

Harvest Monday: August 21, 2017

OK well I have more of the same this week ... peppers and tomatoes.  The top row (L to R) are Ancho, Gypsy, King of the North and Corno di Toro.  Bottom row shows Hungarian Hot Wax peppers plus Hahms Gelbe and Andrina tomatoes with two small jalapenos below.

The Hungarian Hot Wax peppers are currently fermenting for a hot sauce.  The Ancho peppers have joined those from last week in the dehydrator.  The tomatoes went into a tortilla casserole with the last of the previous season's beans.

Plus more cucumbers and a couple of tromboncino squash.  And I've started to harvest the "drying" beans.  I've already had the Vermont Cranberry in the dehydrator to speed up the drying.

I've had a few more Forme de Couer tomatoes (literally translated as Heart Shape).

And as pitiful as they look, I decided to clean up the onion bed and pull just a few carrots.

I have also cleaned out a 4 x 4 bed of potatoes with very little to show for it.  Maybe 2 lbs?  Ugh, but I still have several grow bags with potatoes on the go.

And, as always, I look forward to seeing what other gardeners are harvesting or cooking this week by checking out Harvest Monday submissions hosted by Our Happy Acres.

Zucchini, Red Pepper and Duck Egg Strata

It's peak season for summer veggies and I've got plenty to choose from in the garden (or more to the point, sitting on my kitchen counter!).  This dish is versatile and can be served at any meal ... breakfast with a side of bacon, lunch with a salad or dinner alongside your favourite protein.

The veggie topping and choice of cheese can be changed with just about anything.  Maybe some onions and peppers with monterey jack cheese, or chopped broccoli and parmesan?  The version I've made here (zucchini and red pepper) would be good with blue cheese on top instead of the goat cheese.

Set oven to 400 degrees F.   Lightly oil a deep dish pie pan.

Whisk together in a bowl:

• 3 duck eggs (or 5-6 chicken eggs, you need about 1 cup of egg)
• 1 cup milk (I used almond milk, but regular 2% is fine)
• 2/3 cup aged cheddar or your choice of cheese
• 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper

Then add in:

• 4 cups of cubed bread (something crusty like a baguette).  

Mix together, then pour into the prepared pan and let sit.

Saute, olive oil, until softened:

• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 large red pepper, sliced (I used 2 corno di toro)
• 1 cup of zucchini, sliced into half-moons (I used the colourful Zapolitto del Tronco squash)
• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme, and salt & pepper

Arrange on top of the bread and egg mixture.  Dot with a bit of goat cheese. Bake about 25 minutes, until bread has puffed and browned.

Harvest Monday: August 14, 2017

OK well lots of things going on this week, although nothing new ... except garlic I guess.  The garlic was harvested weeks ago and has finally been dried and cleaned up for storage.

But back to the main events!  Tomatoes, potatoes, cukes, zukes and lots of peppers!   Plus cabbage. Busy day so I'm just showing some pics and will catch up on details later.  Looking forward to seeing what other gardeners are doing this week through Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.