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!