Harvest Monday September 9, 2024

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Our drought conditions persist here, and we’ve gotten no significant rain in over a month. The summer vegetables are withering in the heat, and I’m concentrating on keeping the fall crops alive until it cools down and we finally get some rain. Meanwhile, I am still getting a good amount of veggies in the harvest basket – including beans, hot peppers and eggplant last week.

early September harvest

I also got a good harvest of tomatoes, including one variety I’m trialing called Strawberry Fields. The jury is still out on this one, but since 2024 has been a challenging year here for tomatoes I might give it another shot next year. I’m just not sure it is an improvement over the other red slicing tomatoes I grow, including Better Boy, Damsel and Garden Treasure. Juliet, on the other hand, is a long time favorite and is still pumping out loads of fruit. I dehydrated most of this batch.

Strawberry Fields tomatoes

Juliet tomatoes

I got almost a pound of the Lazy Wife Greasy beans. One catalog description explains the name: “One of the largest of all the greasy varieties, it’s called Lazy Wife because the gardeners (who were traditionally the women of the family) could wait longer to harvest and get more food per harvest as these beans are just that big. ” It’s definitely one of the biggest of the heirloom beans I grow, and also has great flavor.

Lazy Wife Greasy beans

I also found a couple more of the mature Centercut squashes. We use these “neck” pumpkins mostly in pies and other sweet treats, although they can also stand in for butternut squash in savory dishes.

mature Centercut squashes

The hot peppers are still coming in, well, HOT and heavy! I got a good haul of jalapenos last week, including a lot of green ones. I’m hoping to turn those into a fresh green hot sauce. And I got a big harvest of the no-heat Aji Delight pepper, along with a few guajillos for drying and turning into chile powder.

jalapeno peppers

assorted Aji peppers

And last but not least, our hardy hibiscus plants are still giving us a few blooms. Midnight Marvel is lighting up the sunny perennial border, and the reddish purple foliage is pretty even when it’s not blooming. And of course the blooms are huge!

Holy Grail hibiscus

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!




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