Monday, June 20, 2011

Harvest Monday - a little variety!

Happy Monday!  Thank you Daphne for hosting Harvest Monday, a wonderful opportunity to see what gardeners are producing all around the world.

We had some variety from what we are able to use from the garden this week. Temps are warming up and the plants are loving it, well, some of them are. The tomatoes are plumping up nicely and we had a LOT this week. I'm trying to figure out canning recipes that highlight their yumminess. Have any?

Harvest for 6/13-6/20:
Cherokee Purple Tomatoes: 3 pounds 11 7/8 oz
Strip German Tomatoes: 13 oz
Broccoli: 7/8 oz
Fairy Tale Eggplant: 2 1/8 oz
Fava Beans: 1 3/4 oz
Strawberries: 1 3/4 oz


I managed to snap a picture of the strawberries before the boys gobbled them up.

The heirloom tomatoes are so delicious and yummy, but they do have a bad tendency to crack if they get too much water. But I think it's worth it for the flavor.

Our broccoli never got very large, and I should have picked it Saturday, but I forgot and it started to flower. Maybe it will be a better fall crop, because so far I am not in love with the space/output ratio.

We had our first home grown favas at dinner last night.  We each had 1 bean pod (I shared with Ryle who amazingly enough decided to try something! He didn't like it, but heck, he tried it!!!!) grilled with olive oil and salt and pepper. Delicious. The hubby said it was far better than the last time he had favas (store bought.... probably old and past their prime).  I can't wait for more to mature, and I will definitely try this out as a fall/winter plant.

12 comments:

  1. NIce harvest! I have yet to try a fava bean! But I need to.

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  2. I'm jealous of your tomatoes, cracks and all!! Oh and eggplant. I'm still dreaming! Still waiting for semi-warm weather here!

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  3. Those are giant fava beans! From the photo, it's as large as the eggplant. Wow. How cool that you are growing them. We have one fairy tale eggplant in the ground, but it's growing so so slowly. Do you have the plant in the ground or in a container pot? To answer your question on my blog, we are growing 40 bulbs. I plan to pull them this week, since the leaves are starting to turn brown. I'm not sure how many strawberry plants we have, but we have at least 20 or so. But they always send runners, so they multiply like crazy!

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  4. Novice - Thanks! This was our second attempt, last year the bunny ate them all before they were tall enough to flower.

    Holly - Soon, then you will wish it was cooler again =)

    Meems- Don't be jealous.... the eggplants are a tiny variety, maybe 3 inches long. It is in a pot, I think it's a 5 gallon pot? I need to grow more garlic next year so I can experiment with green garlic too.

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  5. Yum, yum! Those little eggplants are too cute. :)

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  6. I was trying hard to locate the fava beans and finally found it :) I had thought those were green eggplants! Nice harvest, and I'm loving your fairytale eggplants, mine are starting to flower, just two leaves though:)

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  7. Nice harvest, your fava beans are big, which variety is it?

    I just transplanted my fairytale eggplants into containers, they are kind of stressed out and root bounded, I don't expect much from them, just want to see couple fruits to satisfy my curiosity.

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  8. I'm growing CP tomatoes this year and they are loaded with green tomatoes and blossoms right now. Yours do look yummy!

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  9. Sometimes it is torture seeing those in warmer climates. I so wish for tomatoes right now. I know I won't get any for about a month, but I want them now. Next year I think I'm going to try for an early plant or two. I quit doing it years ago as too much work for the reward, but maybe I've changed my mind again.

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  10. Hanni - Thanks!

    RG - I kept hoping they would get bigger, but finally decided to pick them. We have a realy low yield on Favas so far this year. The fairy tales are soooo cute.

    Mac - They are just the Windsor variety from Botanical Interests. http://www.botanicalinterests.com/products/view/7305/Bean-Broad-Fava-Windsor-Heirloom-Seed/category:vegetables/filter:67

    The yield has been low, but it may be from the location I selected. The flavor was very good though. How is the flavor of the crimson favas? How large are you harvesting yours?

    Villager - Thanks! I am hoping to keep production up through the summer. I love the salad boxes you built this year!

    Daphne - As crazy as it is to imagine, I miss snow. So when I see photos my northern friends have of it, I long to go on a vacation to snow. But you have to be so much more diligent about starting plants when the weather is cold out than we do down here. I admire how disciplined you are!

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  11. Lovely tomatoes, I'm jealous, my plants have barely started to bloom.

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  12. Our tomatoes are coming on now, and we have strawberries galore (but then this is England and it's Wimbledon time!) but I envy you your broccoli and aubergine (eggplant) you lucky people!

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