Monday, August 20, 2012

Harvest Monday - August 20, 2012

The weather warmed up a bit in the past week, we had a high temperature of about 87°F one day and then the rest of the time the highs ranged between there and about 70°. The low temperatures stayed at 50°F or above until last night when it slipped down to 49°F. For the most part the vegetable garden has responded by pumping out the produce.


The Neckarkönigin beans starting coming in and I've been harvesting some nearly every other day. These are a large bean, somewhat flattened, very meaty and beany flavored. They cook up tender even when the beans start getting oversized.



The Pimento de Padrons are starting to produce.



And the zucchini and cucumber plants keep producing a few fruits every couple of days.



More zucchini and cucumbers. The small Green Fingers Persian cucumbers have turned out to be good to take on a hike for a refreshing snack.



Finally! The first tomatoes were ready to harvest. And the Apollo broccoli plants keep pushing out a few more little shoots, every time I think there's nothing left to harvest I see another few shoots coming on so I've not pulled the plants out yet.



These tomatoes are Fiaschetto, an Italian plum variety from Puglia, and Jaune Flamme, an heirloom from France. Not photographed were the first Sunshine cherry tomatoes and the first Wheatly's Frost Resistant cherry tomato.



More cucumbers, zucchini, Padrons, and broccoli.



I continue to harvest green coriander seeds to dry, these won't be included in the harvest totals until they are dry.



Here's a batch of Pimento de Padrons ready to devour. These peppers are best when harvested very young, no larger than my thumb and preferably smaller, the larger they get the more likely they are to be spicy. I pan fry them in a generous amount of olive oil, sometimes with a smashed garlic clove thrown in, then they are served hot with a sprinkle of coarse sea salt. You eat everything but the stem.



Last night I made a quick saute of green beans, zucchini, sweet corn, onion and pancetta, seasoned with cumin and cilantro. I topped each portion with a couple of eggs cooked over easy and sprinkled with sweet smoked Spanish paprika (pimenton). It was somewhat like a vegetable hash topped with eggs. Delicious! Another night I sauteed some of the green beans with shredded duck confit and tossed in some chunks of tomato at the end just to heat them through. That was very good also. (What's not good with either pancetta or duck confit?) And another night I used part of the bounty of beans by braising them with butter and added tomatoes and basil when they were tender. Those were served with some Sand Dabs that I panfried in butter and served with a pan sauce of pine nuts, capers, and lemon juice.

I harvested enough capers this week to put my total harvest just a nudge over 3 pounds. That's a full pound more than I was able to harvest last year which was one of the coolest summers in years. Three pounds is enough to get me through the next year so I'm going to let the plants bloom and set berries so that I can save some seeds and perhaps preserve a few caper berries as well.

Here's the harvest totals for the past week:

Neckarkönigin green beans - 4 lb., 2.4 oz.
Apollo broccoli - 5.3 oz.
Capers - 1.6 oz.
Green Fingers Persian cucumbers - 1 lb., 10 oz.
Tasty Green Japanese cucumbers - 1 lb., 5.2 oz.
Pimento de Padron peppers - 1 lb., 1.5 oz.
Fiaschetto tomatoes - 7.1 oz.
Jaune Flamme tomato - .8 oz.
Sunshine cherry tomatoes - 3.2 oz.
Wheatly's Frost Resistant cherry tomato - .2 oz. (yes, only one, but it counts!)
Da Fiore zucchini - 2 lb., 10.4 oz.

The total harvests for the week came to - 11 lb., 15.7 oz
Which brings the yearly total to - 109 lb., 7.7 oz. (I finally broke 100!)

My harvests this year are far below what they were last year (which was a down year because of cold weather and rats), but that's because I was rebuilding the garden beds over the course of the spring and even now I've not yet had the last bed rebuilt which will keep the autumn totals down because I don't have space to grow winter squash, cabbages, and beets. I had zero harvests in March and April and only caper harvests in May. The garden started producing again in June for a total of 14 pounds of produce that month. July I harvested almost 34 pounds and the harvests for August are up to 26 pounds so far. Next year I'm looking forward to a full year with the four big beds in full production, weather and rats permitting.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne on her blog Daphne's Dandelions, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.

29 comments:

  1. Those zucchini are beautiful! I think I'd be totally demoralized by rats. Snails are bad enough...

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    1. I'm not sure which would be worse, thank goodness I don't have to battle both!

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  2. I am looking forward to having some sautéed pimento de patron this summer. In the past We have only had a few peppers at a time, but this year we added 4 more plants and are eagerly awaiting some yummy tapas! Thank you for sharing this great recipe or style of preparation! Beautiful harvest as always.

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    1. It's hard to have too many Padrons! I have 8 plants producing this year, which should be more than enough.

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  3. Pimento de Padrons - what a beautiful and exotic name. What type are the zucchini? (this coming from someone who isn't even sure what type she is growing). I checking a new italian seed catalog that I've never seen before and did not realize how many different zukes there are over here. Apart from growing capers and more different types of hot peppers next year, I'd like to try more variety in zucchini. Atleast if they produce like gangbusters, I can pass some off to the neighbors.

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    1. The zucchini are da Fiore, they are supposed to produce more male blossoms than female, but I haven't noticed any more male blossoms than other types of zucchini. The seeds came from Franchi Seeds. The peppers are from Franchi also.

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  4. Those are some wonderful harvests. And your meals sound wonderful too.

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  5. Nice harvest. Just right for a family meal or two.

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  6. Great harvest! I haven't heard of those beans before. I love Shishito peppers, which are similar ro padrons. Yum!

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    1. Shishitos are good too, but I keep coming back to Padrons, they are my first love so far as little frying peppers go.

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  7. your baskets look beautiful and full!

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  8. As always, Michelle, beautiful and inspiring! And, I never fail to feel a sense of shock when I realize how different our climates are. We've been hovering around 100 for over a week now. The green beans are long gone here, but the yardlongs are going gangbusters in this heat. We just ate a pile sauteed in bacon fat with purple onion. Mmmmm.

    I can't believe how many pounds of caper buds you produce. That's amazing!

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    1. I don't know why, but we've managed to avoid all the heat waves this summer. Actually, it seems like July and August have been foggier and cooler than usual, although not as cold as last year. The capers have enjoyed the slightly warmer weather, although I did move the potted ones to a spot next to a somewhat south facing wall so they are happier this year.

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  9. That's a fascinating post Michelle. I use a lot of capers in my cooking, so I will be giving them a go sometime soon. I also find the padrons really interesting, so might try them too. Thanks for the detail on how you cook them.

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    1. I hope your caper plant connection comes through! It will be fun to see what you cook up with them. Oh yes, do give the Padrons a try, they are addictive.

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  10. I am intrigued by your Pimento de Padrons! I'm growing Shishitos for the first time this year and love them, but I might have to try these guys out, too :-) Maybe next year...

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    1. You have to try the Padrons, I think they are even better than the Shishitos. Yum!

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  11. I love reading your blog posts just to drool over the various dishes you come up with using the produce of your garden and some interesting additions. I would never have thought to make a "vegetable hash" with eggs but it sounds like it was quite gourmet and delicious. I need some of your excellent cooking skills and creativity to rub off on me.

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    1. I've read your posts about what you cook up with the goodies from your garden and it sounds like you eat quite well! It really helps me that my husband is quite an adventurous but non-fussy eater, he'll eat just about anything I put in front of him, from zero effort to pull out all the stops cooking.

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  12. Everything is beautiful, Michelle. Dinner at your place sounds wonderful, do you have trouble getting people to come to the table? I like the idea of the Pedron peppers. I will have to try those once I figure out how to grow peppers at all in my raised beds.

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    1. Generally, no problems getting friends to accept dinner invites! We even have one friend who doesn't eat "green" things but he'll eat or at least try any green veggie that I serve him. You do have to try Padrons, they even do well in large containers. The beauty of growing them is that you harvest the peppers very immature so that the plant doesn't need a long growing season or heat to ripen, and they just keep pumping out the little peppers.

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  13. ooooh! I just this year learned of duck confit! And I have several Muscovy drakes that are destined to become some! Lovely harvest, even if you are down a bit from last year; just think, you'll be all set for record breaking harvests next year.

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    1. Oh, duck confit! What is not to love about it? I'm not sure which I love more, duck confit or bacon, they both make just about anything you pair them with even better. I am looking forward to putting all my beds into full production next year.

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  14. I think we've had Padrons for almost every dinner since I got back -- and I ate last night's leftovers for breakfast! Your harvests look great.

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    1. Breakfast! I bet the Padrons would be good in a frittata...

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  15. michelle, your harvest is jealous to me. You had good harvest. keep it up.

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  16. Lovely looking Neckarkönigin beans, where did you source those from?

    Everything looks lovely as always

    Here in southern Cal I've had padrons for 2-3 months now and really love them. However the last lot i fried up were pretty much all hot, i think the result of a spell of hot weather. Having just got back from a 3 week holiday most of my padrons have now turned red and i expect they would blow your socks off, i'll have to try, have you noticed them getting hotter later in the season and ever tried a red one.

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    1. I got the bean seeds when I was on vacation, I don't know of a US source for them.

      You are probably right about the hot spell making the Padrons spicy, stressed plants will generally produce hotter peppers. And Padrons get hotter the longer they stay on the plants, the red ones will probably be quite spicy and I don't think that they taste as good as the green ones. If they were my plants I would strip all but the tiniest peppers off the plant and start anew, perhaps give the plants a shot of fertilizer. You should be able to harvest peppers through the autumn if you don't let any peppers ripen and stay on the plants.

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    2. Thanks for the reply, I think I'll take your advice about the padrons, haven't plucked up the courage to fry a red padron yet.
      After much searching I think I may have found a source for the beans from Sandhill Preservation
      http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/catalog/bean.html#pole
      Although looks like its unavailable for this year but hoping they are around for next, might order the Neckar gold and try those as well.

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