Harvest Monday - September 5, 2016

This week is a catch up post to cover the past two weeks because Dave and I took off on a hiking trip for a few days and I didn't have time to do a post last week. We are still waiting for "summer" weather to show up here on the California Central Coast. It's been foggier than usual and I can't really even remember the last day the temperature topped 80ºF (27ºC). In spite of that the tomatoes are ripening and all but one of the varieties that I'm growing have finally found their way into the harvest basket.

The latest tomato harvest included the first Orange Jazz, Chianti Rose, and Pantano (the split one) tomatoes. The only variety I haven't harvested yet is Pomme d'Amour but that will happen soon.

Orange Jazz

The brown tomato above is the first Mavritanskite tomato this year.

L to R - Etiuda, Lady Bell, Rosso Dolce da Appendere
Florina

Looks can be deceiving, those peppers look pretty in the photo above, but all of them except the small green one had been attacked by bugs where they touched the soil. The small green one was a Turkish Pimento that I accidentally knocked off the plant. The peppers weren't completely spoiled so I was able to use most of them. The one surprise was the Florina pepper which is supposed to be sweet but that one was spicy.

Bonica and Sicilian eggplants

The first Bonica eggplant was ready to harvest and the first Sicilian from the second of my two plants was also ready. I sliced and grilled both of them and used them to make one of Dave's favorite dishes, sort of a cross between Eggplant Parmesan and Lasagne, I layer the grilled eggplant with tomato sauce, ricotta, Parmesan, and Prosciutto and bake it.

The Romanesco zucchini was productive over the last two weeks, here's a sample of the harvests along with a trickle of Mouse Melons and cucumbers.

I have found that I like the ripe Mouse Melons which have a more full flavor and less tang than the "green" ones. The way to tell when they are ripe is when they fall off the vines (they look the same) so those are the ones I've been harvesting lately.

One of the zucchini got to be quite large while Dave and I were away on a short hiking trip. I used the big zuke and a few other larger ones to make a new batch of Zucchini Sott'olio (Preserved Zucchini). 

I harvested the first Tromba d'Albenga squash and the first head of Calabrese broccoli. And then the final harvests of Apollo brokali and Batavia broccoli from the winter sown plants.

Apollo Brokali

Batavia Broccoli

I also harvested a big bunch of Batavia broccoli from the summer plants but I didn't have time to photograph it.

Golden Gate Beans

The pole beans started to produce. First the Golden Gate beans.

Brinker Carrier, Golden Gate, Rattlesnake Beans

And then the Brinker Carrier beans were ready to harvest in a big way while the Rattlesnake beans started to trickle in. Those two photos look pretty similar but they are separate harvests. The Brinker Carrier beans are like the Rattlesnake beans in that they are a multi-purpose bean, good as a snap, shell, or dry bean. Some of the first beans I harvested got to be fairly large while I was away but they were still excellent. I stewed the first harvest in a tomato sauce and the meaty beans stood up well to that preparation.

Brinker Carrier, Golden Gate, Rattlesnake Beans

Another harvest last week was some ripe but green fennel seeds.

I harvest my fennel seeds in the same way I do coriander seeds, when they are fully developed and just on the verge of drying on the plant, they are more flavorful when harvested green.

Exhibition onions

I also cleaned up another Exhibition onion, this one had split 4 ways but it/they were still really nice onions after I trimmed and separated them.

Exhibition Onions

Yellow Spanish Utah

And I pulled another Yellow Spanish Utah onion off the curing rack. This one had bolted and isn't a keeper so I trimmed it and used it right away.

Other harvests that didn't get photographed were more celery, and lots of lettuce. I cleaned out the lettuce patch the day we left for our hiking trip and stuffed the refrigerator. I didn't even weigh it since we were in a rush to get out the door and on the road for the 350 mile drive. I did weigh most of the heads after we got back so those ones are in the tally but a few of the heads went to a neighbor before we left.

So once again I will mention the ongoing Soberanes Fire, now on day 46. The burned area passed the 100,000 acre point yesterday. We are safe here, but I know a few of you are concerned about the Tassajara Zen Center. The last I read was that the fire is about 2.5 miles away but perhaps within about a mile now. The staff that has stayed at the center has had fire fighting training but no actual experience. I do believe that professional  crews have been helping to reinforce containment lines around the center but it's questionable that they will stick around to help fight the fire when it gets there. More next week...

So here's the details of the harvests for the past two weeks:

Brinker Carrier beans - 1.9 lb.
Golden Gate beans - 1.5 lb.
Rattlesnake beans - 2.5 oz.
Batavia broccoli - 3.3 lb.
Calabrese broccoli - 1.3 lb.
Apollo brokali - 11 oz.
Pink Plume celery - 1.7 lb.
Green Fingers cucumbers - 1.4 lb.
Mouse Melons - 3.8 oz.
Bonica eggplant - 1.1 lb.
Sicilian eggplant - 14.6 oz.
Little Rosebud Romaine Mix lettuces - 3 lb.
Manoa Crisphead lettuces - 3 lb.
Exhibition onions - 2.5 lb.
Yellow Spanish Utah onion - 1.2 lb.
Etiuda pepper - 12.2 oz.
Florina pepper - 4.1 oz.
Lady Bell pepper - 9.5 oz.
Turkish Pimento pepper - 2.3 oz.
Rosso Dolce da Appendere pepper - 5.2 oz.
Camp Joy cherry tomatoes - 14 oz.
Chianti Rose tomatoes - 1.5 lb.
Jaune Flamme tomatoes - 4.4 oz.
Lime Green Salad tomatoes - 2.3 lb.
Mavritanskite tomatoes - 13.8 oz.
Orange Jazz tomato - 1.1 lb.
Pantano tomatoes - 10.6 oz.
Piccolo Dattero cherry tomatoes - 12.7 oz.
Sweet Gold cherry tomatoes - 1.7 lb.
Romanesco zucchini - 7.8 lb.
Tromba d'Albenga squash - 4.3 lb.

Total harvests for the past two weeks - 49.26 lb. (22.3 kg.)
2016 YTD - 503.5 lb. (228.4 kg.)

Harvest Monday is hosted by Dave on his blog Our Happy Acres, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.