Harvest Monday - October 16, 2017

It's mid-October and the last varieties of tomato and sweet pepper to ripen have finally joined the party in the harvest basket. I thought for a while that the Jazz tomato plant hadn't even set any tomatoes but it was when I was in the process of whacking the vines down because of their failure to produce that I discovered some very green tomatoes lurking in the tangle of greenery so I stopped whacking and waited to see if they would amount to anything. I'm glad I waited because that first tomato turned out to be very tasty. Ometepe set plenty of peppers but they really take their good old sweet time ripening. Again, it's been worth the wait. The peppers have a medium thick flesh that is very sweet. Ometepe peppers are a good size too, about as large as a small bell pepper.

Jazz Tomato and Ometepe Pepper

Another first glimpse...

Hopi Greasy Head Corn
Taos Red Beans

That's about half the ears of Hopi Greasy Head flour corn that I rescued from the rodents. The Taos Red beans have colorful pods as well as beans. You'll get to see the shelled dry beans later.

Mareko Fana

The two year old Mareko Fana plant has produce more peppers this year than last year. It will be more than enough to restock my supply of pepper flakes.

Baby Aji Amarillo

The two year old Baby Aji Amarillo plant produced enough peppers to make a batch of pepper jam, which I haven't gotten around to making yet.

Unnamed Turkish Sweet

The Turkish pepper has some very nice specimens ripening now. Growing the plant in a cage made for a lot of wonky shaped peppers so I'm looking forward to growing them again next year and giving them room to spread their branches out so that the peppers are more straight. I'll have more than enough seeds to be able to grow this pepper again in years to come.

Florina, Petite Marseillais, Topeop Giallo,
Gogosar, Rosso Dolce da Appendere

For the latest harvest of sweet peppers I had no time to photograph each variety by itself so here's a group shot.

Marzano Fire

Marzano Fire has totally exceeded my expectations. The plant started off quite spindly and seemed rather week and it never did get to be a large plant, but it is producing a lot of really nice tomatoes. I plan on turning these into more tomato paste.

Pantano

Pantano is another favorite. It's a basic red beefsteak from Italy that is well adapted to my climate.

Jaune Flamme

Good old Jaune Flamme starts early and keeps on going...

Sweet Gold, Sunrise & Purple Bumble Bee,
Green Bee, Piccolo Dattero

The Sweet Gold cherry tomato plant is petering out, which is a surprise because it usually produces prolifically through the fall. The Bee cherry tomatoes haven't been prolific but it's been nice to have a variety of colors and actually it's kinda nice to not be overwhelmed with a glut. On the other hand I'm really happy to have a glut of Piccolo Dattero tomatoes since they are my favorite. I love this one so much that I'm growing 2 plants instead of the usual 1 apiece because I didn't get enough last year.

Pink Plume Celery and Green Fingers Cucumber

The celery is finally large enough that I can cut stalks on a regular basis. There's a few cucumbers still trickling in too but not for long, the plants are looking pretty tired.

Tromba D'Albenga

Tromba D'Albenga is a reliable producer through the fall. The plants don't produce a lot of squash but I'm getting 2 or 3 nice ones every week which is plenty.

Rice Stuffed Peppers Turkish Style

This dish was too pretty to not attempt to take a photo of it. It's based on a Turkish recipe from the book Eat Istanbul (thanks Jane for inspiring me to buy the book). The recipe called for green bell peppers which I hate so I used some Gogosar and Topepo Giallo peppers instead.

Other harvests this week included a few heads of Manoa lettuce and more side shoots of Batavia broccoli. I also didn't get around to photographing the latest harvests of Ethiopian Brown, Shepherd's Ramshorn, and Lady Bell peppers. The birds have been pecking at the Shepherd's Ramshorn and Lady Bell peppers which is why I didn't photograph them.

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.