Harvest Monday - November 6, 2017

Last week I got caught up on the harvests that were left in the garden while I was away the previous week. And as I mentioned before there were still some colorful veggies left to harvest. The Terremoto squash vines were finished off by the heatwave that oppressed the area while I was gone so one of the first things I harvested were the remaining squash. And then the weather swung in a complete opposite direction to cold and wet so it was time to bring these inside to finish curing.

Terremoto Squash

Terremoto Squash

Terremoto squash comes in a variety of colors, some with green patterns on the skin, and I particularly like the green starburst on that one shown above. I cut into one of the squash that I harvested a few weeks ago. It was a large squash, enough to use for more than one meal. The flesh is dense, dark orange, and sweet. The first dish I prepared was a request by my husband Dave, Winter Squash in Agrodolce Sauce, which is traditionally panfried slices of squash that are served in a garlicky sweet and sour sauce that has a hint of cinnamon. I modified my usual preparation by roasting the squash slices in a preheated cast iron skillet which worked quite well for the 2 servings that I cooked up. If I needed to prepare more I would try roasting it on a larger baking sheet or go back to the stovetop method. It was a big hit, as usual, with my eat-in-chief. The second dish I prepared with another quarter of the squash was Farrotto with Roasted Squash and Chanterelles. I was very pleased with how that dish came out. Next in the lineup is a bean and squash medley with some Tarbai beans that I cooked up yesterday. I've got some homemade hominy in the freezer that I've going to add to the mix too.

Ometepe

The first big flush of Ometepe peppers was ready to harvest. These were the last sweet peppers to ripen but were well worth the wait. They are thin fleshed, crisp, and very sweet and I've been enjoying eating them simply sliced up raw or chopped into salads.

Rosso Dolce da Appendere

Rosso Dolce da Appendere is also a late producer so I got to pick a lot of them also.

Shepherd's Ramshorn

The rest of the sweet peppers gave up pretty much the last that they had to offer. That's the final harvest of Shepherd's Ramshorn shown above. Gogosar produced a number of nice peppers also but those plants still have a few more peppers left. The rest of the pepper varieties shown below are basically finished for the year.

Gogosar, Topepo Giallo, Florina, Turkish Sweet
Petite Marseillais, Ajvarski

The seasoning peppers are another story though.

Carribean Seasoning, Habanada

The Habanada plants are covered with ripening peppers. While the Carribean Seasoning plants have some ripe peppers they are far from being covered with them. Those just didn't do well. I guess they need something my garden doesn't offer because they set hardly any peppers. I wish they had done better because they are very aromatic and sweet with just a bit of heat, really very tasty. The Habanadas are sweet Habaneros and are totally devoid of any heat. They have a lingering fruity flavor but are not as aromatic as the Carribean Seasoning and I think they would be improved with a bit of heat. I've been snacking on them raw for lack of anything better to do with them.

There's a lot of Aji peppers ripening in the garden but I've just not yet gotten around to harvesting them. So next week will be Aji Week!

Jaune Flamme, Pantano, Jazz, Marzano Fire

Tomatoes are still trickling in but the short days and cooler weather have really slowed them down. There aren't even very may green fruits left on the vines so I think the harvests will soon be coming to an end.

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

Those Piccolo Dattero cherry tomatoes are still pretty productive though, especially considering that it's November! The remaining tomatoes are ripening very slowly but even the half ripe ones are very sweet and tasty.

Back to green things.

Tromba D'Albenga Squash

The Tromba D'Albenga vines are still big and healthy but are only producing an occasional squash. The vines seem to be really resistant to the powdery mildew which took down the Romanesco zucchini weeks ago. The plants also seem to shrug off both cold and hot weather. I think it will take a hard freeze to finally take them down. 

Italian Mountain Basil

Italian Mountain basil is adapted to colder climates so it tends to stick around longer in the fall than Genovese types. It still has some really good leaves even though it is in full bloom.

Batavia Broccoli, Broccolini

The old Batavia broccoli plants are still producing side shoots. I sowed the seeds for some of the plants that I'm currently harvesting from back on November 10, 2016. Those plants are actually more productive than the other plants that I'm harvesting from now that were sowed on April 20 of this year. The new Broccolini (Aspabroc) plants are producing some really beautiful shoots now also.

Speedy Arugula

And Speedy arugula is providing me with all the arugula that I need for now. The see-saw weather doesn't seem to have stressed it out, it just keeps on producing.

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.