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Monday, July 16, 2018

Harvest Monday - July 16, 2018

There's one new thing in the harvest basket this week, cucumbers. Harvests are looking slightly more summery. The 7082 Experimental cucumber is a new variety that comes from breeding efforts to bring back flavor to cucumbers by exploring bitter compounds that naturally occur in cucumbers. The breeders believe that some bitterness enhances both flavor and disease and pest resistance in the plants. I thought perhaps that I may have left the cucumbers on the vine a bit too long and was afraid that they might be too bitter, but that turned out not to be a problem, there's was just a little bitterness in the stem end of the one that I've eaten so far. The Green Fingers cucumber is a bit wonky from the nibblings of sowbugs but is otherwise just fine.

7082 Experimental and Green Fingers Cucumbers

More beets were ready to pull. I got two beauties and one scarred ugly thing but they all tasted great. The beets have been very slow to size up but have made up for their slowness by being very sweet and flavorful. I roasted and peeled the beets and served them with grilled romano beans and grilled sweet onions all topped with dollops of Burrata cheese and a drizzle of basil oil.

Renee's Golden Beets

A Ruby Streaks mizuna plant volunteered in the pepper patch and was getting to be large enough to compete with the pepper plants so I cut it down. Most of the Orion fennel was bolting so I cut it down too.
Ruby Streaks Mizuna
Orion Fennel

More Tromba D'Albenga squash and the last of the Batavia Broccoli side shoots for now and perhaps for good.

Tromba D'Albenga Squash
Batavia Broccoli

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.


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8 comments:

  1. DenverJuly 16, 2018 at 12:24 PM

    I'm glad to hear about the 7082 cucumber. I love all the plants I've tried out of the Cornell breeding program, but that website is...a lot. I'm a very bourgie person, but that's verrrry bourgie. It's nice to see real people trialing those varieties.

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  2. Dave @ HappyAcresJuly 16, 2018 at 2:24 PM

    I planted one of the 7082's in the greenhouse but for whatever reason it didn't take off and produce. So I sowed it again outside to try for a fall crop. Now I have an idea of what to expect. Looks like your trombas are off to the races! So far I have managed to keep mine on the trellis but it has taken almost daily coaxing to keep it in bounds.

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  3. Eight Gate Farm NHJuly 16, 2018 at 2:56 PM

    That's very interesting about the 7082 Experimental cucumber...sounds very space-age!

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  4. ShaheenJuly 17, 2018 at 9:59 AM

    the onion fennel is new to me, what does it taste like ? a combo of both onion and fennel

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    Replies
    1. MichelleJuly 19, 2018 at 7:48 AM

      I think you misread, it's Orion not onion, that's the variety name. Just plain old basic fennel.

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  5. Sue GarrettJuly 18, 2018 at 2:58 PM

    We grow Mini Munch lunch box sized cucumbers which are not at all bitter

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  6. MargaretJuly 20, 2018 at 6:39 AM

    It's cucumber season! That's an interesting experiment, adding back bitterness that's been bred out - other than the bitter end, did you find a difference in flavour in the rest of the cucumber compared to "regular" cucumbers?

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  7. KathyJuly 21, 2018 at 8:51 AM

    The rest of us try hard not to have any bitterness in the cucumbers we grow, so interesting to see it being bred back in, to some extent! We are growing Zeina this year which is about six inches long, and so far seems prolific. Enjoy reading what others are growing so thanks for sharing

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