Harvest!

[Jenise]

I just dug up my potatoes. I have several baking size but most are probably in the tennis ball category. Since I didn't plant them on purpose, it was a fun surprise to find out what kind I had--any variety would have been as welcome as the other, but these are clearly russet. I am resisting the temptation to go put one in the oven right now so clearly did all of you make the point about the exquisite treat that is a truly fresh potato.

I also went looking for the purple cherokee tomato that should be ripening about now and found that it had indeed already ripened and become bug dinner. Damn, that's disappointing but still, it counts as a ripe tomato in July and that's a new record for my garden.

What's going on in your garden?

I ate my first Cherokee Purple late last week. Cut a 1" slice, seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, between two slices multigrain bread with a slice of aged cheddar. Mmmmmmm!!!

I was kind of ill all Spring, so I didn't get my tomatoes in until very late--so no 'maters yet. I did harvest lots of shallots and several types of garlic. Pretty soon my Catawissa onions should be ready for harvesting (boy, do they look weird). I stuck an artichoke in the ground. And I have some Indian corn coming up. Wait 'til next year!

No tomatoes, we couldn't start planting until too late in the season. Basil died quickly. Sage is barely holding its own. Jalapeños doing OK. Wax beans and peas are growing like weeds, the only bright spots. My poor fig tree is unhappy.

I really do have a black thumb.

[Robin Garr]

What's going on in your garden?

It's been kind of a scary year with a lot of bugs (it's tough to grow organic in the fecund South, even the northern edge of the South), and was also a weird year with a very early record spring (late February, early March) followed by a freak freeze in April so bad that it actually nipped a lot of the just-opened leaves off the trees. Fortunately they came back. Then weird spells of near-drought followed by drenching storms and more drought.

For a while there it looked like we weren't going to have a garden, but everything bounced back and at this point we're having the earliest and most bountiful harvest ever. We got the first tomatoes around June 20 (usually on or after July 4 is more normal) and are now bringing them in by the bucket - Romas, Boxcar Willies and giant "Super Steaks." Summer squash are also coming in so bountifully that we're giving them to the neighbors. Those are about our only veggies this year except for all the herbs that we grow every year - basil and parsley planted new, and tarragon, sage, rosemary, thyme and oregano coming back from the same plants year after year. And all sorts of flowers, from daisies and black-eyed susans to heirloom roses.

Conditions have been so strange up to now that I'm not making any plans for meals based on the garden beyond each week. An August freeze? Could happen! But while it lasts, it's incredible.

The buttery yellow summer squash have been exceptional for the past month. I've picked them as babies and sauteed slightly with baby carrots (purchased) and a little butter. The mature plants (about 6-8" long) have been superior when sauteed with butter, oil, shallot and mushrooms and a supson of Worstershire. Had my first beefstakes (the first two ripened at the same time) with a balsamic reduction and stilton on Sunday. The green zebras should be ready in about 2 weeks. Ate the first harvest of blue lake bush beans (got about a pound from 12 plants) last Wednesday night. Sauteed 'til tender-crisp and tossed together with roasted chicken, cherry tomatoes, arugula, pine nuts, sour dough croutons and pesto (last year's harvest) vinaigrette. Sage and thyme are doing spectacularly well -- but the basil whimped out early!

Don't try to cook the purple potatoes with tomatoes or anything else acidic. They never get soft when you do.

This is the first garden at the new house and I am very happy with the progress. It was sighted on the southwest curve of the lot and gets sun the entire day. I have been harvesting zucchini blossoms and small zucchini for weeks. Trellised oriental cucumbers have also been very prolific. Roman beans are nearly ready and purple bean plants look like flowers with so many blossoms. Lots of arugula, spinach, tatsoi, swiss chard and lollo rosso lettuce. A few cherry tomatoes, one plum tomato ripe so far but tons of green ones. Jalapeno pepper plant has about a dozen very large peppers . I'm waiting for them to start turning red before picking. One fig tree has 8 figs growing steadily. The Meyer lemon has about 3 dozen tiny lemons - hope they hold. Keffir lime leaves too beautiful to pick. Made 3 sour cherry pies from 2 trees I planted last year.

I am going to double the size of the beds next year and hope the bounty continues. Gardening and cooking - my main relaxations.