Monday, July 24

I was hoping to post midweek, but my 10 yr old Canon point and shoot camera finally gave up the ghost.  The new camera is the lowest price Kodak that Walmart had, but it does everything I need, actually better than the old camera.   It took a few days to get used to it.  There are a whole lot of features that I will never use (it's a point and shoot camera after all) but I've finally learned how to set it up for basic picture taking without the distracting bells and whistles.

It was a really good harvest this week, as one would expect for late July, but most of it was not captured.  The burlap bag of Yukon Gold potatoes was emptied.  Only 2 1/2 pounds, but the quality was good.  There were pole beans, of course, although they seem to be taking a breather - a little under 3 pounds.  Sweet corn began coming in last week, and I've been picking an ear or two every day.  Okra continues producing at a trickle, one or two pods a day.  The Mountain Magic tomatoes began ripening, and I've been getting a few every day to have with dinner. 

Last week I pulled up the yellow onions and put them on the screen to dry.   A number of them were lost during transplanting.  There won't be the 25 pound harvests of years past, but there's still some nice globes in there.  Next year I will definitely plant the Red Tropea onions again, they are really good for summer use while the storage onions dry.

On Friday I picked two fine eggplants, a Lavendar Touch and a thin Bride, as well as a Jimmy Nardello pepper, a Magyar paprika, a Millionaire okra, Mountain Magic tomatoes.  and some corn (not shown).  The corn was shucked halfway, leaving the inner leaves, and put in the center of the charcoal grill and turned for a few minutes until slightly charred, then moved out to the edges.  I put pork chops in the center of the grill and sliced eggplant marinated in a vinagrette, as well as the sweet peppers, on the edges along with the corn.   Everything finished at the same time, and it was delish.

Sunday I picked a dozen ears of sweet corn and froze it.  This is Bodacious, an early sugar enhanced corn.  The ears are a bit small, but it has deep full kernels and it's very tasty.

And Sunday night I picked the first Black Plum tomatoes, along with more Mountain Magic.

It was time to do a taste comparison.  The Mountain Magic is reputed to have excellent flavor, although I don't find it any better than many of the popular hybrids.   Still, it's not mediocre, like some of the newer varieties I've tried like Grandma's Pick.  It's good but not great.  The Black Plum is a Russian tomato, with a flavor like Black Krim.  The flavor is hard to describe.  It's a mellow, low-acid taste that I like very much.  It's not bright or fruity.  When I'm inundated with them, it should be good for making salsa.

The Fish pepper has gotten so large that I broke off a branch walking down the paths.  I don't know if these peppers are fully ripe.  They are supposed to be about 5 times hotter than Jalapenos, but I tried one this morning and don't think it's any hotter than the Jalapenos that I'm growing this year, which are hotter than average Jalapenos.  I think it will find some use in making salsa.  It's a striking plant with the white stripes on the leaves and pods.

Here's a summary of the week's harvest:

• Snap beans  1.6 pounds
• Carrot  0.5 pounds
• Sweet corn  6.6 pounds
• Pickling cucumber 1.9 pounds
• Eggplant 1.6 pounds
• Okra  0.5 pounds
• Peppers  0.6 pounds
• Potatoes  2.8 pounds
• Tomatoes 1.5 pounds
• 17.5 pounds total

All in all, a little bit of everything.   I'm already making plans to handle the glut of tomatoes that will soon arrive.   To see what other gardeners are growing, head on over to Our Happy Acres and check it out.