Pages

Monday, July 1, 2013

Finally some Variety

It's been a tough slog with the summer squash so far.  The first plants seeded in mid May died in June.  They were a Burpee's yellow variety, can't remember the name.  Not to worry, I had seeded a backup plant a few weeks later.  A few weeks ago I seeded more backup plants, this time an Italian squash (can't remember that name either.  I'm writing this post at a coffee shop).  Good thing I did that, because Friday I went into town for a few hours.  When I got back this is what I found:

Snapped clean off at the base it was.  It was a windy day, but this?  I'm giving up on that yellow squash variety, it just doesn't look very promising. 

Well other things are really coming along.  And to tell you the truth summer squash doesn't really move me.  Not when there are vegetables available that I like better, and those are coming in now.  This morning I picked the first green beans, okra and carrots. 

There are two varieties of okra, Millionaire and Silver Queen.  Millionaire is growing in the SWC's and is supposed to be diminutive in stature.  Silver Queen is an old variety that is supposed to get 8 feet tall.  You can probably guess which is which in the picture.  The beans are Provider, one of my favorite beans.  The carrots are Nantes and Cosmic Purple.  I thinned out the two rows of carrots - some of them were too close together - and get to eat the thinnings.  There's also a Picolino and a Diva cucumber in the pickings.

Earlier in the week I picked another broccoli and more cucumbers.  The broccoli is Gypsy.  It looks a little malformed and isn't as tasty as the spring broccoli, but I'll use it. 

I also caught a channel catfish, this time a really nice sized fish 21 inches long.  There are two sizes of catfish in the pond.  One size goes about a pound and was probably born last year.  It will make 5 or 6 oz of filets, just enough for a meal for myself.  The bigger fish go about 3 pounds and were likely born two years ago.  They end up as two 9 or 10 oz filets, each one a good meal.  The entrails go in the compost bin.  Nothing goes to waste. 

For the week:  cucumber 2 lb 10 oz, snap beans 8 oz, okra 9 oz, carrots 1 lb, broccoli 14 oz, total 5.6 lbs.  Yearly total 42.6 pounds. 

4 comments:

kitsapFG said...

Jealous of your cucumbers. My plants are growing well but they are many weeks away from producing yet. Like you, I am okay with the summer squash and use them, but given a choice I like other things in our garden more. I used a lot of restraint this year and only planted two plants of zucchini and no backups. So far both plants are growing like wildfire and are very healthy.

Phuong said...

Wow, you're getting okra and cucumbers already! The catfish looks great too!

That's really too bad about all the troubles with the yellow summer squash. Mine usually only produce a couple of fruits before succumbing to vine borers and squash bugs.

Mark Willis said...

Not keen on the catfish, but the rest looks good! Your view on Summer Squash is actually a very common one. Many people find that they end up with far to many fruits and still feel obliged to use them. I never grow Courgettes, for this reason.

Anonymous said...

Awww...the dead squash body, ripped from its earthly roots :)

Good harvest for the week, including the one from your pond!

Post a Comment