Despite the weather and the bugs, I still have some harvests to report. I'm getting a good amount of melons. They tend to be smaller and not as juicy, but they are still tasty. I've had mostly cantaloupes, but did pick a small watermelon. I haven't cut into the watermelon yet, so I'm hoping it's a good one despite its small size.
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| A bowlful of cantaloupe cubes |
I also picked several more Seminole pumpkins. Even though they are individually small, the vine is producing quite a few. I've harvested seven so far and there's plenty more ripening.
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| Seminole Pumpkins |
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| Sweet Bell Peppers |
My sad cucumber vines managed to produce a few little cucumbers. I've only tasted the lemon ones so far and I'm happy to report that they are not bitter, which is impressive given the oppressive heat. I would be bitter if I had to sit out in that heat and humidity all day!!
The green bean supply continues. I harvested 3.3 lbs this week. About 2 lbs went into the freezer and the rest were steamed for eating.
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| An assortment of beans to be frozen |
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| Black Beauty, Long Purple and Florida Market Eggplants |
I was searching for recipes to cook with an odd variety of pumpkin, eggplant and peppers and stumbled upon a curry that used all three. It called for spinach, but I used my sweet potato greens instead. The curry had a great flavor, although it took longer than thirty minutes for my pumpkin to get tender.
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| One Pot Eggplant, Pumpkin and Chickpea Curry |
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| Pumpkin-Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies |
Weekly Harvest (lbs):
Peppers 1.7
Okra 0.96
Cucumber 1.1
Green beans 3.3
Tomatoes 0.36
Eggplant 2.7
Melon 10.4
Winter squash 6.0
Sweet potato greens 0.22
Yearly harvests: 805.2 lbs
That's all the harvests coming from my garden this week. To see what others are harvesting, check out Harvest Monday on Our Happy Acres.
Your curry looks mouth watering delicious, you sure are very creative with using sweet potato leaves.
ReplyDeleteThat curry looks yummy! I love using pumpkin and mixed veggies in a curry like that. The cookies sound good too. Pumpkin is pretty versatile, and it looks like you are going to be well supplied! I need to start freezing some of my peppers too, as they all seem to be ripening at once.
ReplyDeleteThat curry looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteYou have just given me the greatest key to a problem I had ... bitter cucumber! Which I grew in the greenhouse. Does heat cause bitterness? They tasted terrible.
ReplyDeleteI love baked goods with pumpkin, those cookies look delicious as does the curry.
Yes, a lot of cucumber varieties get stressed in the heat and turn bitter. Look for varieties that are called "burpless." They don't turn bitter.
DeleteI kind of like the smaller pumpkins/squash. Last year a local farm stand was selling small spaghetti squash for 50 cents each. They were the perfect size for two, without dealing with a lot of leftovers. The curry looks good, may do something similar with the cauliflower I picked up today.
ReplyDeleteEverything looks absolutely divine, but I'm especially jealous of your melons and pumpkins! What a wonderful diversity of crops you have!
ReplyDeleteThose are some great harvests, especially considering your drought and bug issues! Those eggplant look wonderful, btw. I harvested a lowly eggplant yesterday; it's touch and go whether the tiny ones on the plants will have enough time to mature.
ReplyDeleteAnd the curry looks delicious. I find that curries, both Indian and Thai, are great vehicles for so many different veg & I take full advantage, especially in the winter when it comes to using up the freezer stores.
Those are some great harvest and lovely use of pumpkin leftover.
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