My Edible Garden

I've been gardening for most of my life and have been a devoted fan of organic gardening the whole time. It just makes so much more sense to work in harmony with Mother Nature than to fight her. Besides which it is better for the planet and better for our bodies. Here you can see what I'm planting and harvesting, with gardening hints and resources thrown in for good measure.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Harvest Monday

Eggplant from plant #8
Welcome to Harvest Monday! This is a great blog hop sponsored by Daphne's Dandelions so hop on over and visit with gardeners from around the world.

I don't think I got pictures of everything this week, just too darn busy with work and this week I only got off on Sat, I ended up having to go in on Sun. My boss hates to give me overtime, because I've been there so long I have the highest wages, but it looks like I'll have about 8 hours of OT this week.


In the meantime, eggplant #8 produced it's first fruit and it is more a pinky lavender than the dark purple of the others. I will probably also save seeds from this one, even though it is later getting going than the others.

Tromboncinno, on Wed.

On Wednesday I bumped my head on this, the first Tromboncinno squash.







Same squash on Sat, 30" long



By the time I picked it Saturday morning, it was 30 inches long and the skin was still so tender I could pierce it with my fingernail.

Tromboncinno
When I looked up, I realized that the squash are running over the top of the shade cloth and are headed for the roof. I might have to climb up on the roof to pick them! But this one was fairly easy for me to get to.

I picked these two for the Farmer's Market. They were the only squash I sold, I think because there were so unusual. We had a glut of squash at the market this week.






Scallopini

I picked the first Scallopini early in the week. It was nice, not as watery as the Rond de Nice or other zucchini.








Rond de Nice & Scallopini




On Saturday I picked more Scallopini and a couple of Rond de Nice. I noticed on Sunday evening that there are several more Tromboncinno growing and there is a very large Rond de Nice which I will probably feed to the chickens. I don't know how I missed it!

Also this week I picked lots of small tomatoes and pulled some green onions. I didn't take a pick yet, but some of the red onions from unnamed sets had fallen over and the necks were drying up so I pulled them. They were the smallest in the bed. Looking at how things have grown there I think the problem might have been not enough sun as that bed is shaded during the cooler months and the size of the onions correspond with the sun pattern on the bed. That is, the biggest ones are at the front edge where they get the most sun and the smallest ones at the other end where they get the least sun. I will try onions again in a bed that gets more sun and see if that doesn't help. I'm just adding the onion weights as I use them, while waiting for them to finish curing.

This coming week there will probably be a lot of squash. I'm not that big on squash so will probably end up feeding a lot to the chickens, if I don't sell it. Egg production is still down, one hen is in a complete molt, but her new feathers are finally coming in and look very nice. Two of the other hens have slowed down in the heat, giving just one or two a day and some days none. And the other hen has been broody; her eggs hatched on Thurs, for pictures check out my Population Explosion post. That same post has pictures of the ducks and some of the other chickens also.

30 comments:

  1. Very nice harvest! That long squash definitely looks very impressive. How is it on taste?

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    1. Thank you; young & tend like a zuchinni. But I haven't tried it as a winter type yet

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  2. What a delicious looking harvest and the trombocino is amazing!

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  3. Am having squash envy... need to find room to grow trombocino! How do they cook up?

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  4. Impressive squash harvest. Bet the trombocino generated quite a bit of conversations at the farmers market.

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    1. Yes they did; one lady thought it was a giant cucumber

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  5. Those are very interesting squash! I didn't realize that you sell at a Farmer's Market...

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    1. Our Farmer's Market is very small and has what they call co-op tables, where gardeners with a glut can come and get half a table and sell their stuff. It's also a nice way to try it out to see if you want to do it bigger and have a whole booth

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  6. I have thought of trying Trombocino next year but if I do I guess I better give it lots of space. Are you planning to use all of them fresh or letting the skin harden for winter squash?

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    1. Yes big space hog but great on a trellis or pergola. I'll try them out both ways.

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  7. Those squashes sure look nice! The trombocino look very interesting too.

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  8. Couldn't think of a better way to relax after all your OT than under your giant Tromboncino with a cool drink. Looks fantastic.
    Please tell us how it tasted.............
    Love to grow one, first another Job for hubby to build some sort of frame for it to grow on( i can hear him sigh already, another gardening project!)

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    1. Built a trellis over your porch, deck or patio! Make it do double duty.

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  9. Wow - that squash is amazing! I love your perfect eggplant too.

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  10. Great harvest this week. What kind of eggplant is that?

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    1. Thank you; the eggplant is part of my breeding experiment which you can read more here; http://edible-garden.blogspot.com/2012/07/eggplant-breeding-experiment.html

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  11. What a fun summer squash to grow. I am already feeling a bit squash overwhelmed and my patty pan has not even begun to produce yet! LOL! Happens every year. Unfortunately, my hens don't like squash either so I have to find other creative uses for the surplus harvest.

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    1. My hens eat almost anything, including squash, they especially like the older ones and go for the seeds first.

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  12. What wonderful harvests! I think you've sold me on the Tromboncinno squash...now if I could just figure out where to plant it! ;-)

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  13. Wnderful harvest! Wow! That is quite the squash! My eggplant is still living but don't think I will ever get anything from it! Nancy

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    1. Well, don't give up hope yet; maybe your eggplant will perk up with the monsoon.

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  14. Those are some fun looking squash. We are not huge squash fans around our place either. We found out last year that our chickens don't like summer squash either so we cut way back this year.

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    1. How funny; my chickens eat anything I throw in there; but I do not keep a feeder full of commercial feed in their pen either. They get plenty to eat, but it's not in front of them all the time.

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  15. Now if I had more room I'd love to grow the Tromboncinno, looks fun! but in all honesty I probably don't enjoy eating it enough to justify the space. Maybe one time though just to look at...

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    1. Well if you have a trellis or fence or something for it to climb on then it really doesn't take up that much space.

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