Harvest Monday

Summer Apples

Welcome to Harvest Monday! I can't believe another week has gone by already and we are entering the second half of the year. Oh my where has time gone?  Harvest Monday is a great blog hop sponsored by Daphne's Dandelions, so hop on over and visit with other gardeners from around the world.

One day the wind was blowing the apples off the tree plus the birds were starting to get into them, so I picked the tree clean. They are a bit sour, was waiting for them to ripen up a bit. I have been trying to find out what is causing that brown corky growth on the tops of some of them. When I search for cork in apples the pictures look different from this and shows corky spots on the inside. These are fine inside, just have that dry brown spot mostly on the top part and not all of the apples show it. I'm wondering if it's sunburn.

Golden Bantam Improved

This year I have some of the best looking corn plants I have ever had, they went 7 feet with the tassels, almost all had 2 ears per stalk and some put out tillers and tried to make more. BUT it was so very hot and dry when it put out tassels and silks that the pollen was just drying up, so my beautiful 10-12 inch ears are nowhere near being filled. What is there tastes delicious, however. So, note to self, corn should not tassel the last two weeks of June!

Eggplant

I harvested some more eggplant. These are not as big as they look; that is one of those little cereal bowls from the dollar store.

tomatoes

The small salad tomatoes are winding down, only 3 pounds this week instead of nearly 5. They are now split about half and half, Princepe and Snow White.

In addition there were two Black from Tula, along with a paste tomato and a small round one from volunteer plants.

Rond di Nice

And of course some Rond di Nice squash. This one weighs about a pound. The five pound monster that was imitating a green pumpkin was fed to the chickens. The other sorts should be coming on shortly, maybe next week. I think I'm going to stuff this one full of tomatoes and cheese. Maybe I"ll add a little sausage to it. mmmmmm.....

See this post for a garden tour and the newest additions to the poultry flock.

Around the Garden

first eggplant

While we still haven't had any rain (since March 18!) the garden is growing well. The first eggplant of the season is a pretty bright purple.

hollyhock

This hollyhock is actually more purplish than the pink in the picture.

Back garden looking SW

The back garden really is becoming a jungle. The corn is tasseling and I've spotted the beginnings of some ears. Hollyhocks are blooming, the carrots and parsnips are still blooming and setting seed, in the lower left you can see the red burgundy amaranth.

Amish Paste Tomatoes

The Amish Paste tomatoes are filling in their cages and beginning to set some fruit. I need to check up on the flower clusters and make sure they are all setting in this heat. If not I'll try and find something to shade them a bit in the heat of the afternoon.

plums

The plums are almost ready; a few had bird pecks and fell off already, can't wait for the rest to ripen!

summer apples

The summer apples are coming along really well. Best crop this tree has ever had!

Baby Blue Hubbard

The Baby Blue Hubbard squash on the compost pile are growing well (along with the cantaloupes planted with them) but it looks like they need a shot of iron supplement.

my cheap gazing ball

Under the peach tree is my cheap gazing ball; an old light globe sitting on a copper carafe stand.

waterlily

The waterlily is blooming some more.

peaches

The peaches on the tree are still quite firm, but really getting some color to them.

broken branch of peaches

The broken branch which I saved by sticking it in a jug of water in the kitchen is doing pretty well. These peaches are getting soft and sweet and falling off one or two a day. While not the best peaches I ever ate they aren't the worst either. At least they are soft and sweet, unlike the green balls at the grocery store.

I counted and there were actually 28 peaches on this branch. I definitely need to do a better job of thinning!

Apples & Mushrooms

baby apples

Despite the crazy weather we've had this spring, this apple tree managed to bloom after the late snow and has set the best crop it's ever had. There are several clusters like this of 5-7 little apples. Of course the tree can't support that many apples, so this afternoon when it cools off a bit I'll be snipping off all but one apple per cluster.

This tree was tagged at the nursery as a Granny Smith but it is not. I think it might be a Grimes Golden or some other summer apple but it is definitely not a Granny.

Guess ;-)

And an update on the mushroom experiment. (For more about the 'shroom experiment, check out this post) For about a week it just sat there. I misted with my well water (no chlorine) twice a day and for the most part the bucket smelled faintly of coffee grounds.  Then I noticed a change. Some white fuzzy stuff began to appear on the surface and instead of sinking in, the water I sprayed began to collect on the surface, as if it couldn't sink in. And the odor changed. I'm pretty sure the white stuff is the mycelium (kind like roots of the mushroom) and not mold. It doesn't smell moldy or gross or anything. In fact, it sort of smells, well, spicey. Yeah weird, I know.