The photo is from a CSA delivery. Kate is holding the herb bouquet that is included. We love this season of good eating. Burgers and sweet corn and sliced tomatoes and stuffed zucchini boats and cucumber salad and chopped salads with all the goodies and deviled eggs, kohlrabi mash, and oh…the cantaloupe. Don’t be afraid to take your share. It will freeze for smoothies, etc.
The watermelons should be nearing ripeness. There are three criteria we watch for; a deepening of the color, a browning of the first tendril (the one closest to the melon) and a yellow spot on the bottom (maybe with some insect tracks on the rind). We are harvesting as they become ready and will leave them on the porch under the air conditioner. So far, it’s just the little dark colored sugar babies, and the golden skinned variety that has a red flesh. The upcoming heat should help. Eggplant is in the cooler. We try to harvest just enough for the day and let the others size up.
The cilantro bed in front of hoop house 2 is fully grown and ready for harvest. Don’t forget to snip from there.
We’re starting to find some winter squash. The smallest ones seem to ripen soonest, so we’ll share as they become available. The squash we pretty weeded in so we are unsure of the harvest. Once picked, they need to harden off in the sun for 10 days or so.
Feel free to take 8-10 apples from one of the trees with apples having a reddish cast. I’d call them a pie or crisp apple as they have lost of blemishes (but few worm holes). The “green apple” tree is a yellow delicious, one of the last to ripen. Let’s save those until they’re ready.
We did harvest one tree of pears, the d’anjous. They are a russet not a yellow. Pears are always harvested green and allowed to ripen off the tree. We’ll hold them in the cooler for a week or so. They ripen from the inside out, and if left on the tree will be chewed on by insects and rot. This is the first year for the pears! The bosc pears need another couple weeks.
We’re really not an orchard, but will share what we get.
I’d like to have us all do a rain dance, but it doesn’t seem to be in the forecast. We have been watering a lot and plan to continue as long as we need to. There are many other things I’d rather be doing.
Last year’s first freeze was 3 weeks from now. It’s hard to believe considering the summer-y September we seem to be having…until later this week. The tomatoes don’t know what to do. Other growers, had a rain when we didn’t and lost their tomatoes to “late blight”. This is a fungal disease that is airborne and transmitted through a rainfall. It’s the reason we keep a few plants in the hoop houses…security. A few would be better than none.
Cabbages and kohlrabi are still tasty, just getting larger. Keep coming and picking as the season is far from over. Honey is just around the corner.