Harvesting in the garden is a constant thing this time of year. In the spring, we start bringing in little bits from the garden and there are a handful of things I no longer need to buy in town (which I love), but this time of year the grocery list shrinks more than any other time. It’s such a good feeling to be overflowing with good food and to not need to buy much. Jeff has done an amazing job of keeping us in a steady supply of lettuce, so we can eat as many salads as we want to every day. And we love our salads around here! I add arugula to most of them because arugula does so well in our garden and we have a steady supply of that as well.
Our apples were ready early this year and we beat the bear to them, so that was a small victory for us. Though it hasn’t been a bumper crop year for us for plums by any means, we are harvesting a few plums off our tree here and there. (Bracken tried to convince his grandma to climb the plum tree while she was visiting to pick them for him.) Years ago I brought home wild strawberries to plant in the garden and they didn’t do much. When they finally produced fruit, the berries were so tiny that I wondered if we should keep them or use the space for growing something else (even though I had been told from the beginning they would be tiny), but Jeff and Bracken told me that they were worth having in the garden because of their incredible flavor. I tried one for the first time and they were right, the flavor really is amazing when they are at the peak of ripeness.
We can hardly pick the green beans fast enough. We planted three kinds this year- runner beans, bush beans, and pole beans. We had a lot of luck with bush beans last year, but not so much this year. The pole beans and runner beans are producing like crazy though. The ones that hide and get too large, we feed to the chickens. Sometimes Bracken likes to excavate the seeds inside to see the colors. Jeff planted our cucumbers in pots in the ground this year to keep the moles from digging around the roots and killing them. (The moles have been so destructive in the garden.) We weren’t sure how well they would do in pots, but they’ve been producing well and we’ve been pleased. We grow them vertically with trellises made out of fencing, so we can fit more in a smaller space. We’ve been eating lots of cucumbers fresh, but we have yet to make pickles.
I can’t take much credit for the garden this year, Jeff has done all the watering and Jeff and Bracken are the ones who spend the most time out there these days. I take advantage of that time to get caught up in the kitchen (which is a constant process) and though watering is a big job, it gives them a chance to have some garden time together. Jeff gets a little break from his shop, which is nice too, and Bracken gets time with his dad and time in the garden, which he can never seem to get enough of. Bracken likes to be the one to collect the coriander seeds and has also been collecting calendula flowers and drying them. And he still picks every blackberry he can find.
One thing I’m really happy about in the garden this year are the bunching onions! We grew them for the first time and I love them. I’ve been harvesting one or two at a time, as we need them. They add such a nice flavor, but aren’t overpowering. Also, they don’t take up much space, which is why we don’t grow regular onions, because we just don’t seem to have the space for them. I definitely want to grow bunching onions again next year. I’ve made pesto quite a few times this summer. We’ve been continually harvesting the tops off of all our basil plants and every time we do, I make pesto. We planted all different varieties of basil, so it gives the pesto a unique (and wonderful) flavor. It’s been great for fresh eating, but we won’t have enough basil from our own garden to make enough pesto to put away for the winter. I’ll need to be buying a bunch of basil to do that.
And of course there’s zucchini and eggs, we’re always bringing those in too. I mentioned freezing zucchini last year and have been asked about that. I don’t blanch it first (quite a few preserving aficionados have assured me there is no need to do that), I just grate it and then freeze it. This year I’ve been freezing two cups at a time, which is the amount for me to make two batches of our favorite zucchini muffins. (Who doesn’t love sneaking in some more vegetables into the diet, especially by way of muffins?) I love having the zucchini already measured out when I pull it out of the freezer. I squeeze the excess water out before I freeze it, but it will still be watery when you take it out of the freezer so I squeeze the water out again before I use it in my recipes.
So, that’s some of the harvesting we’ve been up to lately. How about you? What’s happening in your August gardens and kitchens?
What a fantastic bounty!!!
We’re having a good garden year too. My small kitchen is overflowing with produce – we’re constantly tripping over it (buckets on floor). We have bushels of lemon and green cucumbers, green beans and lots of zucchini. Tomatoes are just taking off. I used to blanch my green beans before freezing them, but time is short now so I just rinse, cut and freeze them raw. We usually eat them all by Thanksgiving so they hold well. Your son’s time with his daddy sounds wonderful. My husband is also the gardener, I always tell people, he grows it, I cook it. 🙂
QUE BUENAS VERDURAS!!!
ME ENCNTA.
SALUDITOS
Wow, that looks amazing. Love the idea of freezing the courgettes in measures, much smarter that what i would’ve done just grating a whole load into a bag and then having the thaw the whole lot out! Top tip!
Glad you found that helpful Joy! Last year I froze the zucchini in large amounts and it was a pain to deal with when I was thawing it out and then only needing a small amount. This year I decided to try something different. 🙂
I make zucchini soup for the winter. I cut up the zucchini and summer squash with garlic and onion and some water and cook in down either on the stove or in the crock pot. I flavor in different ways and sometimes I add tomatoes. Then I freeze it and it makes a great soup or base for soup in the winter.
That is such a great idea Bianca! Thanks for sharing that. It sounds yummy and it’s always great to have soup bases ready to go in the winter time.