Saturday, July 26, 2008

This Week's Harvest

This has been a rather good week for us in the garden. The tomatoes continue to ripen, and I was able to harvest two regular-sized tomatoes (no bird holes, thank you!) and lots and lots of cucumbers and green beans.

The apples still continue to grow on the tree, and I haven't harvested any additional ones because I don't have the time to devote to make delicious apple desserts. I did have a request to post the recipe for the apple pie, so when I find the time, I will reveal my culinary secrets to you. :-)

Below: Tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans


Below: Two views of more cucumber harvests.



The cucumbers are growing at an amazing pace. We harvest at least one every day. I think that I'll seriously must learn how to pickle soon. When work slows down and I have extra time, I will have to make some dill pickles with these delicious and crunchy cucumbers of mine! There are just way too many to eat all at once!

Hmm, I wonder how much longer the cucumber plant will produce. I'm hoping it won't stop until fall. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

The green beans are growing wonderfully too! The leaves on the plants have a few holes, but thankfully, the bugs haven't gotten to the beans yet. They are still green and perfect, no mark of nasty bugs!

Happy Gardening!

13 comments:

marmee said...

your cucs look great, we also have an abundance of the green fellows. my grandmother also had fresh tomatos peeled and sliced with every meal. she also peeled,sliced and put cucumbers in a wonderfully simply concoction. mostly plain white vinegar, with a small amount of water,several heaping spoonfuls of sugar, and alittle dash of salt. let sit for a while and voila a crispy, tart addition to your meal.

tina said...

We just ate some fresh beans last night. I don't know about you, but don't they taste better when you grow them yourself?

DP Nguyen said...

Hi Marmee, That cucumber concoction sounds good! Kinda like a sweet pickle, but not quite a pickle, right?

Hi Tina, I agree. Fresh beans always taste much better than store-bought ones. The flavor is so much stronger and just more yummy!

Cindy said...

Hi DP ~ It all looks soo good. Those tomatos look perfect. I'm glad you were able to get them before the birds :)

Dan said...

I have also had cucumbers like marmee suggested but we put onions in as well and let them soak for a couple days, also very good.

Another thing you should try is a dill dip that is amazing with cucumbers and all veggies:

1 cup mayonnaise, real not whipped stuff
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup dehydrated onions, spice section
2-3 table spoons dried dill
salt
pepper

Combine it all together and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. Then it is ready to go!

Skeeter said...

Yum, y'all are making me hungry for more cukes! Our cucumbers are growing in funny shapes. Your cukes look so perfect! Glad you concurred the bird holes in the tomatoes!

Gail said...

I still recommend them sauteed with other vegies, served over rice with a bit of cheese...perfect vegetarian meal for me!

gail

Eve said...

Yours are perfection. Mine were every shape and size but the tomatoes and beans are really nice looking. The Cukes taste the same though. You can't judge a cuke by it's cover. LOL

As healthy as yours are, they should go for quite a while as long as you keep them picked. Watch out for those who hide!

Anonymous said...

Your veggies look so delicious! Did you end up staking your cucs on an A-frame trellis or just let them grow on the ground? We are trying the trellis and I'm wondering if it's going to work out well. Also, what variety are your tomatoes?

Gail said...

good luck with the showing of your video!

Gail

DP Nguyen said...

Hi Cindy-I was lucky to find the tomatoes in such nice shape. I stopped pruning, so maybe the birds were scared of all the green foliage. ;-)

Hi Dan, Thank you for the recipe. I will have to try it with my cucumbers sometime! It sounds just delicious!

Hi Skeeter- Our 'picking' cucumber variety is growing in weird shapes, but the regular cucumbers are just perfect. I'll have to post a pic of my weird looking cuke and we can compare! :-)

Hi Gail, I still need to try them sauteed, but it does sound good. Thanks for the comment about the 48 hour project showing. It should be fun!

Hi Eve, I think all cucumbers taste the same.. well homegrown always beats store-bought. But once you chop off the ends of the cucumbers, they all taste delicious in anything! And I have been looking for the ones that hide... The cucumber plant is a little prickly, but that's not their fault. LoL. I think I need gloves to harvest them!

Hi lacey, I use bamboo sticks and tie the plant to them, so that they grow up. I've heard people have had luck with A-frame trellis, so good luck with you. We have some cukes that grow close to the ground, but we also have ones that grow up high, and the bamboo stakes seem to do a good job holding them up. We grow all kinds of tomatoes-cherry, grape, bonnie original, roma, whopper, rutledge. The ones in the pic are bonnies, i believe.

John said...

Your cucumbers look great! I'm hoping to have some in the fall.

Carole said...

Cucumber success--- and from other commentors as well! We tried them last year but they tasted terrible-- bitter. I wondered if it was a bad variety, or the soil??
You are inspiring me to try again next season.