An Early August Harvest
Here at my farm, we're picking lots of wonderful and nutritious vegetables from the garden.
Yesterday, my housekeepers Enma Sandoval and Elvira Rojas harvested a bounty of beautiful vegetables - beans, artichokes, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, radishes, and more. Despite some very uncomfortable summer weather the last couple of weeks, the vegetables are thriving.
Enjoy these photos.
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- I am so pleased and so proud of my new vegetable garden. It’s been so productive and all the vegetables look fantastic. It’s important to check it every day – there’s always something ready to pick. On the left are the growing vines of my pumpkins.
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- I grow many peppers to share with family and friends. If you grow a variety of peppers, be careful when picking them – always keep the hot ones separated from the sweet ones, so there is no surprise in the kitchen.
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- These are birds beak peppers – they need a little more time. Birds beak peppers, also known as Pimenta Biquinho, are small, round peppers with a tapered tip that resembles a bird’s beak. They originated in Brazil and are known for their tangy, fruity flavor and mild heat level. Birds beak peppers can be eaten raw or used as a garnish – I like to pickle them.
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- I have a large bed of eggplants and there are so many ready to pick. Eggplants are ready to harvest when they are firm, glossy, and shiny.
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- It is good to pick eggplants when they are young and tender. Try to pick a little early, which will encourage the plant to grow more, and will help to extend the growing season.
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- Sweet bell peppers are popular in the garden – all grassy in flavor and crunchy in texture. I love making stuffed peppers – so easy and so delicious.
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- Look at the many tomatoes developing on the vines. So many are bright red and ready to pick. Most tomato plant varieties need between 50 and 90 days to mature. Planting can also be staggered to produce early, mid and late season tomato harvests.
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- As the tomatoes are harvested, I like to place them on baking sheets to keep them from getting bruised.
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- Many of the bigger tomatoes are ready too! I grow about 120 tomato plants every year – different varieties for different cooking and eating qualities, as well as early and midseason varieties to ensure a good supply from midsummer to fall.
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- These will ripen in the coming weeks. Tomatoes are heat loving plants, so all the hot weather we’ve had has really helped our crops – the tomato vines are laden with fruit.
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- Bigger tomatoes should be placed stem side down, which help them last longer, prevent moisture loss, and make them juicier.
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- This entire tray of artichokes was harvested in just a few minutes. Artichoke harvest starts in late July or early August and continues well until frost. The globe artichoke, Cynara scolymus, is actually a flower bud, which is eaten when tender.
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- There are also a lot of beans. Beans grow best in full sun and moist soil. Bush beans are second only to tomatoes as the most popular vegetables in home gardens. Bush beans are eaten when the seeds are small. They are also called string beans because of a fibrous string running the length of the pod.
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- They also come in yellow. Bush beans grow on shrubby plants and are very prolific producers. They can continually produce throughout the season with the proper care. In general, bush beans should be ready in 50 to 55 days.
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- Everything is collected in buckets, trays, and large plastic bags. Look at the bounty – and there’s still more to harvest.
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- The beetroot is the taproot of the beet plant, and is often called the table beet, garden beet, red or golden beet or simply… beet. Beets are highly nutritious and very good for maintaining strong cardiovascular health. It’s low in calories, contains zero cholesterol, and is rich in folates, vitamin-A, B-complex, and antioxidants.
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- Many radishes are also ready. The radish is an edible root vegetable of the Brassicaceae family. Radishes are grown and consumed throughout the world, and mostly eaten raw as a crunchy salad vegetable. Have you ever tried radish and butter with pinch of flaky salt? It is a popular French low-carb snack, and it’s delicious.
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- Radishes come in many varieties – both long and round. The flavor can range from very mild to very spicy, depending on the kind.
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- Radishes are easy to pick – one can just pull the entire plant straight up from the soil.
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- Celery takes a while to mature – 130 to 140 days.
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- This is celeriac, also known as celery root. Celery and celeriac are basically the same plant, Apium graveolens, with celeriac being a variety cultivated for its root rather than for its stalks. While they have similar flavors, celeriac and celery have different textures and shapes.
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- There is so much growing in the garden – we will be harvesting wonderful vegetables every week for the rest of the season.
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- All the freshly picked vegetables are loaded up and brought to my flower room, where they can be washed if needed, then bagged and stored in the refrigerator. I am looking forward to eating all the fruits of my labor.
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