today's harvest

Lots of bounty today!

Tons of cukes. I am going to look back at all the great cuke recipes I collected a month ago. Maybe try some cucumber gazpacho and some pickles. A bunch of these cukes are overgrown. The yellow ones are overgrown North Carolina pickling cukes. They are best picked smaller when they are creamy white. They still taste good when they are big and yellow, not at all bitter - just a bit seedy.

I am continually surprised by my broccoli this year. I think I already wrote this, but it seems once a week I am picking more side shoots. This variety is Diplomat.

And, I am a chicken and afraid the squirrels will get at my tomatoes, so I am still picking them as soon as they show a hint of color. I have been watching that giant one, and couldn't resist picking it today even though its not yet coloring up.

The carrots don't look so good because they were sown in seed cells than transplanted. One of my learning experiences this year. I have a crop growing in the garden now that was sown in the garden directly and I am looking forward to some nice long, "unfurcated" roots.

And my celery is terrible, tough and bitter tasting, though it smells wonderful. It's the first year I've grown celery. The stalks are small and the crowns hollow. I found a very nice article (Mother Earth News: Celery Can Be a Cinch) and will book mark it for advice for trying again next year. I think my biggest problem was likely not feeding it and not giving it enough water.

I have 6 little eggplants in the middle of the photo, 3 Tiger and 3 Black King. I have a recipe I'm looking forward to trying with these tonight.