Following last week's first zucchini, we're continuing with our garden "firsts." Making its grand debut this week is our very first home-grown cucumber. The variety is Burpee's Sugar Crunch Hybrid. Our cucumber was not as "fat" as the model cucumbers photographed on the seed packet, but it looked to be about the right length, so we picked one for a test run. It tasted great - sweet and crunchy. Here it is, presented with the rest of this week's harvest.
The green beans seem to be slowing down, and some bugs are starting to get to them, too. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see the blemishes on the beans better. We definitely need to plant more beans next year.
The red pepper is cayenne, and it was gifted to us from our next door neighbor. It was his first pepper. We cooked with it tonight, but the heat just wasn't there. I thought cayenne peppers were supposed to be super spicy?
19 comments:
I harvest onions continually all along the way to final maturity for storage. Green onions, small onions, medium onions... I just pull them so that it thins the bed and the remaining ones usually size up beautifully aft erht etops lay down for a week or so.
The cucumber looks delicious (as does the salad).
I also harvest onions continuously. I will have final (big) onion harvest once all tops are dried. They are now in a phase of lying down, but are still green.
Cayenne pepper should be very hot and spicy.
Congrats on first cucumber!
I found out the hard way, last year, that hot peppers don't get hot with too much TLC (water and fertilizer). I had sugar sweet jalapenos! The ones I planted in pots, and only watered when they were wilting, were nice and hot.
I too, can't seem to get onions to form large bulbs. My wife makes a cucumber salad just like yours, but, it always gives me the burps!
I've had a hard time the past two years getting my onions to form large bulbs too. We will see if any get large this year.
You certainly harvested a lot of basil...looks good :)
We haven't tasted any of our hot peppers this year. I did harvest one cayenne and need to go out and pick some jalepenos...we will see if they are hot as always.
I remember my mom making that cucumber salad a lot during the summer when I was little. It was good, I should try! Yours looks great!
Your harvest looks yummy! I ran out of pine nuts and tried pecans and now pecans is all I use in my pesto. I love cucumber salad yours looks wonderful.
I find that the cayennes are best as spice peppers to be dried and hung as garlands until crumbled into dishes.
My favourite hotties are jalapenos especially those grown in dryish soil - woah baby - and I'm not talking the new 'mild' ones, along with habeneros of various stripes.
However, I'm waiting to try more types.
Your harvest looks great!! Gardening is so much fun!!
kitsapFG, thanks for telling me about your continuous harvesting of onions! I didn't know if there was a "right" way of harvesting onions, but it's good to know that you can harvest pretty much any which way you want!
* * * * *
vrtlarica, thanks for your cucumber congrats, and letting me know about how you harvest onions. I also thought cayenne was supposed to be very hot.
* * * * *
Granny, I do remember one of your posts dealing with jalapenos that didn't get hot - you even consulted with the seed provider for that, if I remember correctly? I will try to remember to abuse my pepper plants in the future to get the right hotness.
* * * * *
Engineeredgarden, have you grown any burpless cucumbers for your wife's salad? I remember seeing that variety in the seed section, and was curious to see if they really work against burps.
* * * * *
Robin, I hope your peppers turn out nice and hot!
* * * * *
Shawn Ann, thank you! The salad was really easy and delicious.
* * * * *
Jeana, hmm, pecans, I will have to try that next time. I was just trying to use up whatever kind of nuts we had in the pantry.
* * * * *
Ottawa Gardener, please let us know what varieties you try and how they turn out! I can't wait to grow some really hot peppers myself.
* * * * *
debiclegg, oh I totally agree about the fun! I don't know what I used to do with all my time before I discovered gardening and garden blogs.
* * * * *
Nice harvest! I like the looks of the salad too. My Grandma used to make one just like it. She would let it pickle a few days in the fridge and then we'd eat it. I'll have to make some now!
About the beans, they are specificity grown for dry beans. Once the beans swell and the pod drys on the plant you pick them. I have way to many dry beans this year, went a little bean mad. Six varieties I think....
You can eat them at any stage, they would need less cooking if you ate them before they dried. I am drying all them this season because I have lots of snap beans to eat now. They will be excellent this fall/winter in chili, soups, stews & baked beans.
Dan, once again, thanks so much for your helpful information! It sounds like you have some great plans for your dried beans!
Your cucumber salad looks yummy!! I'm still waiting on my cucumbers.
Lovely harvest! Congrats on your first cucumber. Mine will take a while because I forgot to plant them until a couple weeks ago.
I also ate my first cucumber this week! Looks like your garden is coming along beautifully.
Love pesto! Our basil is just starting to grow, planted it late. Can't wait to do pesto too!
Woohoo! Congrats on your first cuke! I absolutely love, love, love pesto. Can't get enough of it. Nice harvest.
~~Lori
Holly - hope you get your first cucumber soon!
* * * * *
Angela - thanks! You may have been a little late with yours, but you'll probably still have cucumbers when all my plants have succumbed to various garden pests.
* * * * *
The Local Cook - Congrats on your cucumber, too!
* * * * *
meemsnyc - basil seems to grow pretty fast, especially in this kind of heat. I hope yours grows quick so you can make lots of yummy pesto.
* * * * *
Dirt Lover - thank you thank you!
Post a Comment