The okra harvest has been great. The few pictured last time are a good representative sample of what we have gotten this summer. So far we have harvested enough for two sizable dishes (fried okra, of course) and it looks like we'll get a third before the weather turns cooler.
Our corn was a disappointment. It just got fried by the hot, dry summer-despite persistent watering. We planted a little bit more this August, just to see if that does better as the weather turns. Also disappointing was our green beans. Earlier this summer they were strong plants. They were green, tall and were not letting any weeds near them. But the very high temps and a bloom of grasshoppers did them in. Too bad.
One fun surprise has been our grapes. There are a few plants scattered over the property and they bore fruit without any real help from us. As you can see we have a few varieties. The big green and red ones are really just like supermarket grapes: essentially seedless and quite tasty. The little dark ones have tons of seeds; so much so they are hard to eat. But they taste just like Welch's Grape juice. We're going to think what to do with them. Jelly is a good choice-which would be another first for us.
Lastly are our carrots. And they look funny. Lots of little spindly things. A few that look like "real" carrots. Our planting technique was probably to blame here. The seeds were way too close together, and so few of them had any chance to grow large, or even get beyond stunted. Also the weather was a factor too, but mostly "operator error." One interesting feature to watch is how our double dug beds impacts carrot growth. As you can see some are extremely long and wiry. Is that a consequence of the bed depth or our less than ideal growing conditions? At least we have quantity, if not quality.
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| Three varieties of grapes |
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| Carrot freak show. |
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| Carrot power |
The grapes are my favorite!
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