Saffron!

I can't believe these are blooming now!

I planted then last fall as a birthday present to my foodie husband.

Pretty exciting! I thought they would bloom in the spring; not now in the fall. There are fall blooming crocus (technically they are Colchicum), but these are true crocus. Still...a welcome surprise!

Seasonal Denial

I've been trying to make the transition into fall; putting my summer garden to rest. These last few days of rainy forecasts trumped by warm sun aren't helping.

I popped the last round of ripe Sun Golds into my mouth as though they would give me the courage to start yanking out plants. But look at all the green tomatoes that may easily turn yellow with a couple more days of this weather! I couldn't do it.

Really these are going to ripen...

 

The Shishito peppers, packed with flowers, made it difficult as well. The sun was warm on my back; certainly a few more warm days will help bring on another round, right? But then I caught a slight scent in the air finally convincing me this won't last. I collected another bowl to be wok fried as I plucked the plants from the garden.

 

 

All those white flowers made it tough!

 

The peppers I collected were significantly larger than the ones from earlier this summer. I saw some for sale at the Friday Harbor farmers' market a couple of weeks ago. I was a little envious since theirs were much bigger than the ones we had. And $8 a pound! I'll have to say they are spicy and loose that distinct, concentrated "green" flavor compared to the smaller, younger fruits. Plus, the larger they are, the longer they take to cook. And when it comes to snacking on these, you want them to be done quick!

 

 

Wok-a! Wok-a!

 

I needed little convincing with pulling out the basil though. Once the nights get below 50 degrees, basil slimes out pretty quickly. One last round of pesto. I brought the plants into the kitchen to pull the leaves off. As I took the left over plants out to the compost, my son asked why I was throwing the plants away. I explained basil is an annual and grows in the summer. I told him once it gets cold, the basil will die so it's time for them to go into the compost. A kid who likes to save EVERYTHING he didn't argue with me for once.

 

So long, farewell...

 

I've checked the forecast (NOAA is pretty accurate) and it's supposed to dip to 47 on Wed night. Perfect weather for turning my Sun Golds to mush for sure. In the meantime, I'll keep up my seasonal denial.



I had decent timing on my eggplant this year. Snagged several of these beauties last week to add to my ratatouille. They're pretty small but flavorful! They are called Diamond from Adaptive Seeds and are said to grow in less than ideal conditions.

Our weather this summer has been amazing with decent temperatures and little rain. I'm sure this helped Diamond do well.

Shiny!

 

 

Hope your summer harvests are winding down nicely. Savor those last meals that make the most of the season. Invite your friends over and eat in the garden before the weather turns.

 

Sun Gold Special Delivery

It's been hard finding time to keep up on my posts. When I'm inside writing, there's less time spent outside savoring the last moments of summer.

The Sun Golds are still quite prolific. My son was happy to collect a bunch and give them a ride in his trike.

These are full of flavor and can be used in so many summer dinners from fish tacos to cool pesto pastas. Yum!

Doing Nothing

What to do about apple scab and codling moth? Apple scab leaves lesions on the apple's surface and is caused by a fungus. On the scale of a home grower, there isn't much one can do that doesn't involve fungicides. I've been lucky my apples haven't been hit by it.

Codling moth is another story. I've had a few apples invested with these wormy delights. My way of controlling this pest is wrapping each apple in a piece of pantyhose. This is quite labor intensive. So I decided this year to do nothing. Risky since this is a high yield year. Last year my crop was way down. I may end up next to no apples two years in a row.

So far the Honeycrisps are looking pretty good. No signs of frass. They are starting to turn red within the last week.

I'll keep you posted on their progress. I hope doing nothing pays off!

Dinner Showcase

Tonight's dinner featured several items from my garden...



Pesto with freshly picked basil tossed with Sun Gold tomatoes

 

 

The look other world-ly but they're just 'Hunger Gap' kale chips. My son's current favorite!

 

 

Flash fried 'Shishito' peppers sprinkled with kosher salt. Super tasty we almost gobbled them up before I remembered to take a picture.

 

I your summer garden is providing you with lots of yummy edible goodness! Bon apetit!

 

 

Sun Gold

I've been avoiding Sun Golds since I started growing my own tomatoes. "What's the big deal?" I've said to myself year after year.

Last summer, a colleague of mine left some at the greenhouse which I grew on in pots on site. I then knew what the big deal was. They ripen easily and have amazing flavor.

I decided this year to grow them in my garden and I can't get enough of them. Remember my earlier post about freaking out whether the plants were going to do anything? Well, they are doing well. My current problem is that they aren't ripening fast enough in order to keep up with our consumption!

Orange globes of goodness!

 

Not entirely related, but couldn't pass up sharing with you a photo of a sleepy bee on my orange hybrid dahlias this morning. When I was snapping photos of the Sun Golds, a few bees were caught dozing. When I first started gardening as an intern, I loved seeing slumbering bumblebees in the lavender early in the morning. 

 

It's hanging on well to that flower, but completely asleep!