Better late than never

Sometimes I wonder when I get the garden up and running late in the season as I did this summer in Canada whether it is worth the effort of getting organised, getting the seedlings started and pampered and in the ground knowing that there is a likelihood of not getting any results in the short season we have here.
But the joy of eating home grown, non sprayed veges just minutes after harvesting makes it seem all worth while even if the harvest isn't huge.
This summer I started harvesting from the vege garden just about as soon as I arrived. There were the self sown peas and lettuces and the perennial herbs-chive, oregano, parsley and thyme.
I also managed to scoop up a few tomato plants cheaply from the local nursery, that were ready to harvest almost from the time I bought them, and have continued to produce all summer.

This tomato bush has been producing for the last 2 months, but has finally just given up. Though there are still a lot left to harvest. Fortunately I still have more tomato plants just starting to ripen their fruit. They are in pots, so when the weather cools down I'll at least be able to move them to a sheltered area.

The jalapeno peppers and the cayenne peppers are starting to ripen in their pots. When we leave in a few weeks, I'll do my usual trick of putting them inside, in front of a bright window, and let them ripen some more, then dry down over the winter. They will then be ready to crush and store on our return next spring.

The beans and peas finally produced a largish harvest a few days ago and lots more on the way. I only need a few more weeks of frost free weather before we go to make those worth their while starting.

Even the zucchinis are starting to produce. The lettuce are continueing to produce. I did have a big failure with the pak choi when the slugs devoured the complete row early on in their life.
The root bound cucumber seedlings I picked up from the nursery on our arrival made a strong come back, and have been supplying our salads for the last few weeks.

This harvest made it all worth the effort. It made a healthy contribution to a dinner party we had a few nights ago.

Small but delish

The harvests from my garden are small but regular. Enough to keep us in salads and herbs. The first of the apples are ready. This I discovered after seeing half eaten fruit on the ground. Raccoons enjoying the harvest too. The first of the chillies are ripening and I am expecting big things from my peas and beans any day now.

 

The lettuce I started last month are big enough to make it into the garden  (and a few into pots so I can move them if necessary). In a few weeks I should be eating them, which is good as the self sewn lettuce that I returned home to in July are almost finished.

Todays harvest

Wow, has it ever cooled down. last week we were all sweltering, and dare I say it, complaining about the heat. Today it is cold and grey.
So far the temps have stayed well above freezing, and not meant to go down below 6'C at night over the next few days, so hopefully the garden will keep producing for a while longer.

 

The tomatoes are all starting to ripen up. I think it is time to make a big batch of relish.

The summer squash which have been a little slow this year are finally producing steadily. these are yellow crookneck.

The edible podded peas have slowed down, but mostly because so many of them got too big to eat, and got left on the vine to ripen for seed and soups. I am growing sugar snap peas and sno peas.

The bush beans finished producing a while back and are now ripening for seed and dry beans for cooking. The purple podded beans are coming into their own, and I am able to harvest several large handfuls each day.

Still in the garden I have pak choi, and Chinese cabbage. Also some cilantro that has started to go to seed. I'll harvest the mature seeds for cooking. The basil needs to be harvested and frozen, and there is still lots of parsley and other perennial herbs. The winter squash needs a few more weeks to mature.

At this time of the year I just hope for a few more weeks of warmish weather, so we can keep on harvesting the last of the crops.



Todays harvest

Here is some of the harvest for tonight. Lots of beans and peas, and the first of the summer squash.

 

I have started to make sour dough bread. I have been making bread in a breadmaker for along time now. Recently I started to make it out of all spelt flour, as that is meant to be more healthy to eat.

That made nice bread.

But I have avoided making the even more healthy sour dough bread because,I wasn't sure it would work in the breadmaker(and I love my breadmaker).Since we returned to Canada in June, I have been playing around with making the sour dough starter and then making the bread. Everything I read suggested that making sour dough bread in a breadmaker wasn't that successful. With my first attempts,I fussed around, with the breadmaker hoping for the best. It turned out great from the start, and now I just throw the ingredients into the breadmaker as I used to for yeast bread, and have had consistently good results. I'll try and get my recipes up here for the starter and the bread.