Let the Harvest Begin

The harvesting has been going on for some time, with lots of additional work cooking and freezing yellow squash, beans, cucumbers and making tomato sauce.  Tomato sauce seems to be my favorite, as I have found an easy way to just trim them (making sure they are clean and in good shape), squeeze out some of the liquid and seeds and put them in a pot.  I then use a hand blender (http://www.crateandbarrel.com/cuisinart-2-speed-smart-stick-hand-blender/s567957?a=1552) and blend the tomatoes down, including the skin.  Doing it this way gives the sauce a bit more body without any skin floating around.  

The eggplants have finally come to maturity, as have the peppers (sort of, as they are supposed to be red peppers).  My potato crop has been good, with the Pontiac Reds having a mix of small, medium, large and extra large potatoes.  So far, there has been almost no black rot inside any of the potatoes, a problem I had last summer.  I am thinking this may be due to a much drier summer and the fact that I am using soaker hoses to water instead of an above ground sprinkler.

The watering process certainly seems to have benefited the tomatoes as the beefeaters are coming in very nicely. The two in the photo are medium sized, as I have given away a few of the massive ones.  

The summer weather has been extremely nice, with temperatures mainly in the 80's during the day and in the 60's at night.  As we move into August temps are dropping down in to the high 50's.  Rain has been pretty scarce, but my watering system has done a good job keeping things growing along.  

Except for a two week sick leave from a lingering summer cold (probably from working on the pool so much), I have been able to maintain weed control pretty well.  The only area that has some issues is in the potato rows.  However, as I harvest potatoes, I am also cleaning out the weeds.  

I have tried a few second crops of broccoli and a late crop of zucchini because Tabitha requested that, but the moths have been having a fun time with them.  My early broccoli did not have that program, nor did I have many green worms.  We will see how that crop goes with about another month of good growing still to come.