bringing in the harvest

October and November, among other things, is a time of celebration.  A time for remembering our loved ones and ancestors who have passed on, a time for gathering close to our loving families still living, a time for returning home and bringing in the harvest, a time for counting our blessings and giving thanks.  Here at our home, it is a time for reaping the last of the harvest we have sown and bringing in the bounty.

This first year of experimenting with the urban garden has been such an incredible experience in learning and in getting back in touch with the spirit of the land right here where my feet and hands touch it.  We have shared meal after meal the very fruit of our labor, opened our doors and our garden to friends and family and learned so much in the process.

Boule d'Or melon

Buddha Hand Citron

Tomato Medley

Moon & Stars Watermelon

Butternut Squash

And so it is with a little tinge of sadness that we pull it all in, clean it all up, and thatch it all down to prepare for the next season. This is also a time of reflection to consider what did well and what we may change in the coming year, preserve and freeze what we have to use through the short and mild San Diego winter, and possibly even consider which crops could use an early winter start in our fertile earth.  Even now, I'm anticipating bringing in our seed crop to use again next year and sending off for our seed catalogs for what to grow next year... waiting for the inevitable winter rains and rototillers and compost enrichment.  And so, not really an end, but just turning the wheel toward the next cycle and season.

Before the reaping

Ready for the next round of planting

one last little thing...

Our tigger melon has been putting out a few baseball sized fruit all summer long.  One was finally ripe this morning for breakfast!  So sweet and yummy!

 

summer harvest

Well, the first of our harvest has started to come in!  The corn has matured and been hewn down.  Here in Southern California, we have had high temperatures and dry climates that have left the sturdiest of the crops a little brown and thin.  So, with a little hard work and much excitement, we have brought in the corn and the greater part of the late summer squash.

 

The resulting harvest has pushed growth way back into the main part of the garden, but even now, the squash is putting out new growth.

The major part of the Celebrity tomatoes are in as well and made for some wonderful pasta sauces that will accompany us to Burning Man next week.





Beyond that, the rest of the tomatoes are still a little late, but tomatoes are always welcome around this house.  Especially my favorite variety: Black Prince.

Now, the fall and winter squash are beginning to mature and promise for some delicious meals later this season.  Included in that are the zucchini rampicante, which have gone from a light green summer squash to a yellow, nutty squash reminiscent of butternut.

Last but not least, for certain... the watermellon are finallay ready!  We had our buddy Majd over last weekend and he helped us harvest our first delicious OrangeGlo Watermelon.

More to come still, this much is certain!  But for now, may your harvest be as bountiful as ours has been already.

summer bounty

As the sun comes to its height here in San Diego, we are starting to get over run with squash!  We may not have done very well with some of the other experiments for crops, but by the time October is here, I'm beginning to wonder if there will be a yard left.  We may very well be picking zucchini and pumpkin, along with melons and a few varieties of winter squash, from the patio!

5 types of melon on the left, pumpkin and zucchino rampicante on the right

Squash blossoms

Pumpkins

Zucchino Rampicante, in its natural habitat

The first little watermelon!

For melons, we have 2 types of watermelon growing, one variety called Moon and Stars, and another called Orangelo.  We then have 3 types of smaller melon:  Chanterlais, Tigger and Boule D'or, all of which are more or less like canteloupe or honeydew.  All of them either putting out either lots of vines and blooms or new shoots in the case of the Chanterlais and Boule D'or.

New melons pushing up vines

Corn is also doing great.  We have two varieties here as well, Silver Queen and Golden Bantam.

Tomatoes and our decorative carnations are all doing well too.  Some of the tomotoes even needed a haircut before they take over the blackberries, if you can imagine.

Fall and winter squash are now beginning to make a showing as well.  On this side of the garden, where things have been slow growing, but sure and steady, we have 6 varieties:  Piñata, Sweet Dumpling, Honey Bear, Sucrine du Berry, Table Queen and Acorn.  For the heck of it, since the Zucchini have pretty much swallowed up our Summer Crooknecks, I planted another mound this morning.

Piñata winter squash

Honey Bear winter squash

Finally, the Buddha Hand Citron have put out 3 fruit so far, and still a lot of blossoms.  We have put up netting to discourage theft this year (this tree is on our street front in our back yard) in hope that we will have some this year to use ourselves.  We should see these ripe by sometime around November with any luck.  For onions back by the shed, our three varieties are doing really well, which is amazing considering how small the seeds were and what we have now to show for it.  Onions might be my favorite thing we have so far.  Our varieties are Jaunde Paille D'or, Florence Red and Bianca di Maggio.

That's what's growing today!  And now, time to get to the kitchen.  Besides how wonderful it feels to give away veggies that we have grown to our neighbors, one of the most pleasing things about having a garden is being able to trade with other growers.  Last week, we got avocado and a whole basket full of chiles, along with bags full of cherry tomatoes which have made a great snack since our tomatoes are all still so late.  Tonight, making up a huge batch of roasted chiles for salsa and chile relleno.  Yummo!