Harvest Monday - Peaches, Okra, Tomatoes, Zucchini

This is just a sample of what we've been harvesting since last Monday.  We have loads of okra, so I'm putting some of it up in the freezer.  Cucumbers have also been super plentiful this season.  One thing that I'm not planting again is that lonesome red okra you see there.  In fact, I'm going to pull up all the red okra plants today and plant more regular green ones.  In our garden, red okra plants are slow in maturing, don't produce much, and there is nothing special about the flavor of their fruit. 

We have peaches!  In the last few days, they are coming in by the bucket, ready for cooking up into all sorts of yummy concoctions.  We've had peach ice cream, blueberry peach topping for our French toast on Saturday; and today I'll be fixing some cobbler...  Peaches freeze well raw, so some of them will end up in the freezer too.  Today's peach harvest was 7.8 lbs.!

Visit Daphne's Harvest Monday to see what other gardeners are harvesting today.

Harvest Monday - Surinam Cherries, Peaches, Cauliflower, Squash, Zucchini, Carrots, and Okra!

Back in December, I planted several new varieties in our garden, all of which did well.  I've posted about two of them - kohlrabi and artichokes - but this head of cauliflower came from a seed I planted as an afterthought.  I was sure nothing would come of it...  What a surprise.  For the longest time, I walked past this plant and thought - why did I plant that collard seed all by itself over there?  That's what it looked like...  I'd forgotten all about planting the cauliflower.  When Don came inside one day last week and asked me if I'd see the cauliflower growing in the garden, it all came back to me.  I went out there with him, and sure enough, it had grown this nice head!  It was the best cauliflower I've ever eaten.  I was a little concerned that we'd been late in picking it, as the head wasn't compact like the ones you see in the store, but it was delicious.

A few months ago I posted about our peach tree and how it was covered in blooms.  Here it stands in all its glory, and the peaches are juicy and sweet.  We have fresh peaches right off our tree every day for breakfast these days.  It is so worth it to plant fruit trees in your yard rather than more and more oaks and other ornamentals.

The Surinam cherry that the original owners of our home planted fifteen to twenty years ago has been giving us, and the birds, plenty of fruit.  It's a beautiful bush that grows into a nice hedge, bearing fruit twice a year in spring and fall.

In other news...  Last week was full of excitement and busy-ness at our home as my daughter got engaged the weekend before!  We are in a whirlwind of preparations for her early August wedding...  and I'm sure I'll be posting more about that during the next few months.  :)

I am linking with Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday, where you can see what and how other gardeners are growing - fresh fruits and vegetables in their own back yards!