right now

right now

Jun 19, 2012

Theeeeeyreeee HERE!

Lots of firsts when I went into the garden yesterday!

First beans, first peppers, first tomatoes and first squash & zucchini!

Yellow Wax beans, Romano flat beans, green bush beans, Charleston Belle peppers, Jimmy Nardello Frying peppers, pepperoncini, cherry and Currant tomatoes along with some lettuces that haven't bolted yet.

LOCK YOUR DOORS, the summer squash and Zebra zukes are coming in!


A mix of yellow wax and green beans ready for the freezer -


Cut Romano Flat beans all blanched and ready for storage -


The remaining onions were pulled, most had bolted -


Loch got his first bee sting yesterday, with no serious reaction - congrats!  

Of course, his bee suit arrived right afterwards in the mail LOL.  He will be all set for his first time working in the 4-H club hives next weekend, and I'll feel a little better knowing that he had no significant reaction to his first sting.

He complained about how big the suit was, but hey - I'm not buying one of these every 6 months, it needs to last awhile :)

Finished off the evening by grilling some tuna steaks, the last of the dug potatoes and of course, beans!



We may be short on tomatoes this year due to blight, but nobody will starve as long as they will eat beans and zucchini!

Another first was watering the garden - can you believe I haven't had to water until yesterday?  Of course after I made the effort of dragging hose all over I woke up to light showers this morning.  Wasn't even in the forecast, but I'll take it!  Of course, lots of rain this year has meant for blight on steroids...

I'm finally able to have some numbers to put into the sidebar harvest counter, woohoo!




25 comments:

  1. That is just a normal-sized zucchini, right? It's just the angle that has that "coming to eat your town" look, right?

    Loch looks great. I'm glad he didn't blow up (it did itch, right? Tell me I'm not the only one) and he'll have fun even if the suit's big.

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    1. Stefaneener, yep, that's actually a nice smaller zucchini it didn't even have to be peeled before sauteening, it's just the camera angle I think. Loch's sting itched for sure, but he didn't seem as uncomfortable as mine was - about 3 hours after mine it itched like it was on fire!

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  2. Beautiful produce! I especially love the beans and zucchini.

    Loch will grow into that suit much too fast.

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  3. Yum! How is the taste of the Jimmy Nardello frying peppers? I'm very curious about them, I've never heard of them. And you have a lot of beans. I can't wait to see your garden tour.

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    1. Nartaya, to be honest I don't like them as much as the other bell peppers I have grown. I bought them since they were so pretty and am still operating off a 3 year old seed packet. They do have some good qualities though, they are quite thin-skinned and perfect for frying with onions to top bratwursts and such, and the long strips freeze nicely for stir fry but aren't that great raw on salads and the like.

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  4. What do you do with all the beans?! I never realized how many beans there were in 1/2 pound, but I just harvested about that much--and it's only just beginning.

    So, you blanch and freeze them? I'm thinking about pickling--I have a standard fridge/freezer combo, and my pie crusts and cookie doughs take up a bunch of that space.

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    1. Kenneth, I freeze most of the beans to use in the winter, they freeze and steam later beautifully and are always good to throw into stir-frys. I steam blanch them for 4 minutes (if you boil it's only 2), cool in cold water, dry and freeze on a cookie sheet - then after about an hour dump them into ziploc bags. I used to do the food saver seal but found that it's easier to have a bag I can just reach into to grab what I need, they won't stick together that way. I will usually make pickled Dilly Beans towards the end of the bean picking season when I don't get so much at one time, they are delis!

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    2. Report: 1.5 pounds of beans from the last 3 days blanched and frozen. It may seem small to you, but that's huge for me! And they just keep coming--some varieties haven't even started, and I succession sowed a little too. I'm starting to get scared!

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  5. What a great harvest!! Congrats. Lots of yummy food and food for later too!

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    1. 1st Man, thanks! It's nice to finally see some harvest rolling in :)

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  6. Wow, those beans look GREAT! I got off to a slow start this year and our beans are just started poking through the ground last week. Can't wait for green (and yellow) bean munching season! Cute little beekeeper you got there :)

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    1. Carolynn Renee, you will be eating beans soon! I'm always surprised by how fast they are once they flower.

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  7. Oh boy, those beans sure do look good. I have some teeny, tiny baby ones forming. I hear ya on the zucchini. I'm already baking and freezing zucchini cakes, just to get them out of the fridge, and the season has just begun :-(

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    1. Gran, I just saw flowers the other day and was totally surprised that some were already too big LOL, they are fast! I'm going to have to get creative with the zucchini, I've never grown it before since even when I don't it still seems to show up in my kitchen LOL!

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  8. Our growing season has barely started with most of my seeds just out of the soil. We bought tomato plants and they are looking pretty bad due to all our rain and cool temps.

    Your fresh veggies look delish not to mention that tuna steak!

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    1. Sparkless, you need to post some pics! That rain can be troublesome, we are finally drying out after what seemed like months of daily rain.

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  9. I have 3 things to say.1st-who's the space alien 2nd--who's running the farmers market in your backyard 3rd,I'll be there for dinner -num

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  10. and so it begins!!! Love Loch in his bee suit! Can't wait to hear all about his bee keeping adventures!

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    1. Robin, I just hope he likes it! His first day to work in the bee yard it is scheduled to be 96 degrees, yuck - that would damper my enthusiasm in a hurry LOL!

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  11. Erin, your harvest looks soooo good! We're starting to get some tomatoes now, but the peppers still have a ways to go. BUT we are getting lots of cucumbers, which means we're eating them pretty much every.single.day. :-)

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  12. Wish I had the zucchini problem you have. Mine cant get the flowers going at the right times. It has all female or all male. I have only gotten 2 fruit and now the squash bugs are here. UGH!!!!!!!!!!

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  13. It's June 21st, and that means HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY you!!!!!!!!!!! ;) xoxoxo

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  14. Hey, it's your birthday??? HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN!!!!! And I am so envious of your produce - already. Never mind how envious I will be in a month. Be sure to tell Loch to tuck his pant legs into his socks. Who cares how nerdish it looks - bee stings on your ankles are no fun. I know.

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