Deborah's Journal

It's been a strange season. For various Reasons, the garden we'd planned didn't get planted, then we had a spell of high heat when normally we'd have cool, overcast days. Add that to the drought. But I did go out this afternoon, basket and clippers in hand, and came back with:

One overgrown (a foot long) bicolor summer squash (this variety, a volunteer from last year, doesn't get woody when it gets too big)
A large pear (really need to strip the tree as they will not ripen except in the refrigerator)
A bowlful of very ripe tomatillos (yellow -- lemony tartness for salads)
A handful of green Emerite pole beans.
A double handful of dried Scarlet Runner bean pods (they're gorgeous, deep red shell beans -- these plants are perennial volunteers)
A double handful of tomatoes, various sizes and varieties.
A handful of ground cherries (our first year -- they grew like crazy)

The squash I'll cube, blanch, and freeze to use in winter soups. The Scarlet runner beans may become a winter holiday present. The pear needs to be cooked or dried, as this variety isn't all that good to eat. Everything else will get eaten in the next couple of days!

Originally, Dave planted parsnips out in the back alley, in the hopes that their roots would penetrate and loosen the hard stuff beneath the decent soil. (Needless to say, the parsnips have naturalized all over and we have no hope whatsoever of keeping up with them.)

Instead, this is what happened:




They sprout multiple tentacle-like roots and go sideways. Despite the difficulties of cleaning them, the results are worth it. They taste just grand. Especially if you like parsnips. Which we do.

For the first time, Dave has been successful in growing potatoes. Well, not wildly successful -- the crop from an entire row was roughly half what we should have gotten from a single plant (about 10 pounds). Better than nothing, which is what we got in previous years. These are Russian butterballs, medium sized oval potatoes with light-gold, buttery-tasting flesh. When Dave first dug them up, they looked like russets, but all that was garden dirt.

The first of the pears are ready. I'm trying to keep up with the bird-pecked ones (made and canned 3 pints of "pear sauce" -- like applesauce -- yesterday). There are still many more on the trees. Hopefully, I'll get these book revisions done before the deluge. I'll slice and dry a bunch and can some in light syrup.