This is my second post for this date. Please scroll down for the main blog for today.
After I picked the yellow crookneck squash, I ventured back out into the heat (93.9 in the shade) to harvest more from the garden. I picked the first Lemon Cucumbers, the seeds of which were a gift from Cheryl's Garden Goodies, and only two cucumbers total from the three Spacemaster plants. There was a rather small crop of strawberries, but lots of green berries and blossoms, so there are many more to come. The raspberries are finished for the season, the few I picked will be eaten right away and not even weighed. There were just enough cherry tomatoes for Mr. H's dinner salad, and yet another picking of green beans to add to the ones that are still waiting in the refrigerator. I either need to get them cooked or frozen.
I know the parsnips are not supposed to be pulled until after the first frost, but curiosity got the best of me. They are certainly large enough to eat, but I don't know how sweet they'll be with an early harvest.
Once everything is washed, trimmed and weighed, I'll be adding some poundage to my 2009 harvest total.
Ok you've made me curious too. What do summer parsnips taste like?
ReplyDeletewow I haven't got a single lemon cuke yet! I think we are having some lack of pollination!
ReplyDeleteDaphne, I don't know yet, but I'll let you know tomorrow!
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Shawn Ann, I looked at mine a couple days ago and only saw blossoms. It was only when I really examined them today that I saw the cucumbers! I had completely missed them before.
I saw a show once in which the dude made chips from parsnips. I've never tasted any before. Are they worthwhile?
ReplyDeleteRibbit, oh yes, they are! I love parsnips. They taste and look closer to a carrot than anything else I can think of. They take 100 days to mature, need to be grown in loose soil ('cause they can get huge!), and taste sweeter if left in the ground until after a freeze. I would think chips would be delicious, but I peel and slice mine the long way, then boil them until they are just fork tender. Then I heat butter in a skillet and add the drained parsnip slices, sprinkle them (turn and sprinkle both sides) with sugar and cook them over med. heat until they are caramelized, turning occasionally. These that I pulled early aren't as sweet as I'd like, but they are still very good.
ReplyDeleteSome people use them in stew.
I'm greatly enjoying my lemon cucumbers. Had a salad with just them tonight. I'm planning to grow parsnips again this year, but we'll see if I get there. You're very brave with the heat!
ReplyDeleteMy lemon cukes have already came in. They are weird. They gave me a few then it seemed like they stopped. Now they are starting up again. Kinda like waves but I didnt get too much from the first wave. My pickling cucumbers are kinda turning orange. I dont think it is the size (my 1 pounder did it first but smaller ones are doing it).
ReplyDeleteMan you harvested a lot of squash! How many plants do you have going?
Stefaneener, I do not like cucumbers, but Mr. H said the lemon cuke was very good. I can't imagine how big my parsnips might be if they live/grow until October!
ReplyDeleteJenGC, I found another big lemon cuke on my neighbor's side of the fence! I think that's 9 that I'd missed.
ReplyDeleteThat's just one hill of two squash plants, and there are a LOT of small ones still! They didn't bear that well for me last year.
The parsnips will indeed get very big. I love them just peeled, sliced, and sauteed in butter with just a sprinkle of salt. They have natural sugars that carmelize and they are really good. Chicken soup is NOT chicken soup without some parsnips cut up in it! :D
ReplyDeleteYou are certainly getting a bumper crop of crookneck squash! Good work. I am impatiently waiting for my pickling cukes to get a move on it. They have been forming cukes - but they are "no gos" because of lack of initial pollination. If the situation does not change soon, I will have to resort to hand pollination again this year. Where oh where are my bee friends?
KitsapFG, I do my parsnips the same, but with a sprinkling of sugar. I've never tried them in soup.
ReplyDeleteI'm having a pollination issue with my cantaloupe, although I did see a couple of bees nearby yesterday. The melons are right next to the borage, and that is about the only thing that seems to be attracting bees.
What a harvest! The crookneck squash are certainly productive, I have never tried them before. Do they taste just like zucchini? I had no idea parsnip tops got so large. I just planted some for the first time and was picturing carrot tops.
ReplyDeleteDan, I don't think they taste at all like zucchini. To me, zucchini (by itself) is bland and quite tasteless, and crooknecks have a sweeter flavor, almost like corn. I often dice them and mix them with corn kernels, the flavors compliment each other. You can probably tell by my menus, I also like them added to green beans. I'll steam plain sliced/diced crookneck and season with salt, pepper and butter. I wouldn't eat zucchini that way, to me it needs something else, like tomatoes.
ReplyDeletehmm, I will have to try a crookneck. I wonder if I can still fit one in this year.
ReplyDeleteDan, I'd give it a try. I just planted a hill of zucchini last week to take over for the one I think is dying. Crookneck are best when quite small, when they are pale yellow and the skin is still rather smooth. When they get bumpy and darker in color, they are too seedy and a bit pithy. The vines get really big. Last year I had a vine that rambled more than 10 feet in length. This year I planted under a ladder, which seems to be retaining them better.
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