Work in the veggie and fruit gardens has been heavy, frequent and hot. I wonder how many liters of salt water I have lost between spring and now. Take the plums, for instance--In addition to the usual ground treatment and bedeking of the trunks with sticky strips there was the removal of the fruits with little black holes in them--(worm holes). Then there was the June drop and after that I could thin out the remaining fruits so that the tree could make some decent sized plums. Too many plums stresses the tree and results in too many small fruits. If I want small purple fruits, then I can plant a grape vine. I removed two of these large trugs full of perfectly good plums. I can't begin to estimate the weight. There were so many, but one of my collegues said that she'd take them for her pig. Well, it was too much for me to take on the bike to work, so she came by with her auto to pick them up. It was quite warm the days that we had to pluck those plums and wasps (yellow jackets) seem to be attracted to perspiration I discovered. :-? The reward for this was a remarkable harvest today of these wonderful Opal plums. They are so sweet. You can see the trugfull on the harvest foto a little further down. Then of course there are the tomatos--One of the more work-intensive plants that I have. Not even including the germination and molly-coddling during the early days...there is the ground replacement in the greenhouse and the mixture and treatment of that ground before the windows are ever replaced. After that there is the frame construction and planting of the plantlets. Next, the chores of suckering and several pruning exercises of excess foliage...and of course watering and feeding every other day or so. Naturally as the plants grow upwards, they must be supported and tied in to the sticks periodically. But as the summer wears on, the fruits begin to form and turn colour. Then it's time for the reward. The day comes where I briskly approach the greenhouse, fling open the door and shout into it...: "SHOW ME DA MAYDUZ"! Then with the little trug in tow, I wade into the green and red growth to reap MY due: As I retreat out of the greenhouse, I chant back at them, "Oh yeah... uh-huh"... (Chomp!) "Oh yeah"! (Slurp!) mmmm-hmmmmm...."Today is MY day, red boys". "Goodbye greenhouse, hello BLT's"...my eyelids flutter from the ecxtacy as I take another bite of that indescribably flavourful fruit. As promised a foto of the general harvest today inncluding the kilos of plums that were harvested. It was about 2/3rds of the total that were on that one tree. The Reina Victoria still has to be picked. I wonder where I will be able to put all the jars of jam.(( :-? )) Ah, but then it's time to head for home where the work begins again. Yes, there are beans to be cut and bagged for the freezer, plums that must be pitted and ground through the passe-vite. Then the jamming begins. But first.....One hears from the kitchen...."mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm-MMMMMH"! punctuated by crunching sounds and moans requesting a premature angelic deliverance heavenwards. This is why: Wouldya just look at that. Salted with butter melting and running. Yes, fellow gardners--it is the first corn harvest of the season. Another reward. There was the planting, watering, feeding, combatting of moles, building of an anti-avian cage, the concern of a proper pollination...but now, in a few strained moments of intense and pure enjoyment (almost perverse in nature), the whole of the hard work, all of the unpleasant moments, and any other negative aspects that had arisen during the course of this season until this very moment were swept-away by a flood flavour. The flavour of pure butter and the taste of salt mixed with the joy of the taste of freshly-picked corn...boiled in less than an hour of being picked. It is the first one of the season. I will eat many more cobs of fresh corn and freeze even more than that...but the sensation of that first cob of the season is just not to be compaired with anything else. It is for me, the apex of the season. I know what it is to eat corn from tin cans and I know what it is like to buy corn in stores and cook it at home--but that is already days old. Corn begins to deteriorate in flavour quality from the second that it is separated from the plant, so the sooner it hits boiling water, the better. Guys, thank you for your patience. I leave you with this happy picture. It's a picture that reflects the culmination of a sport: man against (sometimes with) Mother Nature. This is my trophy. This is my reward.
That is SOME reward Sjoerd! I didn't plant any corn this year, but I can't wait to see that corn stand at the corner open up this year! Not quite as fresh as yours, but close Everything looks wonderful and I see you are still cutting those sweet peas...I really MUST try those again.
Cut it out---- you are making me hungry. And then you need to show that you have eaten some too. Your a first rate tease. Tom
I only planted zucchini, yellow crook neck and tomatoes. My cucumbers have turned brown. Time to pull them off the fence and decide if I want to put something else there. I know what you mean about thinning out the plums. We had a peach tree that got about a zillion peaches one year. It really hurt me to have to pick the little ones and toss them. The chickens loved me though. But, big peaches more than made up for tossing the little ones. I didn't need to do that with the apricots. I want some of those tomatoes, too. Mine don't look so good as yours. There isn't another thing that tastes as good as a tomato right out of the garden or an ear of corn or anything else you can pick and eat as fresh. dooley
You are such a big tease. You should be ashamed of yourself! The tomatoes in the basket are making me so hungry for BLT's. And the corn looks so delish!
Thats not even being nice. Teasing us all like that. Everything in your garden looks mmmmm good. I can't wait till our toms look like yours or atleast close. Our corn is just starting to top, but no corn is ready yet. Ah, but we do have some cucs coming along nicely. Now that most of my activities are done maybe I can post a few picts of my garden again. yours just looks so delicious.
You have managed to absolutely starve me to death I want you to know.I think there should be a law against these kind of things.Your veggies and fruits are just something else.I think I will go eat a pickle loaf sandwich and dream of your corn and B.L.T. Shame on you.
*drool* Oh, I do agree with Glenda. You are so lucky that the invasion has ended by now, or you wouldn't have a single tomato, plum or corn cob to enjoy. Just so you know.
That does it!! After seeing all those luscious fruits and veggies I'm off to raid our trees. I need to sink my teeth into a few of my plums now that I've seen yours and check my plants for ripe tomatoes. :-D
What an amazing post....everything looks so colorful and yummy...all your hard work really pays off! Your MATERS look so delicious and the BLT was probably the best! Plum jam sounds yummy....Can't wait to see another post about your wonderful garden!
OH, Ha ha! I can't believe you would tease us like that! (But I do like it!) That is the yummiest looking corn I have ever seen. Everything else looks wonderful and all that hard work has paid off! Sjoerd, on your harvest pic, what is the lighter green veggie to the left of the zucchini (courgettes?)? It has the shape of the zucchini but is light. Is it another kind of summer squash? I like imagining the pigs enjoying the green plums too. Spread the wealth.
Oh Sjoerd, that looked heavenly. My corn has just started to develop the cobs so we will have to wait a few weeks more yet. And your toms look fabulous. Again, mine are a few weeks away from harvesting, but they are grown outside, however, I shall be shouting at them to get a move on when I next see them now that I have seen yours. The harvest looks great Sjoerd. I keep meaning to ask, do you eat jam every day? I make lots of jam throughout the season, and have masses still from last year! In fact, I did have a jar of cherry jam that I made from the very last cherries from my mums tree which she had cut down 3 years ago, and I only at that a couple of weeks ago!
...it looks like I'm in someone's doghouse.... Thanks Netty. Yes, I'm still cutting sweetpeas. every 4 days or so for myself but every couple of days ig I am giving some away. Sorry Tom.... Dooley, those toms are really supurb...no kidding. Well, KG--I was for a while...but the taste of that veg melted away my guilt. Glad to hear that your activitiers have slowed a little...that means that we can see pics of your veg as well. I'm looking forward to that. Glenda--you are a caution. --chuckle-- Sorry I made you hungry. Heh heh heh...well, there's enough to go round, methinks. So how'd it go, Eileen? Was there enough to fill you guys up out in your garden? What kind of plums do you have, BTW? Thanks so much, G'mama---I am pretty inpressed with your garden fotos. It looks like you are going to have an abundance this year. Tease?? Me??...Why whatever do you mean, Daisy? Those light green veggies are also a type of courgette--the Cavili F1 Hybred. It is a real producer, but the interesting thing about this type of courgette is that it is parthenocarpic and does not need insects to pollinate it's flowers. Further is doesn't need alot of heat. It can still make loads of fruits in cool and rainy and overcast weather. It is my best producing courgette this year so far. I quite like it's taste as well--sort of "creamy". Yes, I'll bet those pigs really enjoyed the plums. Pigs make the most amaziung sounds when they eat--it sounds like they really enjoy their food. Thanks so much for your posting, EJ--yes, I do eat jam every singel day, so I go through alot in a year. I have only one jar left at this moment, I give some away also during the course of the year. I enjoy doing that. We also freeze some berries in for later in the year --then we make things like 3-fruit jam or 4-fruit jam, which has a nice flavlor too. Oh! Cherry jam--that spounds very tasty. I love cherries so much though, I can never keep them long enough to be able to jam. I just gobble them down without a trace of self-restraint. It's odd that your veg development is behind mine this year, isn't it? I guess turn about is fair play then, isn't it?
Oh Sjoerd, that looked heavenly. My corn has just started to develop the cobs so we will have to wait a few weeks more yet. And your toms look fabulous. Again, mine are a few weeks away from harvesting, but they are grown outside, however, I shall be shouting at them to get a move on when I next see them now that I have seen yours. The harvest looks great Sjoerd. I keep meaning to ask, do you eat jam every day? I make lots of jam throughout the season, and have masses still from last year! In fact, I did have a jar of cherry jam that I made from the very last cherries from my mums tree which she had cut down 3 years ago, and I only at that a couple of weeks ago!
Wow, Sjoerd With such colorful (nope, we spell it this way in MD, USA) and tastebud-tantalizing descriptive text, we didn't need the photos, but I'm so glad you included them!!!! Fantastic blog! Lift your plates high, my fellow gardeners, CHEERS!
