August 24th Garden Haul

Just a really quick post to show off the "haul" from today's trip to the garden.  Well, mostly today.  The yellower lemon cucumber on top and one of the eggplants is from a few days ago, but who's keeping track, really?

Everything except the eggplant is from the community beds- every time we visit we do a once-over to see if there are any items ready to go.  The summer squashes (zucchini and yellow squash here) especially, because as you can see even with us doing a once-over every other day, some of them get a bit bigger than is ideal.  We're sure to grab those (since we're never sure if anyone else is even harvesting from that area), and then I go through and find any tomatoes that are BRIGHT RED.  Even with this, there are places where some of the stuff gets overripe.  I don't think very many other people are picking from the public beds. 

Last night I used the haul from a few days ago (which i failed to photograph in full) to make this casserole.  I used 3 good sized yellow squash plus a zucchini.  I seriously can't wait to make it again- I used a blend of extra sharp cheddar and monterey jack cheese, plus whole-wheat Ritz crackers.  The butter in the recipe does make it a bit less healthy than it could be, but you can easily sub that out for something with a lower fat content and it still tastes AMAZING.  I didn't have any onions so I left those out.  It was still so yummy.  A bitch to clean the pan I used, though- I miss my mom's Corningware casserole dishes.  Those were great for this kind of thing.  When I finally get around to having a wedding I'll have to put those on my registry and hope someone loves me ;)

I'm really out of the habit of taking photos- I need to really try to remember.

Montana Green Bush Bean- Fisher Garden Store

My green beans (the bush ones, anyway) are starting to wind down in productivity and I find myself wishing I had planted a lot more, because these are AMAZING.  I just pan-steam them and put some butter on, and they're just wonderful to eat. They're good raw, but a little steam so that they're tender is just the perfect way to eat them, in my opinion.

The germination rate on the seeds from Fisher's Garden Store was also really good- especially when you compare it to the results I'm getting from the seeds I purchased at Walmart, which are not doing as well.  The Burpee ones are especially bad, but even the Seeds of Change brand are not great- I am sure this has to do in part with the fact that Walmart probably doesn't have the best storage procedures for seeds- but it's still disappointing.  Next year I will get a much earlier start on things to ensure I can mail order anything I'm not buying as seedlings.

In the SFG environment, these beans have been productive for a couple weeks- I think that with more space around the plants they might produce a bit longer, but at this point the bottom leaves are dying off quickly and the blooms are slowing down.  Next year, depending on space, I'd like to do short rows of beans planted in 2 week blocks, but that will depend on location.  If I'm in Pea Pods again, I may just opt for pole beans and hope that they're as good as the Montana Green Bush variety.  My Kentucky Wonder pole beans have not produced yet that I can see- though I've seen blossoms so I suspect they should have some pods for me shortly.