Harvest Time


It was a rough year for vegetable gardens here in the Pacific Northwest, but I'm finally feeling like I am reaping a good harvest.  I found myself in the vegetable section of the store today, realizing that I didn't have to buy a single vegetable, and I hadn't for over a month.  I stopped by my community garden patch later and harvested this:

From the left, there are parsnips, a lemon cucumber, rainbow carrots, a big zucchini, a large crookneck squash, a chocolate bell pepper and some lemon drop peppers, which I've never had before but which are supposed to be spicy.

We've been lucky to have temperatures stay pretty warm so far this fall so I'm keeping my tomatoes out until next weekend.  Here are some tomatoes I picked last week:


The seeds strewn about are coriander.

I'm not sure what to do with these.  It's not quite enough tomatoes to make sauce, but it's too many to just eat in salads.  Maybe I'll roast them to make sun-dried tomatoes.  Then again, I did that last year and never used them!  Does anyone else have ideas?  How is your fall harvest?

Comments

Amy said…
Great picture! SO colorful. My garden suffered this year too. :(
October 11, 2010 at 11:26 AM
Gina said…
Thanks for the compliments Amy! It was a rough year for gardens. Next year should be better!
October 11, 2010 at 12:04 PM
Nadya said…
I have dried tomatoes in my dehydrator, some sprinkled with basil; then store in capped glass jars. One friend covers some with olive oil, then for parties would whir them in her mini-food processor for the most delightful 'sun dried tomato' spread!! YUM!
She always had pesto as well (often frozen) that she'd bring out - & they went very quickly! The tomato infused oil (if any is left) is delightful as well. I also dried ground cherries (sweeter than tomatillos) & those were great as well.
I also enjoy adding the strips of dried tomatoes to soups, etc, ...
October 12, 2010 at 10:37 AM
Gina said…
Dia - all great suggestions. Thanks!
October 13, 2010 at 3:32 PM
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