In the last week or so we've had our first Black Prince tomatoes from the bump windows, and our first outside tomatoes, Sun Gold. 

The Black Prince had a luscious meaty flavor, really rich.  The Sun Gold are sweet and light.  They turn an orangey color when ripe, they are  green, then golden yellow before then. 

I picked the first saskatoons of the year from the back yard, about a half quart.  There are a few raspberries ripe, but most are still green.

Posted by gail_heineman at 3:27 PM YDT

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The Red Russian kale were crowded and the slugs had started on them, so I picked the lower leaves and pulled some of the smaller plants to give them air and space.  Normally I would have thinned them earlier, but there just isn't as much leaf per plant this year, with the lack of sun.  Anyway, I blanched and froze a sink full. 

I made a big pot of Caldo Verde with galego greens (Spanish Collards).  Some of the plants were grown from seed produced in my yard last year, a warm year.  The plants are just forming heads now - no seed this year.  Unlike other kole plants I have experience with, the fact they form heads doesn't seem to detract from leaf formation.  They just keep getting taller and growing more full size leaves. 

Posted by gail_heineman at 6:52 PM YDT

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Today I picked the first stupice in the bump windows.  There are several more turning red.  It took one sunny warm day and suddenly a bunch turned.  They were waiting.

The stupice had a typical tomato flavor, nothing to write home about.  But they are reliable and early for me.  Although not as early as the Sungold this year. 

Posted by gail_heineman at 7:24 PM YDT

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This morning I had an unpleasant surprise before my morning coffee.  What should I see a good 4 feet above the ground, gliding happily on my screen door?  A slug, a good 3 1/2 inches long, very large for this part of the world.   As he glided down leaving a trail of slime on my previously clean screen, I wondered what in the world he was doing up there.  Isn't he supposed to be hiding under leaves or something?  Of course it was raining, as it has been most of this sorry gray summer, and the humidity is so high I guess those slugs can go anywhere now.  He slimed back down onto the deck undisturbed as I read my newspaper and drank my coffee, drowning my sorrow in some dark caffeine rich steaming beverage.

I have beer out for the slugs to drown in.  I would put out Sluggo but it's too expensive for me right now, although the beer isn't much cheaper.  The slugs will just have their share of my greens I guess.  Live and let live. 

Posted by gail_heineman at 9:56 PM YDT

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Today we hard our first two Sungold tomatoes from the bump windows.  There are lots of green tomatoes out there.  I expected the Stupice to ripen first, since I've been selecting the earliest sweetest Stupice for seed for the next year for over a decade, but no.  The Sungold were delicious, but I miss the sun-warm flavor. It was a cool day, as usual this summer.

For dinner I harvested fresh dill, sorrel, French tarragon and cilantro, and chopped them finely into Salmon patties along with egg, corn meal and minced onion.  One of my best versions yet.  I cooked the chopped sorrel with the chopped salmon in the microwave before making the patties.  This is salmon I scraped off the bones after cutting fillets.  Our dipnetted salmon is in the freezer already. It was a good season. 

Posted by gail_heineman at 9:15 AM YDT

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