July in San Francisco is one of the first of the really rich harvest months in our climate. Our harvest months never really end- even in winter we can have a lot of veg- but starting in June and roaring through July is when we get the really good stuff starting.
Of course there’s squash.
That I’m inundated with squash isn’t really news though. Or to any gardener anywhere.
Nor is it a bad thing! And of course now that I’m back at work it means I have new victims I mean co-workers to share squash with.
The cucumbers are FINALLY producing. The only annoying thing about this is that it took this long, but whatever telegraph improved are good whenever.
(grumble grumble shoulda had more by now grumble grumble)
Now to the untrained eye the potato bed probably looks a mess!
Look at those dying vines!
That just means I have potatoes.
And can I just say- a fresh dug potato is a true thing of beauty. Yes the historical importance of a storage starch filled vegetable is important to the history of several cultures and blah blah blah. Screw storage these babies are getting dug and washed and cut up and cooked and are going right into my stomach AKA the carb void.
I think we’re all feeding the carb void these days and frankly- why not.
My carb void is limitless and I’d much rather fill it with homegrown taters.
This is a beautiful and aggravating picture. The tomatoes are beautiful- the beans are aggravating. See- I’ve never really grown anything but green beans and snap peas. Therefore I did not know that there was a point where a runner bean crosses the line forever from “green” to “dry and shell me”. Those tough fibrous pods? I washed them and boiled them like I would a romano bush. Was not expecting that half of it would be completely inedible fiber.
BLECH.
Oh well- guess I’m just gonna learn to love shell beans.
grumble grumble.
Ah- but this makes it all worth it. The ridiculous watering BS- the fungal nightmare- the soil conundrums.
Those are ripening glaciers!
Last but not least- this beauty is the first ripe Spike tomato.
Which means all this aggravation was worth it.
Still mad about the beans though.
The Neanderthal Gardens 