A Bountiful Late July Harvest

July 31, 2017

Every summer, I try to spend as much time as possible at Skylands, my home in Seal Harbor, Maine. I always enjoy my trips there, especially when friends and family are able to join me.

Before leaving, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, picked another sizable amount of vegetables from my Bedford, New York farm, including the season’s first eggplants, carrots, zucchinis, and hot peppers. I am so happy with this year’s prolific crops - what’s growing in your garden?

Enjoy these photos.

: We’ve harvested so many wonderful vegetables this year – it makes me so happy to be able to share all this produce with friends and family during our stay at Skylands.

: I always like to grow many varieties and colors of carrots! The orange and purple carrots are ready for picking. Most are familiar with the orange carrots, but they also come in red, yellow, white and purple.

: Beets – the beetroot is the taproot of the beet plant, and is often called the table beet, garden beet, red or golden beet or simply… beet.

: Beets are highly nutritious, and very good for maintaining strong cardiovascular health. It’s low in calories, contains zero cholesterol and is rich in folates, vitamin-A, B-complex and antioxidants.

: Here is a white variety of cauliflower – beautiful, and so, so healthy.

: We have so many onions – they look great. There are many red, yellow, and white varieties.

: Onions are a rich source of vitamin-C, manganese, potassium and phosphorus. Onions are also low in caloric value and high in dietary fibers.

: Here are our first zucchinis of the season – so perfect and ready for picking. Also known as courgette, zucchini classically has a deep green skin and soft white flesh.

: We harvested a full bucket of summer squash. Zucchini can be dark or light green, A related hybrid, the golden zucchini, is a deep yellow or orange color – all so delicious.

: We also harvested several eggplants. I like to pick them when they’re smaller. Here’s Ryan with one that is the perfect size.

: We planted several varieties. Pick eggplants when they are young and tender. Picking a little early will encourage the plant to grow more, and will help to extend the growing season.

: The cabbages are thriving! To get the best health benefits from cabbage, it’s good to include all three varieties into the diet – Savoy, red, and green. And, don’t forget, cabbage can be eaten cooked and raw.

: Cabbage, Brassica oleracea, is a member of the cruciferous vegetables family, and is related to kale, broccoli, collards and Brussels sprouts. The leaves of the Savoy cabbage are more ruffled and a bit more yellowish in color.

: The lettuces look amazing, Lettuces can be generally placed in one of four categories: looseleaf, butterhead, crisphead, and romaine.

: More artichokes – I love artichokes. The globe artichoke, Cynara scolymus. Artichokes are actually flower buds, which are eaten when they are tender.

: Artichokes have very good keeping qualities and can remain fresh for at least a week. Look how many Ryan picked, and there are still more growing.

: Swiss chard is a leafy green vegetable often used in Mediterranean cooking. The leaf stalks are large and vary in color, usually white, yellow, or red. The leaf blade can be green or reddish in color.

: Here are two of my peacocks strolling past the vegetable garden. My peafowl are all very friendly and curious. They love to walk around the farm during the day. At night, they are returned to their coops where it is safe.

: These hot peppers look ready too. The jalapeño is a medium-sized chili pepper of the species Capsicum annuum. It is mild to medium in pungency depending on the cultivar.

: The tomatoes are growing excellently on the vines. We should be picking our first red tomatoes in another week or so.

: Everything is loaded onto our Polaris ATV and brought up to my flower room, where they get washed if needed, then bagged and stored in the refrigerator.