Harvest Time

Leer en español.

The summer of 2018 has been one of  the hottest ever, and by late July we had had almost as many sunny days as we do in other years for the whole summer. The heat wave was a mixed blessing for the garden: while the high temperatures and the lack of rain caused some things (for example beans, peas, and, for some reason, my zucchinis) to dry or not develop so well, others such as the tomatoes, eggplant and peppers thrived. This also meant a much earlier harvest.

I was expecting to harvest my hokkaido squash in the fall, or in late August at the earliest. So I was surprised to notice that it looked quite ready by end-July: the fruits (which by then had a much darker orange color) stopped growing, their skin was hard, and they sounded hollow when knocking on the skin. I still had my doubts; but when I noticed that the plants also started drying I realized that it was time.

This was on July 22, almost ready.

Still trying to avoid the newbie mistake of harvesting things too early (which has already happened to me a few times) I waited until August 1 to pick my first pumpkin. Despite being a bit smaller than those you get in the market (probably due to having grown in a smallish pot instead of on a big field), it was perfect!

Ready for cooking. 

In total I planted four pumpkin plants: three hokkaido, and one butternut. Unfortunately, the butternut didn't give fruit. I also lost one (or about 80% of one) of my hokkaido pumpkins because I left it too long without noticing that moisture was building on the soil beneath it and that it had started rotting. Well, I learned my lesson and will now take care so it doesn't happen again.

With the first hokkaido squash from my garden, I improvised a quiche with onions, champignons, herbs and feta cheese, which I can (humbly) say was delicious.  

:)