What's Growing on Hen and Drake Farm - Week 36

Wildfires in the state have been raging all week, burning hundreds of thousands of acres, raining down ash and smoke and making it difficult to breathe. 

I've been going outside just long enough to set up sprinklers, snap a couple of quick photos and pick the oodles of tomatoes that are ripening daily

Here is the garden this week 

My lemon drop peppers are ripening. I dry these to crush and use as pepper flakes or finely grind to use as a alternative to cayenne 

Leafcutter bees have been working their way through the garden and it seems one wanted to liven up the nest with a little red from this Mexican Torch sunflower 

Volunteer squash

 After picking all the Pepperoncinis, the plant is putting out tons of new buds. If we have a warm Autumn, I should be able to make several more jars of pickled peppers

 Some of the Silver Line melons are starting to ripen

A tangle of beet flowers

 The Copra and Wethersfield Red onions have finished curing and been strung. We used all of the Ailsa Craig onions and I still have to pull and cure the Southport Red Globes. I need to put in more yellow onions next year since we use so many of them

Some of the pathetically short corn is growing tassel-ears. I have to admit, I am not good at growing sweet corn. I try nearly every year and it's usually a miserable failure. I have no problem growing popcorn and dent corn, just the sweet kind

A honeybee in a zucchini blossom

Weekly harvest total:

3 pounds 7 ounces zucchini
1 pound 4 ounces peppers
14 pounds 5 ounces onions
19 pounds 12 ounces tomatoes
12 ounces beans
11 ounces blueberries

Yearly total:

236 pounds 15 ounces