For dinner tonight we’ll be having spaghetti with a sauce made from basil, oregano, and thyme from the herb garden, and all those dang Gioia della Mensa tomatoes (recipe will be posted later).
So, how many places should I set? (Someone pick up a bottle of red, pls, kthx.)
Let’s see…corn gets harvested (hopefully) the 2nd week of July, and watermelons the week after. And THIS is exactly why I bought a garden journal this year….primarily to keep track of planting times vs. harvest times. But I really have used the heck out of this thing so far. Not only planting dates, but transplanting, pest control New Jersey, fertilizing schedules, and diagrams of planting areas, planned beds, all kinds of things have gone into it. However, I will not bother again with the specific “gardening journal,” as they’ve wasted a ton of usable space with pictures, motivational quotes, etc. etc. Next year just a blank lined journal will be perfect.
Speaking of the journal, whilst perusing planting dates I noticed the Pineapple Melon (aka. the Pantyhose Melon), was about 15 days past harvest date. Even though it remained only about the size of a softball, we went ahead and harvested it Friday night, thinking at the very least the beleaguered vine could do with a break from fruit production. So we plucked it and sliced it open…
It was fragrant, but only in the manner of a honeydew melon, not so much redolent of pineapple, which is probably more due to its lack of appropriate size than anything else. Ah well, there are multiple blooms on the vine so we’ll have more by which to judge in 80 (or so) days.
*With a nod to the original Yard Eater
UPDATE: Gioia della Mensa tomatoes are far too mild to be a suitable spaghetti sauce, so you’ll just have to wait for the San Marzanos to ripen for the recipe.