We’re about three weeks into vine-ripened tomatoes here in North Carolina’s Piedmont (central) region, and Southern palettes salivate in anticipation of the season’s first tomato sandwich – two pieces of white bread, mayo, salt, pepper and about three slices of a fresh tomato. My Roma tomato plants (ideal for canning, with their meaty fruit) are loaded with green produce, so I’ll just have to patiently wait for them to turn red.
A basket of plenty – straight from my garden!
Photo Credit: Megan Bame
These cantaloupes are at various stages of ripening. The second from the left will be ready to pick soon.
Photo Credit: Megan Bame
It’s no surprise these are called grape tomatoes – they resemble a grape cluster as they grow and ripen.
Photo Credit: Megan Bame
The cucumber and squash harvest has slowed here, and while we enjoyed our first planting and harvest of sweet corn, we’re again praying for rain so that successive plantings will fill out. (We planted a couple rows of corn every two to three weeks this season, for a total of four plantings, so we could spread the harvest throughout the summer.) Since we don’t spray our sweet corn, we anticipate finding a corn worm in almost every ear. Of course, that’s really no big deal – we just cut off the tip of the ear where the worm feasted. (A friend of ours reported that her kids wanted to adopt the worms as pets…whereas I like to squish ’em.)
Okra is also starting to come into season. The plants are still rather short, but the pods are ready for harvest. The favored local preparation here is to chop okra into bite-size cylinders, batter in cornmeal and fry. Pickled okra is also a delicacy to some – my neighbor rations her pickled okra through the year so she never has to go a month without it. If you let the pods get too big, your okra will be tough and fibrous. Tender pods require harvesting at least every other day.
Peppers, green beans (a stringless, bush variety) and, most recently, eggplant round out the current vegetable harvest from my garden. Cantaloupes are plentiful and sweet, and watermelons are just now to the point of ripening, too. (We admit to being a little too anxious with the first watermelon we plucked from the vine. It wasn’t quite ready, and unlike other produce, watermelons won’t continue to ripen or get any sweeter once they’ve been picked.)
Fresh herbs are harvested as needed, and still to come are our lima beans, crowder peas, sweet potatoes and peanuts. From my flower beds, I’ve enjoyed cutting fresh mixed bouquets to grace my table, which is now regularly covered with fresh-picked, home-cooked garden delights.
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services has developed a brand for North Carolina growers called “Goodness Grows in North Carolina.” To be sure, goodness grows in my Carolina garden – I hope you’re enjoying the same in yours!
