In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen

It’s summer salad season and this one brought together lettuce, green beans, tomatoes and herbs from the garden. It’s one of my favorites—Poached Salmon Nicoise from Sunset Magazine. Dinners are determined by a trip to the garden most days.

I try new salads from recipes I’ve gathered in and the occasion for this one was the first cucumber. Garden parsley, red onion and lime juice with canned black beans was a quick fix on a warm day.

Since I only have room for three cucumber plants I always grow ‘Chelsea Prize’ from Renee’s Garden. The catalog describes them perfectly—12-15 inches, thin-skinned, bitter-free, crispy, sweet flesh and few seeds. “The handsome glossy fruits are produced in abundance from every node of the vigorous, self-pollinating vines.” I keep neighbors and family in cukes every summer.

Here’s a sampling of some of the tomatoes harvested this week.

‘Black Krim’ tomatoes

‘Black Cherry’ and ‘San Marzano’ tomatoes

With zucchini coming on strong and lots of tomatoes I had plates of veggies to share with neighbors and friends. I’m also caring for a neighbor’s very productive garden for three weeks and distributing her harvests.

And great tomatoes mean great sandwiches for lunch.

‘Cimarron’ romaine lettuce is my new favorite summer lettuce—slow to bolt and large, colorful leaves. This harvest came from an 8-inch container kept in dappled sun.

‘Robyn Gordon’ grevilleas, Australian in origin seem to like our Mediterranean climate, producing gorgeous blooms most of the year.

See what other garden bloggers harvested from their gardens last week at Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.