There’s some territory to cover today, having skipped a post on the Fourth of July. The fruit harvests continue even as we wait for tomatoes and peppers.

The ‘Dorsett Golden’ apples grow as an espaliered tree about ten feet long and four feet high. It’s quite productive and a sensible option for a small yard. We cover the whole tree as harvest nears. A few years ago we lost most of the crop to night marauders, presumably raccoons.

Now, we harvest the whole crop at once, make applesauce for the freezer, a few desserts and then store the best apples in the fridge for later uses. The yield for this first crop was smaller than other years—only about 25 pounds. Not to worry though, they’ll be a second crop about half that amount in November.

Apples and rhubarb constitute a fine tasting sauce, though the color is unremarkable. I add deep red, strawberry guava puree to some batches for a flavor and color boost. Since I still have some off-bloom navel oranges coming on I added orange zest, ginger and nutmeg to the sauce.

With the best of the oranges I made Sweetened Oven Dried Orange Slices—sweet tart gems that store well in the freezer or jars. Other oranges brighten our morning with fresh juice and about two dozen remain on the tree.

Here’s a favorite lunch salad last week with my ‘Jericho’ lettuce, apples and the dried orange slices; top with toasted slivered almonds and a lemon-olive oil dressing. I think I made this four days in a row and generally I like variety.

We pick just shy of a pound of ‘Emerite’ pole beans from the four foot wide trellis most days. Neighbors are happy and I’ll be freezing more this week.

So many easy summer salads and they vary with what’s available in the garden and the pantry.

We’ve picked about five pounds of luscious nectaplums but word of that will wait until next week along with the marionberry report and strawberry guava jam.

Planting has slowed but you can see the updates in What I’m Planting Now. Then head over to see what other garden bloggers around the world harvested last week at Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Happy Acres blog.

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