From commentor Max:
Jalapenos a month and half ago…
And the same ones harvested after I let them turn red, along with an ancho pepper (the big one) and a Santa Fe Grande (the lighter colored one).
***********
What’s going on in your gardens this week?
Linda Featheringill
Oh peppers! I’m so jealous!
I’m going to try again next year, starting from seed with the advice of Betty Cracker’s hubby. And they may need more space than I’ve been giving them.
Daughter and Resident Grouch really like peppers. Me, I’m a wimp.
geg6
We ate the very last cuke last night. We had a huge crop of them and John made yummy bread and butter pickles, sweet relish and dill relish–about 30 jars in all. Started canning the tomatoes this week, making use of a lot of our basil in the process. We had stuffed banana peppers for dinner last week and will be making them again for the Labor Day party at my sister’s next weekend. And don’t even talk to me about zucchini. I have no idea what we’ll do with them all. We already have five loaves of zucchini bread in the freezer and two on the counter. But what I’m really excitedly waiting for is the beets. Can’t wait to roast up a few. One of my most favorite thing ever!
raven
This is one of three that went after the princess’s figs! Since she spent the better part of a week putting them up I can’t think that it’s the end of the world that the critters got to eat some.
Platismatia
One of the benefits of living in a sub-tropical hellhole like south Louisiana is that you get……..Fall tomatoes! Just planted 10 plants. Still pulling off jalapenos, cayennes, habaneros, anchos, gypsys, and banana peppers. One bed is full of volunteer basil so I’m furiously making pesto and freezing it in ice cube trays for later use. Cleared out the rest of the beds getting ready for the Fall/Winter garden of broccoli, cabbage, beets, spinach, Swiss chard, lettuce, brussels sprouts, carrots, onions, shallots, leeks,,,and going to try to get a crop of beans in before it gets “cold”. Also, the satsumas, blood oranges, lemons, limes, and persimmons are ripening just fine.
Don’t hate me…in addition to a year-long garden, I get Bobby Jindal for my Governor and David “Baby Huey” Vitter is one of my senators (Mary Landrieu isn’t much better, but at least she pays lip service to my belief system).
raven
@Platismatia: Ah, I’m reading John Besh’s “My New Orleans” cookbook right now!
c u n d gulag
The cannabis crop is coming in fine.
JUST KIDDING, NSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No.
REALLY.
I’M KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish it were true, so I’d have some income.
But it’s NOT TRUE, NSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Culture of Truth
From green to red. Commies.
Punchy
I expect to be a tall plant, weed, and tree expert by EOD. No, not some fancy workshop or sleeping with a botonist. Going golfing.
Currants
Groundhog moved in 2 days ago. First round, he won. 2nd roun last night, and if it went to me like it so far appears, I won (this) war. Voracious vegetarians, they are.
Belafon
OT: Yesterday, we dropped my oldest at college. It’s about 11 hours away. I realized on the way home that he was my best friend. I don’t think I was his, he is 18 and I used to ground him, but he was the person I could make jokes with as well as share music and stories with. The reason this is so odd, and it took me so long to figure out, is we are always telling the kids that we are parents, not friends.
Xboxershorts
Our Thai Dragon peppers and Chili peppers are coming in. In Northern PA.
We built a green house using a shelter frame and 4 mil plastic sheeting. It’s been wonderful.
Tomatillos, tomatoes up the ying yang, peppers galore of so many different varieties I can’t count em all.
The cukes are in, but more coming, Zucchini in, and more coming, been eating everbearing strawberries all summer long…
3 kinds of mint, lots of dill, oregano, sweet and red basil drying…onions, garlic.
This is our best harvest ever. living with a siicilian, the smell of sauces simmering infuses the house with a warmness I have never known before.
I just hope she didn’t grow any iocaine in that greenhouse.
HeartlandLiberal
Tuesday I tilled up 40% of the garden that had finished producing, added fertilizer and some peat in the newest area. Wednesday I planted sets for collards, kale, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, two kinds of cabbage, and cauliflower. Then I planted a bunch of varieties of lettuce, Swiss chard, carrots, beets, turnip greens, radishes, probably 20 short rows of all sorts of stuff that if I can get it going now will flourish as the Fall weather cools.
I am sprinkling the area every day, we are in the upper 80’s and have had almost no significant rain for over two weeks or more now, to keep it moist.
I noticed Saturday morning that the turnip green seeds had sprouted already, in just four days after planting.
gelfling545
All at once the Juliet tomatoes have colored up & are ready to pick so there will be Caprese salad for dinner today. My Cayennes are starting to turn red. I will let them stay on the plant until just before frost. bring them inside to let them finish drying & stick them in the jar on the shelf over the stove for winter cooking. I have just one plant pepper plant this year as one succumbed to some sort of blight & will probably have to purchase peppers later in the year to add to the stock.
Betty Cracker
@Linda Featheringill: I hope they work out for you!
@Platismatia: Yep — here in the subtropical hellhole of FL, Voldemort is our governor, a million yahoos are stalking the aisles of Target with concealed weapons, etc., but we will enjoy fall tomatoes.
@Belafon: Awwww.
OzarkHillbilly
Hot peppers are my one unalloyed success story this year. Jalapenos and cayennes have produced as usual, the poblanos and anaheims are doing well for the first time for me, and the Hungarian wax (1st time tryout) are doing well too. My only disappointment has been the serranos. Way down for them. Gonna put up some mixed pickled peppers today.
Tomatoes and beans too. Coming to the end of both. Surprised that the tomas lasted this long. Kinda surprised the beans seem to be dying off so early, too.
Hope I can get something in for a fall garden in the next week or 2. I am framing a house for a friend and at 55 (yrs) and 95 (degrees) I just don’t have the “Ooooomph!” I once did.
jeffreyw
Mmm… habaneros
Betty Cracker
Anyone else growing Marconi peppers? My hubby grew some last year, and they immediately became a favorite.
OzarkHillbilly
@Belafon: Good for you. Enjoy it, foster it as much as you can and in the years to come he will appreciate you more and more.
I had very good relations with both my sons until a very difficult time for them came in their teens. Far more than most kids ever have to deal with. I won’t bore you with the details but I had to take custody from my ex, which led to never ending legal BS that only concluded with her going to prison (she is now doing her 2nd stint, 7 yrs). Of course it was all my fault. During those years I had to make some very hard decisions, not always with spectacular results. So some of the blame was correctly aimed at me. I did make mistakes. But, at 25 and 27, they are now able to look back and realize that whatever I did, however badly, I tried to keep them and their well being foremost in my mind.
They will never be my “best” friends, but we do enjoy each others company when we get together, and we do talk on a regular basis.
Southern Beale
G’morning, y’all. Yesterday I picked up the current issueof Harper’s and read William Vollman’s account of how the FBI tracked him for years, first thinking he was the Unabomber and then thinking he was the Anthrax terrorist. It’s quite a read, far more revealing about our security state than any of this Glenn Greenwald shit. I highly recommend it.
Reminds me of a Russian novel.
MomSense
I don’t have any garden pictures to share but I do have a recipe for those of you with pepper harvests. It says it serves 8 but don’t believe them. You will eat this stuff until it is gone and want more!
http://blog.chron.com/forkandcork/2009/10/chef-secrets-goode-co-seafoods-shrimp-campechana/
Botsplainer
My yard grows nothing but cedar, the occasional hardwood, poison ivy and honeysuckle.
You think I kid, but I can’t even get hostas or rhododendrons to thrive. I tried a spruce tree, and the soil killed it. Aside from one small patch next to the front of the house and another next to the street, grass doesn’t want to do much. Our solution was window boxes and a few spindly spreading wildflowers in an area by the front walk.
Ultimately, it means less work for me, which I deem good. The wife has talked about wanting raised beds an a vegetable setup in those raised beds with imported dirt, but I envisioned me doing a lot of work, her going out to plant and leaving the rest of the work for me, followed by a deer/squirrel/raccoon grand banquet after which I collect 3 gnawed tomatoes, 4 green onions, a withery green pepper and half a dozen radishes.
MomSense
@Botsplainer:
It sounds like your garden is what CSAs were made for. My problem is that my yard is really small and the previous owner so neglected the things she planted, which were inappropriate in the first place, that I have spent three years just doing unpleasant tasks. I signed up for a CSA and it has been fantastic. We even get to pick once a week which has been really fun for my youngest.
Elizabelle
@raven:
Photogenic little bandit.
SiubhanDuinne
@Southern Beale: Glad you reminded me to pick up a copy of Harper’s. I heard an NPR interview with Vollman and there was something about the straightforward way he discussed this that made me think he was a lot more credible than Greensnow Walden.
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: I heard part of that interview too. Fascinating.
carbon dated
Nice peppers, Max! We’ve got a shitload (I believe that’s the correct unit of measure) of scotch bonnets coming soon.
T.Scheisskopf
I think it is time for me to share this link for next year:
http://www.chileplants.com/
Every variety of Chile, Pepper, Tomato and Eggplant known to man.
In Britain, that is metric shitload. In France, metric merdeload. Yer’ welcome. :)
Eric S
@jeffreyw: I’ve got a bunch of those coming in.My mother gave me a jalapeno and a habanero plant this spring. Not at all clear what I’m going to do with them.
Living in a Chicago condo I don’t have a garden but I split a weekly box of vegetables from the farmers market with a couple friends. We got lettuce, sweetcorn, bell peppers, jalapenos, various others stuff, and somewhere north of 6 trillion* tomatoes this week.
* I didn’t count. This is just a rough estimate.
jnfr
@c u n d gulag:
I actually am growing cannabis right here in my Colorado office. Nice stuff, too, though it’s for domestic consumption not for sale. State legal, at least.
I picked half a dozen anchos yesterday, but I pick them while still green. Got some anaheims too, a bunch of eggplants and yet another ton of tomatoes. Ratatouille tonight.
GWPDA
Beautiful peppers. Sustainable Seeds has a wonderful collection, including Alma peppers that I’m hoping for this season.
GWPDA
@Culture of Truth: In New Mexico, that’s called Christmas....
Oh yes! Just finished roasting, peeling and freezing my annual sack of Hatch chiles – and saved out a huge envelope-full of seed. I’ve done this before and the seed grows well and true. Anybody want to try some? Let me know.
GooIndy
I anticipate to be a tall plant, weed, and tree expert by EOD. No, not some fancy workshop or sleeping which has a botonist. Going golfing.
John
Okay, I am new to gardening. Actually, not even new, still just prepping. I live in the San Fernando Valley. I have built a raised bed frame, and am prepping the ground where it will be installed. I built a compost bin and have started filling it. I expect to have decent compost in about a month. I tested the soil where the garden will go and it seems to be about neutral ph.
My question is what should I grow if I can start planting in mid to late September? We don’t get frosts usually. I have seeds for Blue Lake bush beans and Cascadia bush snap peas. Should I sow those? Any suggestions for other options from experienced gardeners would be appreciated. Also, any sort of tips in general. Thanks :)
DesertFriar
Jeez, I guess I’m the only one not growing chiles. But considering that I can get roasted chiles for $0.50 a lb. there’s not much incentive to grow your own. Good crop of figs this year which seem to be feeding the local critter population no matter what I do to stop them. We have jujube trees which are producing a lot of fruit. Very large and very sweet. Could be because we actually have a monsoon season this year (so far ~6 inches of rain over the last 4 months).
Basil is doing well. Also the peppermint and spearmint are doing tremendously. I would suggest anyone roasting their chiles to try the chile with some mint leaves and a slice of cheese. Taste really good.
Bob In Portland
Tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. We’ve only gotten two zucchini this year, and we’re getting reports that a lot of people up and down the West Coast didn’t do well with them because of the great bee die-off. People may have to become beekeepers to grow stuff in their gardens in the future.
max
@Linda Featheringill: I’m going to try again next year, starting from seed with the advice of Betty Cracker’s hubby. And they may need more space than I’ve been giving them.
Well, actually, the Santa Fe Grandes were started from seed that I saved from a Santa Fe Grande, and then I overwintered them in the basement, and basically they’re still in the same pots. They are producing a lot, but they don’t turn color all at the same time like the Jalapenos do. The Jalapenos were a plant I found at Walmart and stuck in a 12″ pot and boy, does that thing produce. I have a similar number as in the photo on the plant now, waiting to turn red. (Same with the Poblano[green]/Ancho[red], but it produces such large peppers it only grows a few at a time.)
And this is in NOVA, not LA or Florida like Platismatia or Betty. (You can get peppers around here, but they’re green, expensive, and they go off fast, presumably because they’ve been in transit so long.) So, it can be done, even where in places where winter doesn’t end until fuckin’ May. Mainly I was growing them for chili because I’m surrounded by white people up here and they insist on this really bland, awful food.
@Culture of Truth: From green to red. Commies.
{snicker} New Mexicans would frown at me. Wasting perfectly good green Jalapenos so I can make that awful chili res rojo.
@Botsplainer: Ultimately, it means less work for me, which I deem good. The wife has talked about wanting raised beds an a vegetable setup in those raised beds with imported dirt, but I envisioned me doing a lot of work, her going out to plant and leaving the rest of the work for me, followed by a deer/squirrel/raccoon grand banquet after which I collect 3 gnawed tomatoes, 4 green onions, a withery green pepper and half a dozen radishes.
The dirt around here is red (like Oklahoma dirt, but not as nice) and the consistency of cement when it’s dry. When it’s wet it’s the consistency of wet cement. It is also full of rocks. Also the deer come by. It’s not possible to grow anything without beds or pots.
But it can be done, and the exercise is good for me.
max
[‘The trick is to grow plants that fit the climate.’]
Karla
We’ve had a week of temperatures in the 90s, and my tomatoes are still green.
Having had the chance to taste just enough of the berries to know that they’re worth it, I cut a bunch of canes from my jostaberry plant perhaps two weeks ago and put them in a bucket a water. Some of them are sprouting roots, and will be overwintered in potting soil in my garage before being planted in a row on the side of my house. I’m hoping to get them to form a Belgian Fence espalier.
Marvel
@John: The Ventura County Master Gardeners’ website is chock-full of gardening tips and resources. They have an extensive garden/farm out in Santa Paula, with weather very similar to yours in the SFV. They’ll probably have a planting calendar that’ll give you info as to what to plant or sow when. When all else fails, they’ve got a Help desk. GOOD LUCK!!!
http://ucanr.edu/sites/VCMG/Home_Gardening_Information/
John
Thank you, Marvel!
Chuck
Just a pet peeve of mine, they are chilis, NOT peppers. Thanks Columbus for the confusion.
But they do look wonderful. I’m going to smoke some of mine.
Citizen Scientist
Waiting for my long red cayennes and hot cherry peppers to finally ripen.
Also harvesting a ton of various tomatoes and finally digging out my potatoes (yellow finns).