I don't have a lot to share this week that is new. The holiday weekend around here was busy and didn't even leave me much time to do enough harvesting much less garden work. So I only got a few new things planted in the last week.
The space that gave up the summer lettuces is now home to a couple of new leafy brassicas.
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| Russian Hunger Gap Kale |
I set out a couple of seedlings of Russian Hunger Gap kale. This variety is supposed to be more bolt resistant than most other kales so overwintered plants are supposed to produce until later in the spring, thus bridging the hunger gap.
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| Tronchuda Beira Kale/Cabbage |
Tronchuda Beira is generally marketed as a kale in the States but I've read that it is actually a primitive non-heading cabbage and it tastes more like cabbage than kale, at least in my opinion. I put out 2 seedlings of them also.
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| Corsican, Italian Mountain, and Profomuo di Genova Basils |
The basil seedlings are ready to go into the garden but I haven't had time to do so yet.
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| Kongo Kohlrabi |
The kohlrabi plants are starting to develop "bulbs". I need to get those sleeves off while I still can.
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| Calabrese Broccoli |
A second Calabrese broccoli plant is sporting a main head. This one is much smaller than the first.
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| Speckled Blue Tepary Beans |
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| Hopi White Tepary Beans |
The tepary beans are finally sporting some pods.
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| Zuni Tomatillo |
Whoa, the Zuni tomatillo plants are bursting out of their cage (can you see the cage?). I'm amazed at how vigorous the plants are considering that the plants lingered in their little starter pots for too long. Still no fruits of any significant size yet.
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| Tasty Treat Japanese Cucumber |
It looks like the first Tasty Treat Japanese cucumber has set.
And I think that a glut of tomatoes is finally on the way.
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| Golden Sweet Snow Peas |
Here's a surprise. It looks like a Golden Sweet snow pea plant volunteered in the Brussels Sprouts patch. I know there were some mature pea pods that dropped to the ground from the overwintered plants that were in that spot. The plant actually looks pretty healthy and has got me thinking that I may have to try them as a summer crop next year - if I can find the space.
A few more peppers are starting to ripen.
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| Yummy Belle |
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| IPK P 262 (Turkey) |
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| Pimento (Turkey) |
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| Petite Marseillaise |
And the Aji Amarillo Grande is FINALLY sporting some pods.
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| Aji Amarillo Grande |
And now the bad news.
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| Aji Amarillo Pepper |
Can you see that the DAMN RABBIT has been attacking my Aji Amarillo plant?
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| Odessa Market Pepper |
And it's already done significant damage to the Odessa Market plants.
And then there's the powdery mildew problem.
It has nearly defoliated a number of other plants.
And now too much sun is damaging the peppers.
So I've erected some lightweight Agribon over the plants that have been hit the hardest. I hope the added shade will protect the peppers enough to keep them from getting spoiled.
It seems like it's going to be a race between the powdery mildew and the rabbit to kill off the pepper plants this year. But, and this is just getting to be crazy, my dear sweet husband had to listen to me fuming about the DR and how I may just have to erect a hardware cloth barrier around the entire tomato/pepper bed. I don't know if I was really serious about my intent, but he said how much do you need and went out and bought me three 25 foot rolls of the stuff. Talk about the $64 pepper! Now I just have to find the time to put up the defensive barrier...
That's the latest, greatest, baddest news from my garden. See you next week.
Fun post. Pepper glut. What do you do with all of them?
ReplyDeleteLots of stuff! Some get roasted and preserved in vinegar and oil. Others get dried. I smoke and dry others to make paprika or chipotles. Roasting, peeling, and freezing works extremely well. We eat homegrown peppers all year long.
DeleteOh, those rabbits can do a lot of damage - and for me, what added insult to injury was that half the time they decapitated the plant and then just left it! I lost a whole wack of basil and bean plants like that before I had the area fenced in.
ReplyDeleteAt least you still have a lot of pepper plants that have so far escaped bunny attacks & those look amazing - I can't believe how many peppers are on that IPK P 262...incredible!
I have a feeling your husband may be just as ticked off about the DR as you are...those peppers belong on his dinner plate not theirs, dang it! :)
My husband gets upset when he sees me upset, so he tries to mitigate that situation! At least the rabbit only goes for the foliage along with the flowers and buds, the peppers get knocked off occasionally but the mature ones haven't been destroyed so they have a chance to ripen if I can keep them from getting sunburned.
DeleteSunscorch is thankfully not something that I have to worry about! now that our weather is going a bit cooler the nocturnal animals (badgers? foxes?) are starting to dig again and my garden is full of holes. They seldom dig during the Summer or winter, only in Spring and Autumn. I'm very impressed by how many fruits there are on that Turkish chilli plant of yours!
ReplyDeleteThe $64 pepper indeed! Thankfully I don't try and cost-justify my garden any more. The Kongo kohlrabi is a new one to me so it will be interesting to see how it does for you. When I grew it the Tronchuda Beira reminded me of collards, which themselves remind me of a non-heading cabbage. There's so much overlap in the brassica family, but so many tasty veggies too!
ReplyDelete