I hate to jinx myself by saying that my increased protection around Fort Pepper is actually working. (Knock wood). I'm not really superstitious, but every time I publish a post that claims that such and such efforts against marauding rodents is effective they decide to prove me wrong. Anyway, the rodents have left the pepper buffet alone for a while and to my relief and delight I was able to bring in a beautiful assortment of ripe peppers.
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| Long Sweet Turkish |
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| Turkish Pimento |
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| Florina |
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| Topepo Giallo |
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| Gogosar |
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| Odessa Market |
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| Urfa Biber |
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| Ajvarski |
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| Criolla de Cocina |
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Aji Angelo
Rosso Dolce da Appendere |
Here's what I resorted to doing to make it more difficult for the rodents to get in.
I covered the entire enclosure with lightweight Agribon fabric. The major downside to covering the entire bed is that it makes it a cozier spot for pests and diseases. I cut down one pepper plant, a baccatum variety called Queen Laurie, because it was a disgusting mess of aphids and ants. But even if Queen Laurie wasn't a mess of aphids I would have dethroned her because she seems to be daylight sensitive and had just barely started to form flower buds and there isn't any chance of getting ripe peppers in the months to come if she hasn't even bloomed by now. And I also found a number of plants to be infected powdery mildew.
There were a couple of other firsts in the harvest basket.
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| Prinz Celeriac |
The largest root on the right trimmed down to about a pound. These were the first a dozen plants in the garden.
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| Castandel Beans |
And then a couple of continuing harvests.
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Orion Fennel
Pink Plume Celery |
The Pink Plume celery plants are producing some nice stalks this year. And the Orion fennel bulbs are nicer than I expected considering they are second shoots from the spring planting. Six of the eight plants that I started in the spring are producing a second round of shoots and most of the plants are giving me 2 or 3 new shoots. So far I've only been thinning down to one bulb per plant so I hope the remaining bulbs fatten up even more.
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| Pink Plume Celery |
Harvest Monday is hosted by Dave on his blog
Our Happy Acres, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.
How can you eat so many peppers?
ReplyDeleteI would like to grow celeriac. Any hints? Do you sow it in spring meaning is it a cool season or warm season crop? I think it is too warm down here for it to thrive, but I like it a lot. It costs $3.25 in the market when you can find it and those roots are all wilty, shriveled and old.
I can understand why it is expensive, it takes quite a while from seeding to harvest. I sowed my seeds on March 30, potted them up some weeks after that, and put them in the garden on June 17, and now my first harvest. My favorite gardening book Golden Gate Gardening says they might be started as early as February here and as late as August, so perhaps you could sow seeds indoors in August and get them outside sometime in September or October for winter harvests. Or you could try sowing in January to get them in the garden by March and harvest before the heat of summer sets in. You might even try sowing them now for an early spring harvest. They are a biennial though so I don't know if a fall sowing will just bolt in early spring but it might be worth a try since they won't have any problem with your winter weather. The plants get to be pretty big, mine are over 2 feet tall now, so give them a good sized pot with rich soil.
DeleteOh, and I don't eat all the peppers fresh! I'm going to make a big batch of fermented sweet pepper paste. I'll roast and freeze some of them and some will be dehydrated.
DeleteThanks. It looks like I might try to start them at three different times and see which ones produce best.
DeleteWhat a lovely website, Michelle. I don't see where you garden, but I am suspecting the Central Coast by the photo. Your Favorite Resources page is a gem and we share many of the favorites. In launching ediblegardens52 I plan to add a resources page (maybe after I get the winter garden planted)! Look forward to checking back. Susan
ReplyDeleteSusan, your comment section doesn't work for me. Any suggestions?
DeleteThank you Susan. I am on the Central Coast in Carmel Valley. I haven't updated my Resources page in ages, I should probably go take a look.
DeleteLovely haul of peppers, ours have failed completely this year. Celeriac and celery are two crops that we just can’t get to grow. Do you think that your rodents subscribe to your blog? :-)
ReplyDeleteAha, that's it, the rodents are reading my blog so they know just when to "harvest"! I bet they've hacked into my WiFi too. :-0
DeleteFort Pepper is working beautifully it seems. I can only dream of those harvests. I sure hope you are buying hardware cloth in bulk, as the small rolls I buy from time to time sure are expensive.
ReplyDeleteI buy 100-foot rolls which saves a bundle compared to the 25 foot rolls available at the hardware store.
DeleteI am happy to see Fort Pepper holding up so far! That is a lovely assortment of peppers. Criolla Cocina must like your climate better than mine, since I've only managed to get a couple ripe ones so far. Gogosar was the same way here last year. I confess I haven't really tried eating celeriac. It's not the looks, that doesn't bother me. I just don't really know what to do with it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Criolla Cocina and Gogosar are more sensitive to heat, both of them are quite prolific here. I have a few favorite things to with celeriac, it's great raw in salads, there's a celery root and apple salad that we love and a classic Celeriac Remoulade is hard to beat. Celeriac pairs beautifully with potatoes - mashed, pureed, or in gratins. Pureed celeriac soup is oh so good. And much more!
Deletelovely peppers!
ReplyDeleteThank you Endah!
DeleteI agree lovely peppers, stunning in fact
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you too Shaheen!
DeleteHurray for you fortifications! I'm so glad to hear that they have successfully kept those marauding rodents at bay. I may have just ripped everything up in a fit of frustration, but you held the course and are now reaping the rewards...just look at that pepper harvest! Puts mine to shame, that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteI came very close to ripping it all out but I figured I would put one last effort in and fortunately it's working so far. So far...
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