Posted on 07/16/2022 5:58:40 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Nice pictures. You are a busy bee! Booger is a beautiful dog.
We have eaten all our first crop of lettuce and given much away. Have been eating broccoli cukes, shishito and banana peppers, kale, bok choy, red raspberries coming in. Also eating snow pea pods. First thy tomato almost ripe. Waiting on everything else.
One year, I grew a bunch of different tomato varieties and at least one looked similar to the pictured tomato. I have no problem eating a tomato that looks like that. I can see where a salsa with the green mixed in could be less appealing visually than the usual all red salsa.
I have reduced my tomato garden into only growing Celebrities. They do well in my garden, are beautiful tomatoes, & despite being determinate, they produce into the fall, usually until first frost. Sadly, I have issues with nightshades, so aside from treating myself to a batch or two of jalapeno poppers, the tomatoes, salsa & jalapeno pepper jelly are for my folks & other relatives.
We don't hang around in the eves of the house much, two and three stories UP. ;)
Beau blasts them with the pressure washer, and anything at ground floor I blast with the hose or with wasp spray. It's just a PITA. PLENTY of places for them to live - they need to leave ME alone!
I’m finally getting some shisito peppers but I’m unsure when to pick them. The plants are tiny so the peppers are too. About 2 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter. They’re fully green though.
Wait if you can. I have a past picture with a ruler. BRB
Have had quite a few Barry's Crazy Cherry - yellow - not a lot of flavor. Got one Yellow Pear tomato and those are good. Got one Chadwick and one Rosella that are almost ripe but 100 degree temps will probably slow the ripening process to a crawl. This heat wave summer is killing me. 10+ foot long vines. Half as many fruits as I should have due to blossom drop from the heat and the fruits I am getting are going at a snail's pace.
I took a nap was so tired I forgot about the pic. Those are too small. Will send it soon.
Found a few websites with reference to size at harvest but they range from 2-4 inches and 2-5 inches. I figure with my mini plant, the peppers will be on the smaller end of the scale. Seems like I remember reading that the bottom end should fill out and that after that, they can be harvested. Bottom end of mine is pointy.
Having never had shisitos, I don’t know if I want them green or red but most pics I find are green ones so I guess that’s when most people harvest them. I might wait until I get one red one and pick it along with a green one and try them. One article says if you pick them when green, it will encourage the plant to grow more peppers.
They’re pretty easy to start from seed.
Also got Kalugeritsa and Pumpkin Spice Jalapeno that are just starting to form fruits.
Come to find out, it's a momma racoon. Just saw her walk out from under the house with a couple of babies following. One of the little ones got separated due to seeing us and turning around. We came back inside to let momma come get it. I could have grabbed it but I don't need a pet coon. Hard to tame.
I staked my plants this year and they definitely got taller. I have not seen any yellowish ones like your picture. I can tell you they like lots of water, they get watered nearly every evening unless we get a good rain. They are amazing just lightly charred on a grill. I toss them in a bit of oil first and we have a charcoal grill. I put them on the hot grill in a grill wok and toss only a minute or less.
Oh well.They’d be easier to kill without babies.
My garden is going great. I’ll be harvesting my garlic next week.
My tomato plants are now doing well. I started having some trouble with some kind of blight so cleaned the plants up and sprayed them yesterday. I read where laying wood chips down helps prevent the dirt from splashing up and prevents blight. If I can win against it this year, I’ll really feel like I’ve made progress.
The onions are getting good size, the butternut is beginning to flower, and my pepper plants are recovering from being eaten. Some of my potatoes have been chewed up at the bottom. They are wilting and when I lift the stem it’s not attached.
However, I have had very little trouble with potato beetles. We have a couple birds who practically live in the garden. It’s like their private smorgasbord. I also got some beneficial insects but have not seen any of those. However, something is keeping the vermin down so I’m grateful for that.
I’m liking shredded leaves as a mulch. They don’t blow around like whole leaves. Not too bulky. No seeds. My leaf blower has a big tube that goes on the suction side and a bag on the exit that catches the shredded leaves. Unfortunately, the bag had a blow out before I could get the whole garden mulched. I finished it off with spent hay which I’m sure has a few seeds in it.
I’ve used that as well for the garden.
However, with the number of trees we have, making wood chips is not a problem.
Box Elder stinks. Terrible for wood chips. It’s supposed to stink when burning it, too. Garbage tree if you ask me.
Cedar and pine smell much nicer.
My mother and spouse’s Grandmother also did this. A good idea!
When I was young my parents moved to southern Wisconsin and abandoned me in Illinois. (I was 19....) My mother would get milk from a Latvian lady who had a jersey cow named Jessica. Sometimes when I visited I would get a gallon. A full 1/3 of the gallon was cream! Enormous clots of cream floating on the top! Wonderful stuff! (No not pasturized and I never got TB!)
I have some powdered heavy cream which I am trying to see I want to buy some more. (Anthony’s) I think it works well and I will get some more for emergencies.
Good night!
I do not dislike bell peppers, but I have been going with smaller peppers that mature faster, Italian roasters or Romanian Sheep nose. Get them earlier and get more of them.
Yes, a nice looking place to sit in summer!
Need me to send you a Coon Hound?
Only two are home right now - the rest (along with the Plott Hounds) are all up at Bear Training Camp this week.
I was just out ‘shining’ my THIRD misfit that has been stealing suet baskets and raiding the bird feeders all week.
Beau took the traps with him, so I’m on my own. Taking everything in at night seems to be working, but s/he still shows up.
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