Lotsa stuff going on…

I finally got my old garden disposed of, and let me tell you, that’s quite a job on a screened-in balcony. There is still a little bit of dirt dusting the balcony floor, but there is just nowhere for it to go.

My Aurora pepper and purple tomatillo seedlings were doing great, but obviously I passed the window of time when I should have transplanted them. They are going downhill fast, shriveling leaves and all. I put off transplanting them because I was preoccupied with cleaning out the old garden and didn’t want to plant them until that was finished. Now that it is finished, though, I’m putting the transplanting off until after some storms pass this next week. It’s a terrible excuse, but I dread having to drag those heavy pots inside. Besides the space issue, my seedlings have a little bit of mildew on the undersides of the leaves. Some air does circulate through the screens of the balcony, but it must not be enough. I started spraying the leaves with a solution of 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 16 ounces of water. I think I’ll nurse the seedlings a few more days and then decide if I’ll go through with the transplants once the storms have passed or just replant seeds.

I found an organic seed store in a nearby town and bought some seeds: Everglades tomato (that’s the cherry one, I think), Marglobe tomato (full-size, I think), Wando pea, peppermint, and tea. I’m still trying to get my own little herb tea garden going, although I learned the tea plant could take a few years to produce usable leaves. We’ll see…I’ve already planted the two tomato seeds, so hopefully I’ll have better luck than my earlier seedlings. I’ll wait another month or two to plant the pea and peppermint seeds. I will go ahead and plant the tea seed; it’s currently soaking for 24 hours.

In nongardening news, I’ve picked up sewing. I have grand dreams of sewing skirts, tops, and dresses and seeing where that takes me. I love some of the new patterns available now, especially the Simplicity New Look ones. The style of clothes is right up my alley. I’ve already finished one top, but I’m disappointed in it. The seams aren’t as neat as I’d like, but that will come with experience. I didn’t get the size in the bust right, though, because it’s too tight. I’ve started making a similar top in the appropriate size and in a soft, t-shirty material. It’s far easier to work with than the linen I started with. I hope to be able to model the next one.

Seedling update and post-op Peanut

My Aurora pepper and purple tomatillo seedlings are growing quite nicely. The seeds sprouted within just a couple of days, and the second set of true leaves are sprouting:

Peanut had surgery a few weeks ago to remove a mass on her bladder. Everything went well and she’s on the mend, but it’s taking awhile. She has to wear a collar and she looks a little something like this (I couldn’t resist):

Aurora pepper rub

I made a dry rub out of my remaining Aurora peppers. Here’s what they looked like pre-recipe:

And post-recipe:

Overall, the rub isn’t what I expected. It tastes good, but it’s more salty and garlicky than Aurora peppery. I was hoping for something with a little more kick. If I make this again, I’ll cut back on the salt and garlic and add a couple more peppers. This makes a ton of rub–about 2 cups.

1/4 cup oregano

Olive oil

5 Aurora peppers

5 garlic cloves

1 1/4 cups salt

Dry roast the oregano in skillet for 1 to 2 minutes until just browned. Stir or shake pan often to prevent burning. Transfer oregano to bowl and let cool completely. Grind fine in food processor or spice/coffee grinder.

Cut peppers in half and remove seeds. Heat oil in skillet. Add peppers and turn until both sides are slightly browned and peppers are puffy. This only takes about 1 minute. Transfer to paper towels; dab off excess oil and let cool until dry and crispy. Grind peppers in food processor or spice/coffee grinder until fine.

Grind garlic in food processor; add oregano, peppers, and salt. Grind until salt-like consistency. If mixture seems wet, spread in thin layer in baking pan and bake in 150 degree (or cooler, if possible) oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Store in airtight container. Regrind desired amount just before use if rub becomes clumpy.

Tasty summer drink

I concocted this potion after realizing I’d better do something with my flourishing mint:

Green tea bags (use however many to get desired strength)

10-15 mint leaves

Pinch of sugar or Splenda

Steep tea outside until desired strength. In drinking glass, muddle mint with sugar and just a small amount of tea until mint is crushed and releasing all that minty goodness. Fill glass with tea and ice; garnish with more mint as desired.

It’s quite tasty, I promise!

There’s good news, and then there’s bad news

I harvested my first Aurora on Saturday, and it was fabulous. I made salsa, and while it would have been far better with my own garden tomatoes, it was quite yummy with the Aurora. I was slightly scared just before I tried the pepper. I had never had an Aurora before; I was worried I wouldn’t care for it. I was wrong, though! It’s fairly hot, at least by my standards, but the flavor comes through so well. I can’t wait to harvest more. Here’s my first one:

And here’s what the plant looks like today:

While I don’t have any new beans to report, there are a good number of pretty purple flowers and the plants themselves are going crazy:

Now, for the bad news:

This is the underside of a bell pepper leaf. I’m pretty sure it’s mildew, and I’m not surprised. It’s very humid and we have noticed it seems a little more humid on our screened-in balcony than just outside in the open. I’m not going to do much now; I’m replanting my garden in three weeks or so, anyway. I do have a few blossoms on this plant, so I’ll see how those turn out. I noticed a bit of mildew on my Aurora plant, which is right next to this bell pepper. I’ll remove those leaves and perhaps move the Aurora. I think I need to back off of the watering just a touch with these two pepper plants; they’re currently located on the side of the balcony that doesn’t get quite as much sun as the tomatoes and I’ve noticed the water doesn’t drain as well.

Garden news

I harvested another bean and a cherry tomato today:

I also started an experiment. I planted some seeds in yogurt containers that I hope to transplant. I will plant seeds in containers at the appropriate Florida planting time in a few weeks, and compare how those seedlings do with the seedlings starting now. I have one purple tomatillo and one Aurora pepper:

Multiple colors!

My Auroras continue to do well.I took this picture just after a big rain.

The rest of my garden is doing OK. Not great, but not terrible. The lilac bell pepper has suffered a rough season; you may recall that Peanut ate the majority of it just after we moved to Florida. It bounced back and really has flourished in terms of stems and leaves, and now there are two flowers blooming. I was so excited about this until a huge storm (I was convinced it was a hurricane, but that’s neither here nor there) came along and almost snapped the stem at the soil level. I staked the plant in hopes it would be fine. So far, so good. The flowers are still blooming.

The beans aren’t producing quite as much as I’d hoped, but I comfort myself by thinking “it just isn’t the right season.” So far, we’ve had four beans. There is one more that should be ready in a couple of days. There are a few flowers, but after seeing so many drop before producing a bean, I’m not too optimistic about those.

The Golden Boy tomato plant has yet to produce any tomatoes. It doesn’t look so good, either. There are a few flowers, but they’re the same flowers that have been there for weeks. The Early Girl is making a comeback. Four tomatoes. Woohoo! I know, I know. That isn’t much, but it’s all I’ve got. The cherry tomato plant has two tomatoes, one of which is almost ready. It’s a beautiful red color; I’m just letting it sit on the vine another day or two in case it decides to get any better. (But, really, I’m hoping the second one will catch up so I can harvest both at the same time so my husband and I don’t have to split one teeny tomato.) I know I posted awhile ago about hand pollinating the tomatoes with a paint brush, but I never did that. I think that is a necessity here, though, and I promise to do it in my next garden.

We planned our late August garden yesterday. I have some seeds, but I need to find a good garden center that sells vegetable plants. That may require an out-of-town trip. Darn it.

One red tomato and some ripening Auroras

I only have two cherry tomatoes and two Early Girl tomatoes, but one cherry is starting to ripen.

I think the four tomatoes I have are likely to be the only ones I get. I’m going to replant my garden in late August to match up with the growing season here.

The Auroras are doing splendidly. A few have turned yellow, and I don’t think orange is too far away. I knew these peppers would be small (the package says 1 1/2 inches) but they really are small. The peppers on my one plant seem pretty crowded; I wonder if that has anything to do with their small size. There are currently eight peppers and I noticed one more flower popped out recently.

First Harvest

Well, really, there was only one bean. But it was an oh-so-great bean. Delicious! Fresh! Tasty! My husband and I shared it. Yum! Yes, I did steam just one bean, but come on. I couldn’t leave it on the vine and I certainly wasn’t going to forgo eating it. That half bean made me want more and more and more. There are two or three more beans already, and more flowers pop up every day. Maybe next time I’ll have enough for a whole serving.

It’s a purple-podded pole bean (say that five times fast) and it really did turn green when steamed. So cool.

Spending time in the garden

It’s rather hot today, but Peanut and I hung out in the garden a bit this morning. As usual, Peanut sat in her spot and checked out the view and I stared and stared and stared at all three of my tomato plants in hopes of spotting another tomato. No such luck there, but my aurora peppers are ripening. These peppers supposedly ripen from lavender to deep purple to orange and finally to red. They’re mostly in the deep purple stage, but the largest ones are lightening up a bit, and I think that means they’ll turn orange next. Woohoo!