I’m on a rollercoaster…
January 28, 2009 at 3:56 pm | Posted in Aurora peppers, Pole beans, South Florida living, Tomatoes | 1 Comment…that will probably last for a good few months. We’ve officially started hunting for Our First Home. I know this isn’t news to anyone who already owns a home, but one day I’m cool as a cucumber and the next I’m freaked out. We’ll be looking at lots and lots and lots of houses in the coming months. I have a feeling I’m going to have to promise my husband I won’t cry in despair every time we walk into a less than stellar house. So far, so good. 
My garden is doing so-so. Two of my bean plants mysteriously shriveled up and died, and instead of trying to salvage them, I decided to focus all my bean-nurturing efforts on the remaining two plants. I’ve also decided to give up on my tomatillo and regular tomato plants. I think I need a better spot to grow those two in. My cherry tomato plant is still a champ, though. My peppers are doing well, too. Yay!
More beans
November 19, 2008 at 9:05 am | Posted in Pole beans | Leave a commentI’m pretty obsessive about counting my beans. It can change overnight, or even from morning to evening. The grand total is up to 16. If I count the flowers that I bet will be beans by tomorrow, we’re up to 20. I harvested five beans a couple of days ago and stuck them in the fridge with hopes that several more would be ready for harvesting by now. No such luck, so I think we’re going to have to enjoy the five beans tonight. Hey, it’s better than the three I got over the entire summer!
Nine little beans and three peppers!
November 10, 2008 at 9:00 am | Posted in Aurora peppers, Pole beans | Leave a comment
Photo update
November 5, 2008 at 9:41 am | Posted in Aurora peppers, Gardening, Herbs, Lettuce, Pole beans, Purple tomatillos, Tomatoes | Leave a commentMy garden is doing well. No mildew or other icky things going on at the moment. I have lots of flowers on my tomatillo plant and four or five teeny tomatillos. I’m keeping my fingers crossed they turn into actual, usable tomatillos. Both my tomato plants have flower buds starting. I have lots of bean flowers, but no beans yet. There are several Aurora pepper flowers and two peppers already. I started some mesclun mix in a shallow pot last week. It’s growing well, but no true leaves yet. I trimmed back my mint significantly to make way for the new growth that is faring much better than the old stuff. I also have a new addition: An aloe plant from a friend’s garden!
My setup is, from right to left: Marglobe tomato, Purple tomatillo, four purple-podded pole beans, Aurora pepper, Everglades cherry tomato, lettuce, mint, aloe
There’s good news, and then there’s bad news
August 4, 2008 at 7:57 am | Posted in Aurora peppers, Garden problems, Pole beans | 1 CommentI 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
July 29, 2008 at 9:46 am | Posted in Aurora peppers, Pole beans, Purple tomatillos, Tomatoes | Leave a commentI 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!
July 28, 2008 at 2:00 pm | Posted in Gardening, Pole beans, Tomatoes | Leave a commentMy 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.
First Harvest
July 14, 2008 at 7:12 am | Posted in Pole beans | 1 CommentWell, 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.
Beans and tomatoes make an appearance
July 7, 2008 at 7:52 am | Posted in Gardening, Pole beans, Tomatoes | 1 CommentI have three tiny beans and three tomatoes! Two of the tomatoes are Early Girl, shown at the top and bottom of the second picture. The third picture shows my first red cherry. Thanks for spotting these, Mom!
Finally, some impressive (ok, halfway decent) pictures!
July 1, 2008 at 7:27 am | Posted in Gardening, Pole beans | Leave a commentI have growth! There are three purple peppers on my aurora plant, with several more on the way. The biggest one is a little hidden behind a leaf on the left side of the picture, but you get the idea!
And I was really surprised this morning when I saw this:
See it? The purple thing on the right? It’s a bean flower!!! I really thought my bean plants were looking puny, but I just might get a bean or two.
I don’t have pictures yet, but I planted some mint and chamomile over the weekend. I hope they flourish because I’m looking forward to making my own tea.
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