The plants are beautiful. I planted several different types of peppers this season:
Jalapenos because they are my favorite peppers with heat. Habaneros are too hot and I don't enjoy the flavor.
Bell peppers in three varieties. California Wonder, Chocolate Bell and an orange variety whose name I've forgotten.
Pimento peppers are my favorite of the sweet bell type. They have a lovely pointy shape and are heavy walled with few seeds.
Red hot chilis. I enjoy growing them because they are easy to manage, prolific and drying them is a cinch. They turn my winter time stir fry suppers into something wonderful.
So far, I've not harvested a single pepper other than a few little bitty chilis. There are a couple jalapenos on the plants and I've seen one little bell that will probably be orange if it gets to maturity. It has been frustrating me a bit.
I did a little digging around online and I discovered that not too many people are doing very well with their peppers this summer. The super-heated summer we've been 'enjoying' in the Midwest is notorious for inhibiting bell pepper fruit set. So we get lots of flowers but zero peppers.
Darn.
Those that are doing well with their peppers are doing so with heroic efforts. Providing shade and cooling water spray for the plants during the hot parts of the day can improve yields. Unfortunately, this sort of intensive pepper care is beyond the scope of my current capabilities.
Darn.
The good news is that all is not yet lost for this year. As the summer draws to a close and the weather starts to cool, the peppers will wake back up and begin to set more fruit. I remain hopeful that Mother Nature will cool things down again.
I'll be ready and waiting.
Showing posts with label hot weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hot weather. Show all posts
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Independence Day
Boy you can sure tell the 4th of July has come to the Heartland. The neighbors must have spent their entire paycheck on fireworks this year. Could be a long night...
I spent a lot of time in the garden today making sure everyone had a good drink of water. We've reached what I think of as roughly the midpoint of the growing season here at our little hacienda on the plains. The next 40 or so days are going to be hot and difficult.
This time of year is known as the Dog Days of Summer (03 July to 10 August). So named for Sirius, the Dog Star and its prominence in the heavens. Way back in the day of the pharoahs, Sirius was believed to be the force behind the heat wave by virtue of its proximity to the sun.
Still, it's hot. Damn hot. So hot the corn is popping in the fields or so the farmers say. I didn't try frying an egg on the sidewalk, but I have no doubts it would work eventually. This afternoon I watched as a robin hopped and skipped down the sidewalk in front of the house, panting like a dog. Yes, I filled the bird water dish immediately which he (she?) promptly ignored. There is no pleasing some birds.
The tomatoes are loving the heat though. There are dozens of greenies out there just biding their time and getting ready to turn a beautiful red. I have my knife and my salt shaker at the ready for the first sign of ripeness in totality. I cannot wait. I was going to take a picture of those green tomatoes, but I'm going wait until they turn red.
A few days ago, after I determined that I absolutely could wait not a minute longer, I dumped out one of the four buckets of potato plants. The potato vines have been slowly turning yellow and shriveling up and drying out which is a sure sign that the 'taters are just about ready. I found, much to my husband's delight, about two pounds of potatoes where I had planted about a half pound of seed potatoes.
They are beautiful! We cooked them up tonight with a couple little bitty onions from the garden after obtaining careful instructions via email from my good friend raptorunner. She suggested that I cook them on the grill by making a packet from aluminum foil and filling it with chopped potatoes, onions, garlic and butter.
So that's what I did and, after a while, they came out pretty tasty except for the ones on the end that basically turned into cinders. What can I say? I'm no backyard grillmaster. Next time, if my husband lets me near the grill again, I won't cook them quite so long. I'm much better at growing potatoes than cooking them.
I spent a lot of time in the garden today making sure everyone had a good drink of water. We've reached what I think of as roughly the midpoint of the growing season here at our little hacienda on the plains. The next 40 or so days are going to be hot and difficult.
This time of year is known as the Dog Days of Summer (03 July to 10 August). So named for Sirius, the Dog Star and its prominence in the heavens. Way back in the day of the pharoahs, Sirius was believed to be the force behind the heat wave by virtue of its proximity to the sun.
Still, it's hot. Damn hot. So hot the corn is popping in the fields or so the farmers say. I didn't try frying an egg on the sidewalk, but I have no doubts it would work eventually. This afternoon I watched as a robin hopped and skipped down the sidewalk in front of the house, panting like a dog. Yes, I filled the bird water dish immediately which he (she?) promptly ignored. There is no pleasing some birds.
The tomatoes are loving the heat though. There are dozens of greenies out there just biding their time and getting ready to turn a beautiful red. I have my knife and my salt shaker at the ready for the first sign of ripeness in totality. I cannot wait. I was going to take a picture of those green tomatoes, but I'm going wait until they turn red.
A few days ago, after I determined that I absolutely could wait not a minute longer, I dumped out one of the four buckets of potato plants. The potato vines have been slowly turning yellow and shriveling up and drying out which is a sure sign that the 'taters are just about ready. I found, much to my husband's delight, about two pounds of potatoes where I had planted about a half pound of seed potatoes.
They are beautiful! We cooked them up tonight with a couple little bitty onions from the garden after obtaining careful instructions via email from my good friend raptorunner. She suggested that I cook them on the grill by making a packet from aluminum foil and filling it with chopped potatoes, onions, garlic and butter.
So that's what I did and, after a while, they came out pretty tasty except for the ones on the end that basically turned into cinders. What can I say? I'm no backyard grillmaster. Next time, if my husband lets me near the grill again, I won't cook them quite so long. I'm much better at growing potatoes than cooking them.
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