Victory Gardens

We bought a tall planter last weekend and have filled it with herbs. The herbs are doing very well, especially the mint.

We also have two chilli plants that LS is in sole charge of!

My herbs are doing well, but I've yet to get my veggies in the ground (late as usual - but I need to build a raised bed, which will just have to wait a bit).

Mostly heirlooms and organics, but I am not slavish to it. Tomatoes, peppers, quash, onions, sweet potatoes.

Behold the chilli!
I'm very pleased as I don't recall ever growing anything, apart from cress and mustard, that I can eat.
It's a Super Fresno, or Super Frenso if the label is to be believed.

I'm trying the upside-down tomato experiment this year. My beloved made a hanging planter and the tomato is coming out the bottom. We'll see it it works.

I'm also trying sorrel and horehound this year. What the hell.

Our neighbors have a lawn full of strawberry plants and every June they beg people to pick berries. I have a huge bowl of berries that I've been nibbling on all weekend. I think they're going to become a sponge pudding and maybe Eton mess (since I have some leftover meringues). Any that are left after that will go in the dehydrator and then it will be time to go pick more!

Lost Soul wrote:

Behold the chilli!
I'm very pleased as I don't recall ever growing anything, apart from cress and mustard, that I can eat.
It's a Super Fresno, or Super Frenso if the label is to be believed.

Yours look fantastic! Ours aren't quite to the pepper stage yet. Here's what our biggest looks like now:



Hubby named him Pepe. He's about 20 inches tall.

I have another plant next to that one that looks the same as yours. It's an Etna F1 and just gets taller and taller with no fruit yet.
The Super Fresno was looking hopeful with around nine little buds but the two in the picture are growing whilst the rest fell off!
I haven't decided what to do with two small chillis yet.

You're all doing beautifully! We have a bell pepper plant, but no fruit yet. It's looking good, though.

Our front garden needs weeding but it's raining again today. And those BLOODY squirrels have been at the flower bulbs again...(they know I'm on to them, I never see them any more, just the evidence of the destruction).

Maybe a few shakes of hot sauce mixed into the squirt gun?

lindydiva wrote:

You're all doing beautifully! We have a bell pepper plant, but no fruit yet. It's looking good, though.

Our front garden needs weeding but it's raining again today. And those BLOODY squirrels have been at the flower bulbs again...(they know I'm on to them, I never see them any more, just the evidence of the destruction).

Squirrels? Hah! We've got to do battle with squirrels, racoons, armadillos, and oppossums! Just TRY to grow a decent cantaloupe with those varmints around.

Yes, but I live in the city!

And we also have possums and raccoons, believe it or not. Not to mention rats and field mice. At least only the field mice manage to get into the house (and the cats take it from there).

Next year should be interesting, because by then we will probably have a real veggie garden.

I'm happy to say, though, that the squirrels didn't get all of the bulbs; some of them are coming up now.

I do sympathize - once the critters have put the hobo sign on you, no matter where you live,the veg are all but doomed.

We've not too much trouble with mice or rats; between the cats and the owls outside, they don't stand much of a chance. We also have a little trouble with rabbits, but at least not so much with deer, like my parents who live just out of town.

We've got a solution to that- an electric fence! Otherwise, our garden would be eaten away by the rabbits, groundhogs and deer. And there was a bear sighting on our corner last week...

Ick. The newest menace is slugs...with all this rain, they're everywhere. *shudder*

Bears, deer and rabbits I've never had in a garden but slugs, yes.

Best solution? A pond with frogs and a hedgehog or two. The slugs will vanish almost immediately. Failing that, beer traps.

Yes, I've heard about the beer traps. I think that's the way to go (though if this rain continues a pond just might appear, one never knows...).

I wish we had hedgehogs!

Ugh- slugs are the worst. They've put holes in all our lettuce.

Aphids & such were all over my yellow roses. I went out and bought bug killer. G'rrrr.

But on the good side, today our neighbor from across the street gave us Roses of Sharon from her own garden (to plant), and a giant chive/leek (produce).

I use insecticidal soap on aphids and it works quite well. This year I didn't even have to do that- just squashed them with my fingers. I've been getting more into roses lately- I planted a new rose garden this year.

I spray diluted washing-up liquid on aphids. It doesn't prevent them but it does drown existing ones.

We ate one of the two fully grown chillis yesterday as it seemed to be growing at the expense of the rest of the plant. From plant to pan to belly in minutes. Delicious.

Aphids? Probably the "greenest" and most pleasant method of handling them is to encourage ladybugs - the are hell on 'em. You can purchase them cheaply, but I've been told that that breed of LB is not the best, generally.

I've posted this before, but it bears repeating, especially as they have a feature on vintage gardens (though not veg. gardens), and a nifty article on time-capsule homes. Their focus is mostly "mid-century".

Retro Renovation

My sour cherry tree is ready for picking! I've already made crumb bars and am in the process of making syrup. There will definitely be cobbler in the future (my favorite) and some treats for the freezer. When I get too tired, the remainder goes in the dehydrator.


Back to the kitchen!

I am jealous of the cherries... I think it must just get too hot here for them to fruit.

There are lots of cherry trees near me. I've tried a couple and they are certainly sour and for cooking. I would be interested in your recipes, then I can go foraging.

I just made a new topic called "cherry recipes". I started with sour cherry cobbler. More to come.