Things have been fairly quiet in our little garden since we pulled up our 4 zucchini plants. The cucumbers looked like they were going to die too, but we left them alone, and now there is some new growth. The cucumbers aren’t as plentiful, but there are many new sprouts, so maybe things will rebound.
We are loving our little (now giant leaning Tower of Pisa) cherry tomato plant. This is the plant that just keeps giving keeping my two year old with a fresh tomato supply that she eats every day like candy. I think they are her favorite vegetable. Next year, I plan to plant several of these.
Now that the hot pepper plants are not crowded out by the zucchini, they have started to produce generously. No one in our family likes spiciness except my husband, so we are drying all of the peppers and grinding them up for my husband. In the fall, when I make things like chili, he will be able to add some hot pepper flakes to his own bowl and make his meal spicier.
Our green pepper plants are starting to produce peppers again, but the bottom half of many of them is rotten. I read online that drought and heavy rains can do this. We definitely have a drought, and when it rains, it is always a heavy down pour. I plan to crush some egg shells and put them around the base of the plant to give it the calcium it needs.
Last week I planted 5 lettuce plants in the space the zucchini used to occupy. I hope they sprout! I’ll have to wait another week or two to see.
In the last 14 days since my last report, we were able to harvest the following:
Zucchini: 7 (these were the last of what we could get before we pulled the plants up)
Green Peppers: 1
Red Peppers: 0
Hot Peppers: 15
Cucumbers: 8
Tomatoes: 89
For the entire season, we have gotten the following produce from our garden:
Zucchini: 15
Green Pepper: 1
Red Pepper: 9
Hot Peppers: 19
Cucumbers: 24
Tomatoes: 104
If you are gardening, how is your garden doing?
I shared this post at The Homesteader Blog Carnival.
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We’re not growing so much this year – just runner beans (which aren’t ready just yet), tomatoes (nearly ready), courgettes and potatoes. Unfortunately it’s been a bad year for the courgettes as there wasn’t nearly enough sun through June and July
Luckily though we’ve a damson tree which seems to be doing quite well – already had a few delicious deserts from it!
I have never heard of damson before. What is it?
This is so fun to read! I can just imagine you counting out all those tiny cherry tomatoes
We were able to save 3 of our 7 squash plants by killing the bugs one by one, but next year, I think we’ll plant them much further apart. That way, I can easily pull up the rotten ones without disrupting the soil. Good luck!
That’s a good idea. Ours were close together too. Next year I should put them on opposite sides of the garden. I also read that planting them later in the season can help.
I have hot peppers coming out of my ears!!! How do you dry them to turn them into spicy pepper flakes?
We just slice them in half and then cook at 200 degrees until dried out (about 1 to 3 hours depending on the size). After they are cooled, I blend them in the food processor. Just store in an air tight container in a cool place. My husband said our peppers weren’t that hot, but after they were dried and the spice became concentrated, they had quite a kick!
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