Back from Holidays

Leaving the garden for an extended period of time is always stressful. This time it was for six nights which is a bit too long to go without water. The larger self watering containers are ok. I just fill them full and they can manage. But some of the other containers need help. I setup my Claber Oasis to manage a few container, some ceramic watering spikes for the onions and I used my water timer with a gravity drip system for the remaining containers. And it looks like everything worked out ok. I got back just in time. The only plants that didn't do too well were the celery. I think the Claber ran out of water a day early.

Before I left I picked the Hungarian wax peppers that I thought were ready to eat. My plan was to pickle them. I even bought a canning pot to do it in. I had just enough peppers to fill a pair of 250ml jars. Sadly, the canning pot is not designed for a flat surface cooktop so I couldn't get it done before we left. I need to find a better pot to use with my stove. Maybe if I treat the two plants I have nicely they'll provide me with another harvest like this at the end of September.

More than enough tomatoes ripening on the vines when I got back. The tiny toms were starting to split. Only a few black cherries were splitting on the vine. I made sure to leave the tops on those tomatoes when I picked them to help keep them from erupting after they were picked.