Hot Wax Peppers

I picked some of the Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers to give the plants a chance to grow some more peppers. With the temperatures outside down to a more comfortable level, the peppers have started flowering and setting fruit again. The peppers I picked were in varying stages of ripeness but it's all the same to me. Some I sliced and others I just sliced open. I blanched them and then covered them with a boiling briny vinegar solution. After a night in the fridge they taste just right.

Tall Tomatoes

My black cherry tomato plants seem to be doing ok. I've plucked a few ripe tomatoes so far and there are loads more on the way. I've been restricting the plants to a single central vine, pinching off all suckers and side shoots as the appear. I usually get lazy and miss a few and end up with wild bushy plants. But not this year. The plants have reached a height of 7'6". With the height of the container they are up over 8'6". But the tops don't get much sunlight so they are growing rather spindly up there. I should move the plant out from the wall closer to the edge of the balcony but I'm afraid that if it falls over it will crash into and damage my pigeon netting.

The tomatoes and peppers are going really well this season. The watermelon appears to be in trouble but hasn't aborted yet. And the celery was started a little late so it can be forgiven if it's a little tough and woody (I've also been lazy with watering it so my expectations for the celery are low). I was hesitate to plant too much this year because I didn't know if I'd be around much but now the calendar appears to be clear so maybe it's time to fill some of those idle container with some fall crops: beets, radish and lettuce. Not too late for some bush beans either.

Yellow leaves on the Golden Midget

The leaves on my Golden Midget watermelon plant are starting to turn yellow faster now. The oldest leaves are a pure pale yellow and some have started to turn brown and die. The plant puts out a few male flowers every day but very few females. And the female flowers wither and fall before opening. The one melon on the plant is still growing and is now the size of a really large grapefruit. But it hasn't started to turn yellow yet, like it's suppose to.

Golden Midget watermelon plants have been known to turn yellow but I'm not convinced that's what is happening to my plant. I started adding ferts to the water over a week ago. Just general purpose water soluble crystals. But it doesn't appear to be slowing the spread. It almost looks like a spider mite infestation but I can't find any anywhere. It's got to be a nutrient deficiency. Or maybe over-watering. It's in a self watering container and I've never had problems with it before but who knows. Maybe it's getting more water than it wants. I suppose it could also be a virus of some kind but more likely something simple, like a lack of nitrogen. I suspect the plant will be dead before that melon is ready to pick.

Aphid eaters

The sudden departure of the aphid colonies from my peppers seemed a little too... sudden. I was having a good look at some of the plants tonight and noticed a few tiny worm like creatures slinking around on the leaves. I believe they are hoverfly larvae. I haven't seen any of them eating any aphids because there are no aphids left to eat. These larvae move around like an inch worm and do so very quickly. And as they move they constantly "feel around" for something to eat. I've seen hoverfly larvae before but not quite like these ones. I wish there had been some aphids around for them to eat. It's fun to watch.

Bountiful Basil

The drip irrigation system I had in place when I went on vacation is still running and doing a nice job of keeping the basil hydrated. I've been pinching the tops to get it bushier. It could use some more sunlight though. That's the problem with the gravity fed drip irrigation. The containers need to be down on the balcony floor for it to work.