Seedlings

The pepper and micro dwarf tomato seedlings have been doing well in the kitchen window for about a week now. The peppers look a little spindly but I'm used to that. They tomatoes look great. You can tell they're determinate varieties. Very compact looking. Probably about time for all of these little guys to move up to a bigger homes. Not quite yet. Soon.

My cucumber seedlings are just putting out their first true leaves. I keep them under the grow light. I won't be putting these out for a while. Not until the end of May.

Hot Peppers

I picked this little harvest of Hungarian hot wax peppers today.  Just a small batch today with lots more to come. The only thing I can think of to do with these is pickle them. I sliced them into rings and got the lot of them to fit in a single 500ml jar. We're going to be really sick of pickles once autumn comes around.

Good growing season so far

I planted a number of Hungarian Hot Wax pepper plants this year. I have six on a table near the edge of the balcony and another five in my elevated cedar box. Maybe I should have only planted four in that container. Those also share space with a rogue wax bean plant. I seeded that container with beans in the spring but none sprouted.  The seed was kind of old so I didn't expect much. After I planted all the peppers one of the seeds decided to pop up. So I let it go. It has a handful of beans on it now that need to be picked. All of the peppers need more time to ripen.

The cedar box also has a contraption I created to water the plants. A bucket below the container has water in it and a small pump. Once a day the pump fills the jug mounted just above the right side of the container. Water leaves the bottom of the jug through a pair of 1/4" waterlines that feed several drippers that slow drip water onto the soil. The pump is controller by a little electronic controller box I made that sits under the container, along with a 12v battery to power the pump.

The cucumbers are forming a nice dense wall on the balcony. Three containers (totes) with a pair of plants in each. Probably could have kept it down to one in each container.  Lots of cucumbers to harvest now. But the vines have nowhere else to grow. I'll have to find some more sticks and things to extend my trellis.

Hungry bugs

They look like aphids but they don't move like aphids. They don't eat like aphids. And they didn't last as long as aphids. I see these little red mite like things running around on my plants and containers every year. Not many though. And they never last long. And by this time of year they are usually gone. They never seem to cause any harm. But this is the first time I've seen them congregate like this. They really like the pepper flowers but that's about it. I don't see them lingering anywhere else for very long.

I put my cucumbers out early enough to get a few female flowers to set fruit. I've got a few cucumbers like this now. The plants are thriving in the heat as are the tomatoes and peppers. No spider mites, mildew or aphids yet.

Last of the Raspberries

I did a bit of cleanup on the balcony today. Tomato and melon vines went without water for over a week and they were drying out nicely. So I chopped them down and stuff them into a bag, ready for the composter. But there is still life on the balcony. My peppers are ripe enough to pick. The kale still has a few leaves on it. And I've got more raspberries which was kind of a surprise. I didn't think this cluster of flowers would produce anything this year.

Jimmy Nardello Peppers

I picked the last of the Jimmy Nardello peppers. I only had one plant and it was looking pretty bad. Earlier this summer I picked about a dozen peppers from this plant so it did alright. The aphids thrived on this plant but it tolerated the invasion.

Not Over Yet

I still have peppers on my pepper plants. They've survived through the aphids and look under nourished, but they're still going. My tomatoes are almost done. I think I'll have the plants down before the end of the month. And my melon plants gave me a surprise this morning. I found four new melons growing out there. This late in the season they have no chance of growing to maturity but it was nice to see.

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.

Ready to Eat

Tiny Tom and Black Cherry tomatoes picked this morning. The tiny toms make nice salad tomatoes. There are lots more to come but the black cherry tomato vines that grew over the top of the trellis are loaded with tomatoes and the vines are sagging under the weight. I might lose them if it gets stormy out there.

My celery is looking better but I didn't give it enough sunlight and it hasn't been growing as fast as it probably should. Certainly could be thicker. The outer branches are a bit bitter but I kind of expected that. The Hungarian wax peppers are ready to pick. I only planted two plants. In the same container is a single Jimmy Nardello pepper plant and it has a half dozen peppers that are a good size.

Peppers and Strawberries

I planted Hungarian wax peppers and fresca strawberries in similar sized containers. I had planned to build stands to put these up higher along the balcony half wall so they could get more sunlight. But so far I haven't got around to doing that. For now they sit on stools just higher enough to get them a couple extra hours of sunlight. I didn't think it would be enough but they seem to be producing. But I still want to get them up higher.

Last Season

I let things slide into the end of the last growing season. And I didn't bother with any blog updates. But I did take some pictures.

Mildew took over the Charentais melon plants. Poor things. I would routinely spray them down with a soapy neem oil solution but the mildew always came back (of course). Spraying the leaves is just a temporary thing. It washes the spores from the leaves and makes them look better but this stuff spreads too fast. If the plants got rained on from time to time it might not be all that bad. But I'm sure there were other problems. The saddest part was not getting any melons. Only one grew to tennis ball size before the end.

The one Brandywine tomato plant I grew did ok and gave us quite a few decent tasting tomatoes. Not the biggest but consistent as far as shape and taste goes. The Olpaka tomato plants did well even considering blossom end rot was a problem as it always seems to be with these tomatoes. The best producers were the peppers. Lots of Hot Wax peppers, as always. And lots of Jimmy Nardellos. I got a few harvests like this one pictured here. The Nardellos were perfect for frying. It made them even sweeter. 

Curled Leaves on the Peppers

My peppers have been growing well. Hard to tell in the images but all four plants are loaded with peppers. I've had to prop the Jimmy Nardellos up to prevent them from falling over. I don't know what I'm going to do with the Hot Wax peppers this year.

Something I noticed a while back was that all of the leaves are curling at the edges. I haven't figured out exactly what is causing this. There are no bugs on the plants which is a miracle. I think this is the first time I've grown peppers and not had problems with aphids. There are no spider mites to be seen anywhere on the balcony. It must be a nutrient deficiency but I'm not sure which one or why that would be a problem. There are no other signs of problems. No yellow or dead leaves. No problems with fruit set. Nothing. Perfectly healthy plants with.

Transplanted and growing well

These were all planted well over a week ago... maybe two weeks now. Time has been flying lately. The two plants on the left are Charentais Melons. And one of them doesn't look too good in this image but it has since managed to "stabilize" and start growing. I waited too long to transplant them but I'm glad I did because we had a week of cold windy weather in mid May that would have done them in if I had transplanted them earlier. The tomato on the right is a Brandywine and it's doing great.

I haven't built proper trellises for the melon plants yet but I do need to get on that soon. I was putting it off, waiting to see if they would grow ok.  I also planted a few pepper plants in a sunny spot: Hungarian Hot Wax and Jimmy Nardello's. Had lots of trouble getting the Nardello's to grow. I seeded maybe two dozen and only got three to grow to transplant size. 

Snow Tomorrow

Doesn't matter how good my intentions are: I always start my gardening late. I started tomato and pepper seeds at the start of April and I probably should have started them in the middle of March. I've been burned by starting too early so maybe that's why I hesitate. My tomatoes are up and doing well but the peppers are slow. Especially the Jimmy Nardello's. I seem to remember having problems with those last time I tried them.

The weather has been amazing these past few days. Over 20 C which is unusually warm for this time of year. But tonight we're expecting freezing rain and apparently up to 5 cms of snow tomorrow. Temps will be well below 0 C again for the next couple of nights.

Blossom end rot perhaps?

I've lost a few California wonder peppers this year to what I believe to be blossom end rot. I see it in tomatoes occasionally and although this doesn't quite look the same, I believe it is. Could be a calcium deficiency. Thinking back to what I put in the container this plant grows in, I wouldn't be surprised. But I think it's more likely a problem with water. I've been subjecting my peppers to an unbalanced watering schedule and that might be interfering with calcium uptake. Maybe next year I'll try growing these in a self-watering container.

A good pepper

I picked this California Wonder pepper the other day. It was a good size and actually looked like a bell pepper I might have bought at the grocery story. This is a bit of an accomplishment for me as I've tried to grow California Wonders a few times now and every time the plants fail to set fruit if they even reach a size that can support flowering. But this time, with the right amount of sunlight, I seem to have struck gold.

There are two California Wonder pepper plants on the balcony: one produced this pepper and is starting to set more and the other has a few golf-ball size peppers developing.

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.

Aphids making an exit

The wasps that have been buzzing around the peppers for the past couple weeks still come by occasionally but not that often. Instead of the six or seven I see constantly hovering around and licking honeydew from the pepper plant leaves I now only see one or two at a time and they don't linger long. A couple weeks ago I noticed that the aphid colonies on my California Wonder pepper plants were thriving so I blasted them with a rather potent solution of neem oil and dish soap. Not much different from what I've used in the past. I sprayed the plants a few times before leaving town for a week. That was two weeks ago. Now the aphids appear to be gone or at least beaten back significantly. And I figure the wasps aren't hanging around because there aren't enough aphids to produce honeydew for them.

But aphids are only one problem plaguing the California Wonders. I planted them up high along the edge of the balcony half wall to provide maximum sunlight. Unfortunately being up there also means maximum wind exposure. And these poor plants really take a beating. Every leaf has a tear or rip or hole in it. Despite this, they continue to put out flowers. But it's a bit too hot for fruit set. On one plant I have a single pepper, perhaps a little bigger than my fist. And on the other I see a couple of new peppers starting to form. Perhaps now with the aphids in retreat things will get better.

Last of the Peppers

I wasn't able to keep the aphids off the pepper plants and the constant onslaught was preventing the plants from thriving. I did manage to get a few decent tasting peppers from them though. The Klari Cheese Peppers all ripened at the same time and despite my usual neglect, yielded a few nice looking peppers as well as a handful that had clearly ripened past their prime. I also salvaged a nice looking chocolate pepper from the last chocolate pepper plant before it 'tanked'. I didn't let it ripen though which was a shame but it turned out alright. A nice pepper taste with fairly thick walls. There were some smaller 'older' peppers on that plant that did mature into a reddish chocolate brown but they were suffering from damage and neglect so I left them.

Pickled Peppers

I finally finished off the pickled peppers and they were fantastic.

I searched the internet for a simple pickled pepper recipe. It seemed fairly simple and I couldn't find one that  suited my needs so I came up with my own. I slit the sides of the peppers to allow fluid to flow into them and air to escape. I then blanched them in boiling water for a few minutes. I boiled a brine mixture of 50/50 water and vinegar (2 cups of each) with a tbsp of salt and a tbsp of sugar. In a glass container (not a jar but only because I didn't have one) I tossed in a spring of oregano and basil and a spoonful of crushed chilies (just because but they served no purpose). After draining the peppers I laid them out in the container. Then I added the boiling brine: enough to cover the peppers and then a bit more. I used a fork to squish the air out out of the peppers so they would sink into the brine. The whole thing sat on the counter for an hour to cool and then went covered into the fridge.

I was impressed with the taste. And these things are hot but not terribly hot. I would say they're hotter than a jar of hot pickled peppers I can buy at the grocery store. I've seen some recipes that use just vinegar, no water, which seems a little hash to me. And next time I'll skip the herbs. Any flavour they added was overpowered by the peppers.