peppers Archives : Page 6 of 7 : Cast Iron Garden

July 19, 2021July 19, 2021

Wednesday harvest and other friends

UF garden gem was fine but all of the UF “W” at a similar color rotted and molded. Perhaps they don’t like the endless rain? I will watch more closely for ripening now too.

The Chef tied all the onions up for storage.

The mini bell peppers are more mini than I expected.

Corbaci peppers. I think the three little ones aren’t ready, but their plant died.

A mini bell pepper plant died too, in the same way, a rotting brown at the base.

This mushroom looks like it should be named lemon chiffon something.

*Pseudothyris* *sp.* moth resting on strawberry leaf.

June 5, 2021June 5, 2021

Evening things in the Pacific rainforest that is Norman

Cowpeas coming up among corn, beets, and peppers. Coreopsis in background.

Rouge Vif d’Etampes squash has big leaves!

Golden jenny melon needs more sun I think. Its seedling seems stuck.

This beetle eats solanaceous plants. It is sitting on my Peruvian ground cherry. This beetle is now gone.

Presumed beetle eggs. They are gone now. A mysterious giant finger squished them.

May 2, 2021May 2, 2021

How can things grow this much in a week?? Sprouting trays edition

The Chef took very good care of the garden while I was on vacation and we got very, very, very, very lucky to get rain and no hail in our part of town. I’m poking at my potted plants right now. I’ll do another post later with the ground plants and raised beds and permanent planters.

*Echineacea pallida* left out all winter sprouted well (seeds from prairie moon nursery) a while back. I put some of the seedlings in the ground when I left and I’ll plant these last ones soon.

The Chimayó peppers from Judy grew almost all these adult leaves. When I left each had one small adult leaf.

Hungarian heart tomatoes to replace the one that got killed by the late frost. The seedlings emerged in the plant window so I put them outside yesterday when I got back.

I repotted this eggplant right before I left. It has grown a lot. The other one I repotted hasn’t grown as much.

Finally the culinary sage is starting to sprout! The only one that was up before now has an adult leaf.

These passionvines are the ones where I just smooshed the fruit into a pot and left them out all winter.

*Liatris mucronata* has a hilarious long leaf. I had another one in a bigger pot but it seems to be dying.

This yucca now has three leaves! I also planted one in the ground when I left, because it was in the relatively shallow sprouting tray, and it is still alive in the ground.

Planted the other tray of green milkweed (*Asclepias virida*) before I left and will plant these ones soon.

Volunteer redbud dug from front raised beds. Eventually I’ll put it in the ground here in backyard. I don’t think it grew any taller, so hopefully it’s working on roots.

I now have at least three baby columbines in the sprouting tray and one out in the yard. The package said direct seeding in fall was best, even over stratifying manually, so that’s what I did even for the trays. These babies look a lot like clover, especially when smaller, so I’ve had to be careful.

April 23, 2021April 23, 2021

Suspense

Did the tender plants (tomatoes, peppers, ground cherries, potatoes, and runner beans) make it yesterday??? Tuesday night into Wednesday morning it got down to 29F in Norman, apparently a new record low (the previous being 30F in 1918. SEE WHO WEATHERED THE WEATHER!!

Tommy toe tomato did not make it. Note how the leaves are a darker, mushy/soft green and drooping. Goner.

Both of my new tomato varieties, supposed to be better for canning, died. One was the Amish paste (not pictured), which I have more of in pots. The other was Hungarian heart tomato (pictured). I have planted some more seeds and put them in the warm plant window to sprout. The culprit is pictured on the left… oatmeal container cardboard does not insulate enough. I thought it would be nicer since they’re tall and big, but apparently you need more, like the air trapped in corrugated cardboard. All the survivors were under towels, glass jars, plastic jars, plastic pots with newspapers, cardboard boxes, or even leaves-as-mulch (one Peruvian ground cherry in the backyard). A few branches got frosted but they can be trimmed off.

One branch of this potato died when the box top fell in (I had set another bag of potatoes on top). But the rest of the plants were fine. An example of corrugated cardboard doing its insulation job. I was surprised that an uncovered potato in a raised bed did not completely die of frost. Only a branch or two was dead.

Three casualties of a late frost, and all due to poor choices of insulation (which I now know to avoid), are really not bad. I’m pretty pleased.

April 17, 2021April 17, 2021

30s next few nights

I put towels, newspapers in pots, glass jars, and plastic jars over the tender plants (peppers, tomatillos, tomatos, ground cherries). The unplanted ones will go in the garage or house.

April 7, 2021April 7, 2021

Another night, another earwig

I put petroleum jelly around the bases of the four test plants. I took pictures of two. I also covered the Brunswick cabbage again with a jar since it got eaten a lot last night when uncovered.