Lesson learned.

Quit stressing about the plants!  They will come around.  The tomatoes have, and now the cayenne peppers are turning red with plenty of time to be dried for chili season! 

Standstill.

Hmmm.  It's finally hitting me that the early fall-type weather that I've been loving so much is not the greatest for my vegetables.  NOTHING is ripening.  Last weekend I was bemoaning that everything was green and this week it is more of the same.  I'm starting to worry.

San Marzano tomatoes a-plenty... but they are all totally green

SO MANY cayenne peppers... if they'd ever turn red!

There does not seem to be any end in sight to this weather... and honestly, were it not for the garden, I'd be thrilled!  But those low temperatures are concerning.

But there's not much to do about it, so instead, Butch and I spent some time outside and made room for fall crops - beets, cauliflower, cabbage, and more fennel.

I've gotten some beets recently in our CSA subscription and have enjoyed roasting them for salad.  So, for a few dollars I decided to buy two packets of seeds - Chioggia beets, which are a gorgeous red and pink stripe, and golden beets.  I planted them where the spinach never really came to fruition, next to the second planting of Toscano kale:

A-a-and... that's all, folks!  I wish there were more to report (and eat!).  Hopefully there will be soon.

Seeds, Week 5

At this point, the seedlings seem to be taller every time I check on them!  Some of the tomatoes (foreground) are 4-5 inches tall. 

The pepper plants (jalapeno & cayenne) in the foreground of this picture are coming along a little slower, but still making progress.

Wanna be startin' something...

...and that something is seeds! 

This year I decided I'm going to try and start as many of my plants as possible from seeds.  Last weekend was quite busy, with plenty of assistance from one of my favorite helpers...

The catnip seeds have since been moved to a secure location.

The supplies for this project included those little peat pots you see in the background (I bought 100, which should actually be enough for next year too), a bag of "seed starting mix," and, of course, the seeds.  I chose these little pots because they are actually biodegradable and you can plant them right in the ground (or, alternatively, just lift the seedlings out... but at least you have the option of either).

Seed starting mix is a very lightweight topsoil - it is not expensive (I think my bag cost $3.99) but has the right nutrient mix for starting seeds.

In terms of seeds, I have to say I have no regard for what brand I purchased - I just chose varieties that looked interesting.
 

I planted 6 pots of each (except for the San Marzano tomatoes, which I planted 10 of, because they are my favorite), with two seeds in each pot.  I'd really like to make sure I have 2-3 viable seedlings of each.  And if I have too many - well, I am sure my friends and family wouldn't mind the castoffs (or, they will find a home in the compost pile!).  But better to be safe than sorry.

These seedlings will live on our enclosed porch where there is a lot of sun.  Last year I was able to grow some seedlings (not this many) out there with no added light.  Hopefully it will also work this year, and if not I can add a fluorescent light (but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it).

I did this year buy those clear lids to put over the trays - to create more of a greenhouse effect, especially when they are first starting to germinate.

One positive is that our porch isn't heated - which means the air will not be super dry.  One negative is that our porch is not heated - which means it may not be all that warm, especially on days when there's not a lot of sun.  You can sort of see in this picture in the left tray that I put a small glass of water in the middle - to provide a tiny bit of humidity.  I can also add a space heater when needed.

Another negative is that someone is really interested in this project.

He occasionally tries to be stealthy about it.

Some of Fernando's favorite things include: the porch, jumping on windowsills, looking out windows, and glasses of water.  A real recipe for disaster, but fortunately he hasn't learned to unlock doors yet.

PS: I need to make the addition here that I discovered after the fact that it is way too early to start cucumber seeds.  They only need 2-3 weeks of growing indoors before you put them outside in the ground, and they can only go into the ground when it is warm!  So... we'll see what happens.  I have plenty of seeds left and will just need to remember to plant a few new pots in late April/early May.

Beetles!

One the absolutely most helpful tools when it comes to gardening is... Google!  I love how easy it is to find things.  Case in point: after this recent tomato upset, I examined some other plants and found the same yellow-ish insects with black spots also taking up residence in my Swiss chard.  I had to cut and dispose of all of it, since most leaves have some holes and many had these bugs on their undersides (no fear, I have plenty more growing and just bought some more seeds!).  So, then, I took to Google to investigate...

See the first picture there, on the left?  That's the culprit!  And it turns out to be the "Cucumber Beetle" that you see listed several times below.

Here's the bad news - not much to do about cucumber beetles.  Two non-chemical solutions I read about are to plant radishes nearby (seeds already purchased yesterday - regular old red ones, and also white daikon radish, because two websites specifically mentioned white radishes) and also to lay aluminum foil (or some other reflective material) around the base of the affected plants.  I plan on trying both of these.  We may begin eating radishes as a result!  And, since it never hurts, I am going to use some of our cayenne pepper crop to make a spicy spray that may deter these pests. 

RECIPES FOR SPICY SPRAY TO DETER PESTS:

- hot peppers, chopped up, with seeds

- Murphy's oil soap

- water to thin slightly

As you can see, this is a rather imprecise recipe with no quantities.  The heat of the peppers supposedly deters bugs, and the Murphy's oil soap helps it to coat the leaves.  You spray it on the undersides of leafy plants (like Swiss chard).  What we have done in the past is mix this stuff up and let it sit for a day or so.  Depending on your spray bottle, the seeds might be a problem, so you may need to strain it.  I have no idea about the effectiveness of this, but it is cheap to make and worth a try! 

I will let you know if I am able to keep this problem at bay.  I don't take kindly to invaders.

Hot stuff.

While I have for some reason never had success growing bell peppers in my backyard garden, we always have a large crop of hot peppers.  Last year we did banana peppers, and the year before we grew green jalapenos.  This year we are growing red cayenne peppers.

These are great to add to dishes for a little heat, and also to dry and grind up - in that form, we add them to chili frequently.  In the past, when we've had a big surplus, we've chopped them up and either scattered them over our plants or made them into a liquid that we can spray to protect from pests (this has had mixed results, but isn't too labor intensive and doesn't cost anything, so we continue to try).  We only have one red one so far, but there are more on the way...

I personally find it fascinating how they go from green to such a vibrant red.  Very easy to tell when these are ready for picking!