The Trickle

[Terry Coombs]

  Has started . A cucumber here , there a pepper , a couple of tomatoes ... The pepper plants are so loaded I had to stake them and we've already made a batch of pickles . The white greasy beans are easily 18" over the top of the 5' trellis and loaded . Tomato plants are nearly all a foot or more taller than the 5 foot cages , and loaded with fruit . And still blooming their happy little butts off . I'm totally amazed at the difference over last year . I was considering thinning the tomatoes , but my go-to-girl at the co-op said that if the tomatoes are getting good sized I'd just be throwing away part of my crop . Most of the credit goes to the county extension service , but I think part of the reason for this success is because I'm watering more this year . On another note , my peppers are not what I thought I planted - well some of them . What were supposed to be serranos are mostly , except for a couple that look suspiciously like jalapenos ... and one of the orange bells ain't either orange or bell , but looks like a small tomato that's been squeezed a little flat . Ain't open pollination awesome ?

[songbird]

we just picked another five gallon bucket full of cucumbers this morning so that will be my project for the day getting those scrubbed and put up.

have you eaten any yet?

most of the beans here are behind, but some are finally starting to get some flowers.

i've never bothered to thin or remove suckers or whatever some people go on about. my brother did all of that before, but we've not ever done it and always have plenty.

we've had no rain since we had the 5+" downpour a few weeks ago. from feast to famine... i get out every two or three days to water, in this heat with the clay it's better to keep it regularly watered so it can get down to the roots of the plants. that helps to avoid the worst of the BER, we may get a few early tomatoes with that but after they seem to do ok.

it's interesting what may come up. after a while you may get more odd things than you can ever evaluate.

songbird

[Terry Coombs]

  No , I missed picking the first few before they started drying out . I'm keeping a closer eye on them now . They're blooming and still producing , I think in a couple more days there'll be enough to try them as green beans .

 I tried one of those odd squashed-tomato looking peppers this morning , they taste a lot like a green pepper with some after-heat . The wife agreed .

[songbird]

Terry Coombs wrote: ...

leave enough for seeds, they take a while up here to fill out the seeds completely.

...

were they good? let a few get ripe ripe and see how they taste.

i don't much go for green peppers but really love a good red pepper, especially when roasted.

songbird

[Terry Coombs]

   The beans actually ripened much quicker than expected . Still a lot of green pods on , and plenty of blossoms so I think we'll get some green and dried . I'm not sure they like the heat we've been having - it has been hotter than "normal" though so ...   I just whittled a couple of slices from that one pepper that I picked accidentally . I'm going to let some get bigger/riper and see what they taste like . I'm not a big fan of green peppers , they don't like me . We have some called "sweet reds" that I'm bettin' will make a great pot of chili ... a long tapered pepper that's supposed to be very mild . Peppers ain't just about the heat , each variety has it's own flavor . I just wish the jalapenos I pickled the other day had more heat . Just sittin' here thinkin' about what I have out in the garden that would be good in/with/for dinner . Maybe something using some kind of peppers , I think .