Garden Update #19

This week's garden update is a mix of progress and regression. On the regression side, we have serranos, super chiles, poblanos, broccoli, and tomatoes. On the progress side, we have hungarian wax, banana peppers, petite bells, butternut squash, and tomatoes. I know, I know, tomatoes are on both sides; I'll explain. The Roma has slowed in terms of producing new blossoms while the ripening process has come along nicely. Our better boy has been, well, a "better boy," but the mystery tomatoes have taken a turn for the worse.


The zucchini plants look about the same except for the one I accidently pulled a large chunk off of earlier this week while trying to remove insect eggs:



And this little guy was begging to be photographed:


The summer squash looks about the same, as well:


This mystery tomato is on par with the zucchini and summer squash; pretty much the same as last week:


The other mystery plant is done for, I'm afraid. Poor conditions in addition to "no-holds-barred" competition with the butternut appear to have been too much for this straggler:


Speaking of butternuts, we have some old-timers getting ready for harvest:



...and a couple of newbs:



Our better boy, however, is straightening up his act; we're proud and astonished at his recovery from what - months ago - appeared to be certain death.


The roma is frighteningly productive. Under the weight of all these 'maters, it has been nearly impossible to keep it off of the ground. Whenever I have tied it, the "branch" bends like an elbow at the tie-point within a day or two. Thus far, however, no tomatoes are touching the ground:







Our in-ground banana peppers have made a healthy resurgence from "under the rule of butternut hegemony," so to speak:




Our container garden:




This banana and our second-year serrano were hiding behing the jalapeno in the group photo, so I had to catch them while they weren't looking. I think the serrano might finally be done producing, but I've given it more food to see if that helps:


The super chili has seen better days. I've finally come to the conclusion that these little peppers would be better suited to soil with better drainage; it's been slowly drowning all summer. We don't really care, though, as we haven't been all that impressed with their flavor.
























The broccoli is still alive; that's all I can say for it:


This is a pretty poblano but only one of two (can you see the other one hanging out back there?), and there is no sign of newcomers on the horizon. It's a large and beautiful plant, but it has used more resources than it was worth.


The hungarian wax is infested with blossoms. I estimate that it currently has more blossoms than leaves; I'm still trying to wrap my head around that as even possible, but I've seen it. I only hope that you can see it too:


The long red cayenne has double the peppers it had the "last round". We're hoping they ripen in time to get another round in before the season is over; that would make for a decent ristra from just one plant!


The petite bell is still going strong. It has far fewer peppers on it than a week ago ('cause we ate 'em), but there looks to be no shortage of new ones getting started. Here is one of the few left which is now getting good and ripe:


The jalapenos are rocking the place! We keep picking them, and they keep on coming. They are peppered all over this impressive plant in various stages of development. It's been a real treat to have around this summer:


The two banana pepper plants that we have in containers are making up for lost time:



The "regular" bell seems to be pacing itself, and not so much to our pleasure. I was hoping for more productivity even though I'm not the biggest fan of bell peppers. But they're still nice to look at:


A ripe serrano:
























...and one that's starting to ripen:
























Believe it or not, these are seeds we started germinating on Thursday for our first attempt at an indoor winter garden. That's right folks; we've had this much progress in just FOUR DAYS since first planting! I'm using an old cooler to keep moisture in and maintain soil temperature; it seems to be working really well so far:


And finally, Jennifer's dad and stepmom came to CoMo on Sunday to deliver this little bundle of joy for her birthday present. It's a dwarf avodado tree! Since this is a tree we do not expect fast progress here. It's also likely that it will not fruit for a few years. So, we're only going to update on it monthly instead of weekly. Of course, if there's breaking news, we won't wait until the turn of a calendar page to talk about it; there's no way we could contain the excitement for long. Oh, and Gabby wanted to be in the picture: