It's getting hot in here (so hot)

One of the biggest surprises of the season was cayenne peppers.  The plants took the longest time to germinate, and then only a few survived long enough to be transplanted outside.  One went up on our deck and one was planted among the jalepeños.  

I didn't take much notice of these plants while we were bringing in loads of cherry tomatoes, beans, bell peppers and jalepeños.  Then one day we were on the deck and noticed a long green pepper hanging from one of the pepper plants.  Upon closer inspection downstairs, the plant was actually pretty full of peppers ready to be picked, they were just the exact same color as the rest of the plant, so we weren't noticing them:

How many peppers can you spot?

We probably took about 20 peppers off the plant that day:

Not wanting to find ways to eat 20 cayenne peppers right away (our digestive systems probably thanked us), and also not wanting to burden our neighbors with even more spicy pepper give aways (more on how we are testing the limits of friendship by pushing jalepeños on neighbors, friends and relatives in a future post), we looked to alternatives.

Our friends Luther and Tina are experienced cayenne pepper dryers, and we took their advice.  I didn't take any how-to pictures for this, but it's exactly what it looks like: take a needle and thread and string the peppers together, hanging them from a wall or window frame.  The pictures show roughly weekly progression of drying/reddening for the cayennes:

Just to get the whole picture, we have two more strings this size in other locations around the house, and will probably double that judging by the number of peppers still growing on the plant today.  And this is just from the one plant that survived in our garden!  The other plant just popped out that single pepper and died (we didn't pay very close attention to our roof plants, so that's our fault).  Moral of the story:  one healthy cayenne plant is all you need unless you're planning on opening a sriracha factory.

So now the next step is figuring out what to do with a bunch of dried cayenne peppers.  We could grind them up into a powder (I'm not sure if they are dry enough for that yet), or freeze them.  Any other suggestions?

TBT: watching the garden grow

Throwback Thursday!  It's hard to believe the garden ever looked neat and organized.  Scroll through the pictures to see what I mean.  Let's take a look back to April, when outdoor planting began:

Colt poses in front of the newly created garden

Front rows: spinach, back row: sugar snap peas

Artsy angle

Cabbage on the right, tomato seedlings in the back left, Brussels sprouts back right

Cucumbers...these did not turn out well, probably because the tomatoes completely blocked their sun after a few weeks

Growing!  Flowering plants are summer squash.  Those grew like weeds.

Cabbage starting to look cabbag-y

View from above

Woah!  I let it go too long between pictures here...About now we're realizing why cabbage said 3 ft between plants. 

Ok, what is happening here.  There was at least a two month window between this picture and the previous one.  Most of the cabbages have been harvested and we planted jalepeños and bell peppers in their place.  Eggplants went in next to the Brussels sprouts, the snap peas have died but string beans have taken their place, and the summer squash is making a play for the patio.

You can actually see some cherry tomatoes from this picture!  It is also starting to look like a jungle.

We just took out the summer squash last week and tried to trim back the tomatoes and peppers.  

Tune in next week for some plant-level detail!

Let's talk about Brussels sprouts

One of the vegetables I was most looking forward to growing and eating was Brussels sprouts.  Growing up we never ate them, probably because our mom assumed we would fall under the tired "kids don't like Brussels sprouts" trope, or maybe she didn't like them herself.  Either way, I never remember eating them until I was grown, and got them as part of a CSA a few years back in Pittsburgh.  The CSA helpfully sent out recipes each week, and for Brussels sprouts the recipe basically went like this - slather in olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground pepper, add a spritz of lemon juice (optional), and roast at 400 F.  You really can't go wrong with roasted vegetables, and I was hooked.

Fast forward to January of this year, and Roger and I decided to dedicate a solid 16 sq ft of garden space to Brussels sprouts.  We diligently planted the seeds indoors on January 25, according to the plan, and moved them outside in April.  

Top right 4x4 squares are Brussels sprouts

Transplanting

After another two months, those little seedlings started to look like this:

 Things were moving along swimmingly, or so I thought.  We started to notice some pest damage on the leaves, and closer inspection gave way to a frightening discovery:

Eggs!!!!

 

Pest damage (can you find the pest?)

Some type of caterpillar thing, I think in the process of laying an egg.

We've tried a few things to get rid of the pests and keep them from returning:

• Soapy water
• Concoction of coffee grounds, garlic, onions, and cayenne pepper powder, marinated overnight
• Trying to avoid standing water on the leaves, so only watering at the base of the plants

All of these have had some success, but problems remain.  I haven't seen the caterpillars in a while, but now there are some tiny white bugs that live on the plants.  The standing water was less of a problem when summer was in full swing, but now that September is here it might return.  Compounding the problem is the sprouts are planted in the most shady area of the garden, limiting their growing potential and keeping things damp.

According to our research, the Brussels sprouts should have been ready for harvest June 4.  It is now over two months later, and we are not that much closer. 

This little guy has the most shady spot in the garden.  I don't have much hope that the sprouts will fully form before winter.

These are some of the most mature sprouts, but still not full-sized.  I hope to get at least three full stalks before the first frost.

The whole Brussels sprouts patch is kind of a mess.  

The sprouts started falling over on each other once they got tall enough.  A few have died.  Three or four look like they might produce a full stalk of sprouts before the season is over.  Maybe we planted these too close together, and definitely not in full enough sunlight.  I'll make another Brussels sprouts update later in the season.  Lots of lessons learned for next year!

Fast forward: first harvest and first infestation

Spinach came in fast and furious starting in April.  It's in the rows on the left side.

This was one of the easiest plants to grow.  Clipping leaves from one or two squares per day provided our salad for weeks.  

This bountiful harvest began just as days began getting warm, and occasionally hot.  One day, Roger mentioned he thought the sun was "burning" the leaves.  That's strange.  It definitely looked like something was amiss.

Credit: Shoura Group (did not remember to take pictures of the infected spinach)

Turns out, this is actually a type of fungal infestation.  Unfortunately it spreads easily when spores travel through the air due to rain or watering.  So, we decided to pick all the undamaged leaves and then remove the rest of the crop.  Next year we will look for spinach seeds that are resistant to the fungus.  Also keeping the leaves dry helps avoid the problem, so things like wider spacing between plants and planting in full sun help on that front.