Monday, July 25, 2011

Hot Gardening Weekend

bell pepper plant--carnival mix
It was unbearably hot over the weekend--a perfect weekend for staying inside with air conditioning, or lounging by a pool and drinking iced tea and margaritas while being fanned by a cabana boy. Unfortunately I didn't do any of that. I ventured outside to tend to the plants, which I did very early in the morning before the sun could have a chance to sauté my skin. The heat was GREAT for the tomatoes and peppers. The picture above is of a bell pepper plant that I started from seed. (That picture is not blurry, by the way, it's the heat waves making it look out of focus). ;)

The seed packet was called "carnival mix," and the peppers could either turn out red, orange, yellow, white, or purple.  I haven't seen white or purple ones yet. The picture above was taken on Saturday morning, and I noticed that one of the peppers had turned orange.

carnival mix plant--yellow
Overnight, two more peppers started to ripen. On Saturday they were green. By Sunday morning the other plant in the pot had two yellow peppers! I love seeing some color in the garden.


Speaking of hot--the cayenne peppers are getting redder by the day. We haven't yet tried them ourselves, but we picked a few to give to a friend. We're going to cook with them this week and find out how hot they really are.

We also harvested eight cucumbers! We gave two to the neighbors, and the other six came inside with us.  The ones on the left are from the plants in the ground. The ones on the right are from the containers we have on the deck. These are the ones on the hanging vines that are forming the cucumber curtain.

This week is supposed to be just as hot, so I'm expecting to see more color in the garden as things ripen. I hope everyone stays cool this week!



6 comments:

  1. Wow, you're getting some serious produce! The cayenne peppers are beautiful. I'd like to grow them next year among my flowers.

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  2. Thanks! This is the first year we have grown cayenne peppers. They've been fairly easy to grow.

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  3. I went outside as little as possible during that insane heat wave! I'm really hoping for some rain this week. Your veggies look great!!! My tomatoes haven't turned red yet and my beets/carrots are still too small to harvest. If you'd like a free clump of catmint (nepeta Six Hills Giant), let me know. It will do well in a pot and attracts lots of pollinators! This fall, it will need a new home! I also have some rose campion available, too. :o)

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  4. It is so hot here I have seen several people carrying umbrella's with them to protect themselves from becoming microwaved by the sun!

    Your veggies are looking great and the carnival mix sounds like fun.

    Try to stay cool, hopefully the heat weave will pass soon!

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  5. I'd like to have the cabana boy with the fan from time to time...when it is really hot. We are having a break from the heat this week...don't know how long it will last. Your harvest looks great!

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  6. Your cucumbers look fantastic!!!!

    Victoria

    Victoriaspatiogarden.blogspot.com

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