I was up late watching the Olympic games and Breaking Bad (well , fell asleep halfway through that show) and my brain isn't totally focused yet, but I need to recap the Best/Worst of my little garden this month.
The "
Worst" this month goes to the
squirrels making off with my produce. It's actually just one squirrel, the mangy brown one that's torturing me. I was about to call a truce and then I found this on my deck.
{Serenity now......}
The
"Best" of my garden this month is that other parts of my garden are doing OK. The peppers are growing nicely. (These habaneros are growing upside down!)
My tomatoes (the ones that the squirrels have left alone) are blushing. (This picture is of the Marglobes, supposedly very good for making sauces. Can't wait to actually try them!)
And the ground cherry plants are coming along beautifully. After several false starts, the two seedlings that survived are growing strong and there is fruit on the branches.
Deb over at
Deb's Garden wrote this lovely
post about experiencing the garden, the elements, the weather, the soil, and being aware of it rather than just going through the motions of gardening. I often find myself falling into the trap of just getting my garden chores done so I can move on to something else
involving air conditioning, but the garden is much more rewarding when I slow down and pay attention to what's going on. Gardening has taught me to be patient and trust nature (like with the ground cherries pulling through), to be flexible when things don't go as planned (like with the
death of my potatoes and
starting over), and I'm always amazed that a beautiful flower or vegetable or fruit can grow from a tiny seed. Despite the "Worsts", the "Bests" make gardening so rewarding!
Please link up below if you'd like to share your Best and Worst gardening experiences this month. I'm only going to visit garden sites for the next couple of weeks to avoid accidentally seeing the Olympic spoilers on the news sites.;)
Well except for that pesky squirrel you definitely have lots of 'bests' love those chilli peppers - do they stay that colour or turn red.
ReplyDeleteThese habaneros are turning a darker shade of yellow. I don't think they'll turn red, but maybe dark yellow/light orange.
DeleteBeautiful peppers! Cut some of your tomatoes and ripen in the window....make that squirrel come inside to get them ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, I've started pulling them off the vine already!
DeleteIt's so true about being present in the moment when gardening. When I deliberately slow down and appreciate all that happens there without my assistance, it's really quite miraculous. Despite the snarky squirrel, your garden flourishes!
ReplyDeleteThanks Cat! As annoying as I find that squirrel, a little part of me admires his determination.
DeleteHi Angella, your habanero peppers are looking great! I hope the squirrel leaves the rest of your tomatoes alone. Or what you could do is now that it is turning red, you could simply pick them and let the turn completely red indoors where the creature cant reach it.
ReplyDeleteLastly would you be kind to mail me the seeds of the habanero pepper? In return I can mail you seeds of some local peppers and other seeds native to India.
Thanks Sri! I don't actually have seeds, we bought this plant as a little seedling from a nursery.
DeleteOh... The thing is I have been looking for seeds of this plants forever and haven't found it yet. I will be looking forward to see how you use this in your cuisine.
Deleteground cherries? We call them Cape gooseberries. Not as in Western Cape, but because the berries WEAR a cape.
ReplyDeleteBit wary of mailing seeds out of the country, but that's just me.
We call ground cherries gooseberries also. :)
DeleteI will link in on Monday...maybe even with my Harvest post TH...how interesting your thoughts as I have been thinking about my garden and patience too! Damn squirrels...you have more Bests than Worsts!
ReplyDeleteYes, Donna, patience seems to be on a lot of people's minds these days, especially those suffering from droughts. I look forward to reading your post on Monday!
Deleteso what do you do with ground cherries? We planted them for the first time and they are producing like crazy. We're going to make some salsa, but I'm wondering what else they're good for. All ideas are welcome!
ReplyDeleteThis is my first time growing them, and I've seen them used in jams or salads. The first time I had them was on a dessert crepe.
DeleteI don't think I'll have any Tomatoes in my garden this year, for various reasons... So, yours look great to me! Luckily I have a CSA vegetable share so the Tomatoes will come. Great post! I hope it's OK I'm linking in my "plant of the month" post--it kind of shows the best and worst of local plants during the drought.
ReplyDeleteTotally OK! Thanks for linking up and sharing about a very resilient tree. Hope the weather conditions improve.
Deleteooh look at those peppers! i like your variety of ground cherries--do they have kinda fuzzy leaves? i think that's the kind i grew the first time around a few years ago. they matured a lot later than the kind i'm growing now, but i really enjoyed the softness of the leaves. would you wanna trade me some of those seeds for something(s) i have?
ReplyDeleteside note, the other day i found a huge patch of wild ground cherries at the campus where i work! i doubt anyone else has noticed or would even know what they are, so i bet i'll have them all to myself once they ripen. they're a lot different from the cultivated varieties, smaller fruits, but still tasty. i'm excited. :)
I got my ground cherries from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. No fuzzy leaves. They're called Cosack Pineapple and are supposed to have a very sweet taste. We shall see...But that's not nearly as cool as finding a secret patch of them!!
DeleteI love Cape gooseberries - strangely mine are developing fruits at the moment too. Birdseye chillies generally grow upright like that too. Fun isn't it?
ReplyDeleteSO fun! I don't know birdseye chillies...going to google that right now...
DeleteBeautiful blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Asha!
Deletesorry you have a pesty squirrel, there is always some creature wants to share our fruits, glad you are taking the other tomatoes inside as the are getting red to ripen, my Dad always did that, you do have more bests to help ease the pain of losses, the peppers look good and glad your cape cherries pulled through, I read Debs post too, I'm like Deb in that I become as one with my garden and nature and love being out there, take time to smell the roses as the saying goes,
ReplyDeletethanks for hosting Best and worst of the month I have linked my post in, Frances
Thanks so much for linking up, Frances! I'm so looking forward to trying the ground cherries. Thankfully the squirrels have left that plant alone.
DeleteSerenity now! haha Laughed at that! Your tomatoes look fabulous! My Marglobes did very well this year. I hope the squirrel doesn't get any more of yours! I loved what you wrote about the garden. It really is a great teacher.
ReplyDelete