Potatoes Cranking... and the Zucchinis are Warming Up

Potatoes and One of This Year's 1st Zukes

The garden continues to thrive.  We're in the midst of a "hot spell."  That means sunny skies and temps in the high seventies to low eighties Fahrenheit.  Don't hurt yourself laughing, please.  This is the way people look at weather here at the 48th parallel.  Here, at the edge of the continent.

The usual partly-to-mostly cloudy skies have finally become a bright, clear blue.  I've taken all four tomato plants out of the greenhouse and put them on our south-facing deck.  They are thirsty all the time.  They bask in the sun and the heat reflected from the deck and south-facing wall of the house.

The chilies are still in the greenhouse.  They seem to love the heat; although I'm watching the watering carefully.  Plants in pots just don't leave that much margin for error.  My slow-to-start jalapenos have gotten very busy and are now big stars.  I think it's getting near the time for me to harvest my poblanos.  The super chilies (which I had better names for them) are ripening.

Does anyone know how best to dry chilies?  How to freeze them?

We've had maybe ten artichokes so far.  Earlier today, Angel counted twenty-one more artichokes on the plants.  Some are nearly ready to eat, but others are just starting.  That means we'll probably have them for another month or two.

All this is good, but the potatoes are wonderful.  They have contributed to many meals.  Angel often pulls five or more pounds of potatoes from the gardens in a single day.  We've been giving some away to neighbors and friends, and it's now to the point that we think we can start saving a few in some shelves down in the basement.

And now, the zucchinis and yellow squash are starting to come.  Some people say they get tired of zucchini.  I don't know about that.  Last year we had a lot of zucchini and I never grew tired of them.

There is more: carrots, some beets, some beautiful red cabbage... kohlrabi, bell peppers.  The list goes on.

When I spent those months of hard work building garden beds, hauling dirt, sifting dirt, mixing in compost, I sometimes became discouraged.  I kept telling myself I would only have to do all that heavy work one time.  I told myself the gardens would give us lots of pleasure and that they would not be too difficult to maintain.

Sometimes wishful thinking and stubborn optimism are an effective approach!

The Chilies Are Coming!

Super Chili Plant.  There are four such.

Jalapenos, Poblanos, and "Super Chilies" are all ripening.  Bell peppers aren't far behind.

The First Three "Super Chilies"

Last night, I harvested the first three "supers." They're very hot... Somewhat reminiscent of Thai Chilies; although they seem bigger.  They'd probably shrink up if I were to dry them.  To use them in our dinner, I de-seeded the chilies and cut them into strips (I handled the chilies with rubber gloves on!).

Then I added a mango that Angel bagged from the "free bin" at the local food co-op.

A splash of white wine, some fresh basil, and just a hint of garlic completed the concoction.

I put a boneless, skinless chicken breast into this delightful mix and baked the whole thing at 350 Degrees Obsolete.

Some organic brown rice and two, just-picked squash (a zuccini and a yellow) rounded out the dinner.  To prep the squash, I cut it into large-ish pieces.  Then I put it in a Corningware dish.  I used oregano, a dash of "all purpose seasoning" (no MSG), a splash of olive oil, and just enough water to spread the other things around before covering the dish and cooking the veggies in the microwave for two minutes.

Below, you can see our Poblano plant.  Haven't harvested any of these beauties yet, but I think that day is getting near!

Here's a close shot of our Poblano Plant

Rhubarb

Rhubarb from the North Side Garden

Angel harvested these and cooked them up for her mom.  From all reports, they were very tasty.  Later, we harvested more and experimented with a couple of new recipes.  The Old Amigo thought the results were fine, but Angel wasn't satisfied with her efforts.  There will be more rhubarb for other attempts!

Summer at the 48th Parallel

Today is a day of great beauty.

By seven AM, the sky was already clear, bright, blue.  Even so, a heavy fog bank hunkered down at the Admiralty Inlet.  Whidbey Island was completely obscured.  Ships blared their great fog horns.

"I am here!"
"As am I!"
"As am I!"

It is now past eleven.  The day gets brighter and brighter.  Time to water the chilies and tomatoes in the greenhouse.  Then, the workshop in the garage for attention.  I plan to answer.  I look forward to it.

Greenhouse Update

Chilies are mostly thriving.  The poblano chilies are especially big and plentiful.  The "Super Chilies" are prolific.  The jalapenos are so-so: good looking fruit but not so plentiful.  The bell peppers are coming along.

The heirloom tomatoes are progressing nicely; although I still don't know if we'll get enough sun for them to thrive (even with the greenhouse!).  The tomato plants (there are four) all look very good though, and all the plants are starting to get fruit.

The eggplants are struggling.  They are the hardest hit by aphids, and the infestation seems to have weakened the plants.  They are getting blossoms, but so far I haven't seen any fruit.

The whole "aphid thing" is interesting.  Sort of the way a root canal is interesting: it's annoying and uncomfortable, but it definitely focuses your attention.  I've heard several people complain about aphids, so the problem is widespread in the area. Outdoor plants as well as greenhouse plants are under siege.

It turns out that aphids don't like tomatoes.  I have yet to see a single aphid on any tomato leaf.  Recently, I read in an organic gardening magazine that tomato leaves contain a chemical that's toxic for aphids and that you can even make a spray of the ground-up leaves and it'll kill aphids.  Haven't verified this, but the little suckers (literally) do seem to leave the tomatoes alone.

The aphids get on the chili plants, but the chilies seem able to tolerate the infestation. The smooth texture of the leaves makes it pretty easy to spot the aphids and wipe 'em off, so that probably helps the plants too. I've been manually removing aphids on a daily basis for a few weeks now (not that much fun, but I want those chilies).

In contrast the aphids are ruining the eggplants. I've tried a few "organic" control strategies and while the plants are still alive, they are not doing well at all.  Also, the fuzzy, mottled texture of the eggplant leaves make it harder to remove the pests by hand. Go figure. I worry a little that the aphid infestation on the eggplants is serving as a "pest vector" for the chilies, but that might just be my imagination.

I tried to buy some ladybugs at the local garden center. Aphids are ladybugs' favorite food.  Well, actually I did buy some ladybugs. Trouble is, they keep ladybugs in a refrigerator at the garden center. The ladybugs get cold and hibernate or something like that. Then you don't have to feed them. Allegedly, you just warm them up, they start wiggling and then they're ready to chow down on the aphids.

Trouble is, these ladybugs spent too long in the 'fridge, so most of them weren't hibernating. About 90% of them (maybe more) were just plain dead. Dead ladybugs do nothing to address an aphid infestation. I got maybe eight or ten ladybugs out of the whole batch and only about four of them are really, actively cruising the plants and eating aphids. Admirable, but insufficient.

The good news is that we have a customer-centric, honest garden center here at the edge of the continent. Yesterday I collected as many dead ladybugs as I felt like messing with and returned them to their little container.  I took my container of dead ladybugs and my receipt back to the garden center.  The nice people at the garden center apologized (several times) and refunded my money: $10 plus tax... bugs are expensive!

The people at the garden center have ordered a fresh batch of ladybugs. It's late in the "ladybug season" so they're not sure they can get any, but they offered to call me if some come in.  I still may pick some tomato plant leaves, whip them into a froth with the blender and try spraying them on the other plants, but I haven't decided if that's a good idea or not.

Stay Tuned.

Summer?

Well, we had two glorious days.  One of them was even hot!  This AM, however, is foggy.  I can hear at least three foghorns out on Puget Sound.  Condensation is dripping down the roof of the greenhouse.

Yesterday was the annual, Jefferson County "solar tour."  This was the first year I participated (Angel was off visiting her mom, so I was on my own with the public).  Unlike today, yesterday was bright and sunny -- perfect for people to come and look at the PV array and hear about things like efficient windows; closed-loop, ground-source heat pumps; extra insulation in the attic; and so on.

At least I won't have to water the outdoor gardens today!

Locust Queen's Feast Now Live on Amazon

Well, it seemed like it took forever, but the novel is finally available on Amazon.  It was a fun project.  Tons of work, but definitely one of the most fun things I've ever tackled.  I hope everyone who decides to buy a copy loves it, but of course that's not a realistic wish.  But then neither was the wish that led to the novel.