Good morning, Y’all! My best wishes to you and yours on this hot and steamy holiday weekend!
As many of you know, for most of this past Spring, I was bitching, griping, and groaning about the weather downheah, specifically too. much. rain. I know that many parts of the country are still dealing with excessive rain, but I’m glad to report that we are in a “mini-drought” here, at the moment…a bit more than 2” since mid-May. That’s fine with me, as everything I need to water can be reached with a hose….
After about a 2 week delay in planting out, and a slow start due to high ground moisture, my tomatoes and peppers have really taken off. I’ve been better this year as regards pruning, so the Tomato Patch is not quite the jungle that I’ve dealt with in years past. This is my stepdaughter’s cat, Biggie. He comes by that name honestly, as he weighs in upwards of 18 lbs, or so….
Big Beef (hybrid) is my main producer. There are 9 plants on 3 cages in the row to the left of Biggie in the picture above. I reckon that there are about 200 tomatoes on those 9 plants; it’s a tomato machine!
Another variety that I’m in love with is my Chef’s Choice Pink, also a hybrid. I picked these 3 yesterday. The one front left weighed in at 1 lb, 3 oz…. The one front right is a “fugly” from a fused, “mega” bloom….
I’m helping “grow out” a couple of new varieties with some of my online tomato friends. This one is called “Moonlight Mile”. The leaves and stalk are variegated, and the fruit is starting to show stripes. It is one of several that have been bred by a guy down in south Mississippi. I’ll follow up later with a picture of the ripe fruit; it should be quite stunning! Stay tuned….
This is a variety called “Spectrum’s Surpriz”...a collaboration of a very nice lady from Florida, and some Canadian guy. ;/ The plant itself is not variegated, but the fruit is developing stripes….
The Pepper Patch has come along nicely. I didn’t grow any “superhots” this year, just can’t eat them. I also cut down the total number of plants by more than half.
I posted about a striped pepper in my diary from back in March. here. It’s called “Bill’s Striped”...grown out by my friend “Paps” in North Carolina. He likes to call it “Old Bill”. I’m growing it in a pot with 2 Fish Peppers just to see if I get a “cross” of some sort. Again, stay tuned...
This is called “Prairie Spice”, grown out by a super lady in Kansas, “Miss Pat”. It’s a very good pepper...nice even heat, maybe half that of a jalapeno. I’m planning on growing more of them next year to make a fermented green sauce. Even the hornworms like them!
Meanwhile, the Peter Peppers seem to be growing true to form...
Overall, I’m very pleased with my gardening season this year. No major storms, and very few insect infestations or leaf disease. So far. Fingers crossed….
I may have mentioned that I’m a delivery driver, so I travel around the area a lot, and see some pretty interesting sights. I don’t take nearly enough pictures due to time constraints and traffic, but this was a neat one I took over in Pickens County, AL. For lack of a better description, I’ll just call it a “Redneck Storm Cellar”.
I’m a huge fan of Wisteria. This one absolutely stunned me! Up in Aberdeen, MS...a truly massive specimen. Upon closer examination, I discovered that the Wisteria has grown up into and over a Japanese Magnolia tree. Both plants flower in the Spring before they put out foliage, but about 3 weeks apart, the Japanese Magnolia blooms 1st. I’m gonna make every effort to get back up there next Spring to get pictures! The elderly lady that owns the property says that she has no idea how old the Wisteria vine is...
The red arrow points to the “trunk” of the Wisteria vine; I’ve never seen one even remotely close to that size...the black arrow points to the Japanese Magnolia. Pretty amazing, methinks….
That wraps it up for me. I know that many of y’all are dealing with extreme heat, rain, flooding, and weeds! That climate change thingy is gonna be a bitch! There was apparently a major tornado the other day in China, of all places! And the high temperature in Anchorage, AK , reached 90o, an all time high! WTH??
What’s going on in your gardens?