@Faye Fox -- your peppers look great. The only things left in my galvanized raised beds are two lonely jalapeno plants and some chives. The jalapenos are loaded with peppers so I'll probably slice and pickle them pretty soon. I made a ton of salsa when my tomatoes were coming in so I don't need anymore of that. I'm going to have a small fall garden using my City Pickers self-watering grow boxes for the first time. I was reading that potatoes can be planted in a Houston fall garden so I might plant a couple of grow bags of potatoes and see how that goes. The growing season in Houston is something like 345 days...haha. (Slight exaggeration but not by much.) I'm still thinking about what else I want to try but it will be small scale. You might enjoy an Aerogarden for fresh herbs in your kitchen. I have 8 of them going right now; one full of lettuce in the kitchen and 7 others with different plants/seeds in the dining room. I'm trying my first cucumber experiment in there, lol. It's fun to play with plants in the air conditioning and not have to worry about weeds or daily watering... and no sweating. @Hedi Mitchell -- I'm sure the weeding keeps the husband occupied and outside in the fresh air. For a garden as large as his, I'd be using a ton of straw mulch or weed cloth to control the weeds. It's great that he is enjoying the garden.
I may have brought this up before, but have any of you with excess hot peppers ever made cowboy candy? It is traditionally made with sliced jalapenos, but I have discovered that I like it better as a relish. I don't use jalapenos, as I don't much care for their flavor, but I use much hotter peppers and the heat is tempered by the sweet pickling brine. I use it on any kind of sandwich and sometimes in salads. Peppers are the only thine in our "gardens" that are ahead of most years, and those are in the greenhouses. We have cabbage starting to form heads, but no broccoli or cauliflower yet--weird. Weeds got ahead of us as everything ahs been too muddy to do much in the gardens, but we have now had three straight days without rain, so things are starting to get caught up.
My lousy pain has been elevated to an 8 level for the past 2 days again. I think our miserable weather in the morning and at night play a part in this. But, as you say, the show must go on, and so it will. Enjoy your treat, Faye.
@Beth Gallagher I don't have any room in my kitchen for aero gardening. It is a small kitchen and my counters are full of stainless steel Cuisinart appliances, most I seldom use. There is a large recipe stand that holds an open recipe book. I have had it on a great looking Mexican three course dinner that has awesome color photos, for the last five years. I am asked frequently how it came out and I have to confess to never making it. If I were to start growing herbs in my kitchen, the pressure to cook might be more than I could handle. I always get comments on how new looking all my appliances look and the easy explanation is, I seldom use them. I may have mentioned before that I hate to cook and I despise cleaning up. @Lois Winters Sorry to hear about the pain level at 8. That is no good. The pedicure and leg massage were great and so was the egg salad sandwich with pickled asparagus and blackberry cider at one of our country bistros. Foot and leg massages do wonders to help my pain both physically and mentally. @Don Alaska Cowboy candy in these parts, is deep fried testicles that are chocolate coated. The syrup sweetened Jalapenos are called Texas Cowboy Candy here. Jalapenos are used in many ways here, poppers that are cheese stuffed, jellies, salsas, biscuits, cornbread, tequila soaked and chocolate coated, and even ice cream.
Never heard of chocolate-coated testicles. It sounds like a good way to ruin a treat. I had a Navy friend whose family owned a cattle ranch in eastern Colorado. They would have a big "Mountain Oyster Fry" at the end of every summer. Two freezers full of beef balls from the earlier steer production. I love leg massages but don't get them often. I am a victim of hereditary short tendons, so everything is tight all the time.
I picked another beautiful ripe red tomato that showed no flaws until I cut it open. The insides were rotten and disgusting looking. I decided not to pull the plants, just enjoy them as decoration and hope a few of will be edible. As I live and breathe, I must tell you I have never had such trouble with tomatoes in all my born days.
Sorry about that, Faye. What you need is good old New Jersey soil to really get a first rate tomato. I am sure you've heard of our Jersey tomatoes, corn and peaches. They are the very best on the globe. I've a garden full of tomatoes right now, but they aren't ripe enough to pick yet.
For some reason thinning out my flowers or veggies is hard for me to do. It makes me feel brutal or something. I hope your health improves. I'd like to pick up our conversation about geetar players, only let's not fuss about who's the best. Maybe we could just list who we think is good. I'll start with Jeff Beck, Mark Knopfler and Jimi. Sultans Of Swing:
@Lois Winters I never heard of Jersey peaches but I have heard of Georgia peaches. I can imagine Jersey peaches are a lot sassier than the Georgia variety. Sweet as Georgia, but with a more solid punch. My tomato problem is the hybrid variety I planted. The nursery says everyone buying the plants from that supplier had problems. It is a genetic defect and even those spraying calcium in the blooming stage had problems. I am back to my old standards for next year. Are you still at the same senior living place? If so it is great they have a garden. @Dwight Ward Well, we can't discuss guitar players here on the gardening thread without us both getting some serious demerits. No fuss about Mark as he is an all around, multi style, great guitar player, finger or flat pick. He is also a friend so no argument or ugly discussion from me concerning his abilities. Thinning flowers takes courage and faith. Once you do it and see the results, you will be hooked. Dead heading is important.
Thinning is one of the toughest tasks for a gardener to learn. It is one reason among many that I pre-start most of my stuff. I can't do that with carrots, so that is the difficult task each year.
Finally nice ripe tomato and it was tasty, but this variety, sure has a lot of what I call core. It is all edible. I will definitely do another variety next year. @Don Alaska Thinning and pruning are easy for me since I learned it from an early age from my folks. Scissors, pruners, knives, manchettes, nippers, hatchets, axes, handsaws, and chainsaws, keeps plants and trees around here looking their Sunday best. I show no mercy.
The yellowing tomato plants were pulled yesterday after removing a few more ripening madders. The total usable madders for 2023 was 32. Lots of salsa put up that I will use in my brisket chili come cooler weather. Still several jalapenos gaining size. So far about 20 picked and added to the salsa or roasted, peeled, and added to a grilled cheese sandwich. That brings gardening with Faye to a close for 2023. I did all my yard work yesterday and after 4 hours of weedeating, edging, mowing, pruning, and deadheading hydrangeas, I am in shock how good I feel this morning. Very little muscle soreness and minimal nerve pain. Amazing how being in love and feeling loved, can be a stress relief.