Inspired in part by the Hive community, I began reclaiming lawn space, building raised boxes, and blogging about my adventures in gardening. This might be year #5 of the ever-growing garden that officially launches this weekend every year.
You may have heard of the curation engine in play named @GardenHive for us Hive green thumbs and I think you should check out the intro post here https://hive.blog/hive-174578/@gardenhive/gardenhive-introduction-hive-garden-community-curation-account if you haven't yet. Join Hive gardeners like @skylinebuds for creating the @simplymike for introducing me to it.
This week, I am joining my buddy @jerrytsuseer in checking out how the veggies are growing and discovering some neat critters!
This is the pano shot from the last update 2 long travel-filled weeks ago. Is it summer after all! Good news it was blasting our back then and there have been regular rainfalls since then so this hasn't seen the hose in at least a month!
I will leave the before and after shot 'til the end and blaze through the progress shots in between.
I have to start out with a bloom for the flower lovers but will get more into the mid summer blooms the next update. I do love my lilies as they are photogenic, vibrant and I enjoy seeing them grow wild in the countryside as they do in my yard.
The Peppers!
My Jalapeno Gigante plant is proving to produce as advertised! I am pulling a 5 inch monster off this plant every day and they are a nice dark green with a moderately spicy taste for a Jalapeno.
The Hungarian Wax Banana Peppers are also going nuts. Being so excited about my other varieties of pepper, I have all but collected and ignored these. Last night, I roasted one on the BBQ and topped a burger with it and MAN these are tasty! I will have to roast more and try them on other stuff as they are spicier than I thought they would be.
I have been spying dozens of chili peppers as they grow but are still green. I bet they taste just fine but I like to wait 'til they turn red before harvesting and processing them. something about a red hot sauce that makes it right.
Here, my first chili is starting to turn red! Excitement as I have a bumper crop of these this year.
This is a Moruga Scorpion pepper which is supposed to be twice as hot as a ghost pepper for a little perspective. I am scared of ghost peppers so this one and its little sister are making me nervous. I owe a couple of them to the local food center as the gardener would like to take a shot at growing them from seed next season.
I am probably most excited about my Habaneros! They were a little slow in developing and have teased me a month and a half by only sprouting flowers. I find Habaneros the best pepper when it comes to a balance of heat and flavour. Definitely hot by not violently so, and the taste is fantastic. Seeing this many when most are destined to be in this year's hot sauce is fantastic!
The Ghost Peppers and Carolina Reaper plants are getting huge, popping a couple flowers, but not producing peppers yet. Can't wait!
Last but definitely not least, my sweet green and red pepper plants are a couple feet high and producing a good number of peppers. We have already eaten the first couple and it is great to see more growing nicely for salads and pizzas.
The 'Maters
You will see in the pano at the end that the tomatoes are warring it out in the original raised box. I think we may have thinned out the lower leaves a little too late and it is possible a week away has produced too many suckers to keep up with but we still have tomatoes! These ones are Early Girls and are a bit behind the clock but coming along nicely.
The Cherry Tomato vines are over 6 feet tall and show no sign of slowing. They are woven in and out of the lattice I build from last year's bamboo grass and have little juicy snacks from green to red all throughout. We have picked a couple bowls of these and they have gone into salads and were even eaten as a snack on a road trip.
There are also a nice amount of Roma Tomatoes coming along nicely. These are usually frozen and jarred and made into pasta sauce but I enjoy them as sandwich toppings as well.
The Rest
The zucchinis are a new addition this year and are doing quite well producing Yellow Italian Squash every few days. The leaves are monstrous and I keep having to chop them off for fear they will rob the rest of the garden of space and sunshine.
We have a couple sugar snap pea vines growing modestly in a shadier spot. Struggling a little but starting to produce some peas!
The long green beans have climbed up out of the garden and have begun their journey along the top of the fence. There have only been a handful of actual beans so far but, if last year is any indication, we will be swimming in these in a few weeks. The best surprise of last year was how well these pickled/fermented! I am going to do this again this year with some hot peppers in the jar for a little more zing!
Also new this year is Swiss Char. It is a vibrant addition to our greens raised box and seems to be growing unchecked. I am not sure what to use this in and apparently my ladies don't either as it is due for a harvesting.
Swiss Char recipes?
The strawberries are still flourishing and apparently are ready for their third round of berries. Such a nice thing to have a patch of strawberries and even better to have them produce berries in waves like this.
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Last but not least are my lowly pickles and cucumbers. I will have to try a new strategy/location for these next year as they are either being snacked on by critters or the aggressively growing neighbour plants are choking them out. There is no choice for me to grow these well as what kinda Pickleman would I be without pickles!?!
The Critters!
Apparently, when you let things grow a little and take off for a week, the rabbits move in! We see rabbits all the time but are around enough and have enough chicken wire around the greens that they are not a problem. Give them a little peace and they find a way.
This is a little bunny nest right in the middle of the carrots, lettuce and strawberries for a convenient and balanced diet. I dug around to see if any of them were still left and discovered one last little bunny. It was small enough to catch in a butterfly net and I forgot to be mad at it for invading my garden because it was so cute. I parked it in among my @lynds lupins to escape in its own time and hopefully be scared enough not to get back in with the carrots again.
Checking out the butterfly garden, it has been mostly bees and fireflies so far this year. Then, I discovered this little guy! It looks like a moth but flies like a hummingbird so I done exactly know what it is! Either way, I love his big antennae and that funky long tongue he is using to drink from each of the flowers.
Here is another strange one! I think it is a moth caterpillar of some sort but sporting some really vibrant decorations. Almost looks like something out of a Disney movie and was fascinating to observe.
Then and Now
There is your back to back shot showing the difference a couple weeks makes. Tomatoes haver gone nuts, beans have grown up onto the fence, greens are filling in and flourishing, and veggies are starting to grow. My horseradish plant is also a monster and I should research how to harvest and process that as well.
Never a dull moment.
Mom started me along my path of growing stuff when I was a kid. Motivated by so many blockchain blogging gardeners, I figured I would plant and share and learn as I reclaim as much grass space as I can. It has turned out to be a fruitful experience and I hope to inspire others to sow and grow no matter what your location or experience level is.
Then, blog about it using #gardenjournal and the new #gardenhive tags as we network and curate the journals of other green thumbs, outdoor enthusiasts and fresh whole foodies.
If I can grow, you can grow.
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What a gorgeous garden you have, in fact the whole yard looks famtastic. I wish we could grow peppers like you do. We always plant some sweet bell peppers and they always do OK. But yours are awesome. We just picked our first red tomato yesterday, but they are all ready to go. This year there are so many, I'll probably be in the kitchen for a month processing them all, and that will be after we eat so many right out of the garden our faces turn red.
Don't ya just love fresh picked, nothing better then a ripe, juicy 'mater.
Great post by the way, nice clear pictures, lots of color.
Have a good one.
Good for the body and the soul.
Wow! Look at all those peppers! What a great looking haul in the making. Get those jars ready because it looks like you'll be busy. My dude just finished up the latest batch of quick pickles with some green tomatoes and cucumbers earlier today. The homemade, homegrown stuff just can't be beat!
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Pickle envy!
I will probably buy a basket of them from the grocery store for a few bucks and ferment them anyway.
Ooh nice! We didn't have a ton, but enough for a few jars. Though the boyfriend's mom usually gets a good haul and will often give us a jar or two of her fermented pickles. So good.
Swiss chard!
I love using it as a spinach replacement. If any recipe calls for spinach, swiss chard is what I shall use! I throw it into pasta sauces, quiches, vegetable bakes/slices, and also use them in savoury muffins. 🙂
Chard yes!
Fantastic recommendations. I wonder how it would work with a nice alfredo sauce.
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Wow! Looks like you’re a man of many talents, Mr Pickleman…
If that were me I’d probably mistake that giant caterpillar for a pepper!
Dang Zeke, you put me to shame, but then I've only been here for about 8 months, so wait until next year!
Great job @zekepickleman
^ Today’s harvest.
We had almost no peppers and few tomatoes last year but both are going bonkers this year. In contrast, lots of pumpkins last year but they look to be an utter fail this year.
I'm jealous of your tomatoes
Wow!! Very impressive to grow your own food and you look to have loads!! Well done Mr. Green fingers!