Man this has been a week. Gardens been fine, kinda crisis mode in the house, but everyone’s doing better and I now have time for a Captain’s log. But it’s a few days of a captains log so buckle in.
Just some choice ladybugs last weekend, all over my peppers. Did give me a bit of a heart attack as I scoured them and then the tomato for aphids. One green one on the tomato, but there’s always one or two- the trick is to kill them before one or two turns into twenty billion.
So far the emergency transplant has done ok. I honestly expected after the smushing that I’d come out to a wilted dying pepper in a fancy new pot but by golly! It lives!
Also living despite the odds- the tomato which is just flush with new growth. This very much could be a case of too little too late as it is now September 6th and it looks like my dream of a nice hot Indian summer might have been a pipe dream. But historically we can have hot weather and heat waves in October (San Francisco- go figure) so IDK?
The mitsuba is sprouting, all the herbs in pots are doing well. What isn’t sprouting so well is the plants in the greenhouse. I’ve got one sprouting Swiss chard out of what should be 36 plants. Beginning to wonder if I should have just sowed the spinach into the new bed and been done with it. Or paid extra for starts at the garden center but no- I’m committed now.
The triffids are extra triffid-y. And even more plants have baby beans now:
I count 9 baby beans in this picture! and there’s the three I’ve already taken pictures of- and the hundreds of flowers… Oh god… Oh god, There’s going to be so many beans…
WELP. Time to scour the cookbooks I suppose.
The herbs are all doing great after I removed the ones going totally to seed and cut back the ones that were almost going to seed. The sage is being caterpillar bitten, so I’m looking into ways of combating that. Neem oil maybe?
The mint in the mint thunderdome is attempting an escape. I… probably should cut off that runner. But I don’t know, I’m so proud of this ridiculous escape attempt that I’m tempted to see if it can actually make it to the ground. Who am I kidding of course it will make it to the ground ITS MINT.
All the other, non-emergency transplanted peppers look great, though the mole pepper doesn’t have any baby peppers. Might not produce this year oh well. But hey! look at those gorgeous red bell peppers! I mean, they are tiny and not red yet, but look at those little guys all growing nice and plump!
The succulents I have in pots aren’t for eating, but they’re doing well.
(Ok I can’t believe I have to say this- don’t eat succulents. I’m not going to take it for granted that a reader of this blog knows that a lot of them are poisonous, but in the era of tide-pod challenges you really can’t take anything for granted. A lot of succulents are poisonous! That one in front that looks like little green pearls? String of pearls! And if you or your kid or your dog eats those pretty pearls you are all going to have a bad time. Ok? good, PSA over.)
ANYWAYS. My favorite is the purple and pink echeveria giving jazz hands. The weather is a little wet for them, and I have no idea how I’m going to shepherd them through the true wet season in a few months… (In the greenhouse maybe?) I just like succulents honestly. I can’t really grow flowers, so succulents are a great way to add color to you life without sending yourself to the hospital with allergies.
What’s this?
OH GOD THE OWLS ARE MULTIPLYING HIDE INDOORS
The Neanderthal Gardens 