Hot-cha!

Hibiscus and Malabar spinach, as well as various herbs being my choice for ornamental gardening (all edible, please note), I find the most satisfaction in ornamental peppers. They are not only are fantastic looking, but edible and can be brought indoors to continuously flower and fruit throughout the winter!

Current varieties I have are:

Tricolore Garda (I grew by seed)
http://gurneys.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_73606

This beauty will grow upward pointing peppers that turn purple, cream, orange and finally red (so much for tri-colors...) Obviously they are still in their early stages, but I am so excited to see all the colors (....Duke! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwlMHJE82Mk),

and

Calico (bought from a nursery)
http://www.ballhort.com/Landscapers/plant_info.aspx?phid=045600001000942

This is a green-white-lavender variegated leaf dark purple-black tiny pepper packs a punch. It's so unusual I had to have it!

I really want to grow Black Pearl (http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/3953/)
(Thanks OSU for pic)

Black leaves and red/black pearl round peppers! I had ordered seed from Park seed, but after going out of town at one point, the peppers seedlings kicked it from the heat.

Ornamental peppers are edible, though considered to be extremely hot and somewhat pungent; vinegary is the best way to describe it.

My tricolore is just starting to fruit and I am excited by how the fruits seem to stand straight up. More on their heat when they get big enough. I will probably take a stab at trying them at their various color stages to see if it makes a difference in heat level.

When my husband and I tried the calico pepper fruits, when they were a deep purple black, it was a simple *chewchewchew,* "Man, these aren't that hot..." to "HOOO, okay, they've got some heat!" to "OHWHERE'STHEBATHROOM?"

Needless to say, you can't have a sensitive stomach for these lovelies.

For the longest time I was under the impression that you shouldn't grow peppers by seed and that the plants were the only way to go. I had heard that their heat got killed when you grew them by seed or they needed to be grafted or something odd like that, so I didn't bother. When I saw that the seed was advertised though, I figured they must retain that heat... the ad says so! So I am happy to find that it's working out just fine.

I (un)fortunately found that Park seed has a plethora of ornamental pepper seed and while I don't need so many... maybe I'll give the extras away to friends/family or sell some, who knows?

Park seed ornamental pepper links:

Tepin:
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5608/

Shu:
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/4000/

Explosive Ember:
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/3987/

Sangria Hybrid: (MILD though)
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/51524/

Marbles:
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5290/

Thai Hot:
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5643/

Purple Flash:
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/51523/

Malabar Spinach, should be renamed Spinach Steak

I have NEVER been able to get real spinach to grow here and discovered this little beauty:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basella_alba)
MALABAR SPINACH. More like, Spinach Steak, more like Great Wall of Spinach here:

I was seduced into getting 2 packets of these seeds from Park Seed (http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5660/), and was saddened when I saw the 50 seeds to look very little, needing about 3-5 seeds per hill it stated on the packet and that germination was "lower" when seeded outside. Hmmm... I needn't have worried.

I am impressed by the reddish color of the stems (it is often grown as an ornamental), and it's vigor... looks wilty in the heat, but perks right back up at night and in the morning. It seems a little upset by the space I've given it and is invading the area I devoted to scarlet runner which I thought was vigorous. Oh woe Scarlet Runner, you may have met thy match!

It's oddly pest resistant, possibly due to its muciliginous nature (good for thickening soups like okra), but the leaves, OMG, the leaves are so juicy and have gotten as big as the size of my head(!) and hold so much water that when you bite into the leaves, or bend the main leaf stem you can SEE water MOVING through the veins/cells!

EVEN MORE EXCITEMENT abounds on my part to find out that this lovely vine can be propagated by cuttings, and I can overwinter it/let-it-overtake-my-home-over-the-winter-instead-and-become-eaten-by-its-sheer-enormousness!

I understand that if mulched well it might return, so... maybe I won't take cuttings...?

For $1.75/packet, I think I've made it back pretty easily. I may need to call in the neighbors though to keep it in check!

(Also, as my husband says, why the hell does anyone eat real spinach if we have this??? It grows vertically thus takes up less space, is relatively carefree, healthy for you, handles heat well, has few pest problems... duh?)

On another note, it is time to once again due battle with the cucumber monster plant:
The base has strawberry plants and between the cucumber and strawberries are okra plants... I hope they are not eaten by cucumber, vegetable cannibalism can be so cruel.

Mini rant on Lawns and possible solutions

So it's been raining gloriously all day, a day without having to water the garden (yes!), a day where the rain barrels get filled (YES!) (and remind me that I really need to get that 3rd barrel up), a day where I have to walk a stupid scared bitch (dog, really) in rain, amidst thunder and a leetle lightning and get my flip floppy toes ankle deep in what I am sure is chemical awashed puddles.

Man, suburbia. Land where all the lawns must be tidy and trimmed, green and lush, pumped up with fake goodness. I got a beef with pretty lawns, just like I got a beef with plastic surgery, it's faaaaaaaaaaake.

Unless you happen to use one of those lawn care services that states and you can attest to researching their practices that they are eco-friendly, most likely you are creating a desert like ecosystem with your lawn.

I don't know if it bothers you, like it bothers me, but those little yellow and white balls that go 'crunch-crunch' underneath your shoes/the dog's feet when you walk REALLY lose their charm especially as the PAVEMENT does not need any fertilization. It's all just going down the drain and polluting the water, y'know? I shudder to think as to what my dog must be picking up as she marches over those things or through the puddles and lush grass she does her biz in.

Lovely lawns also mean chemicals to kill weeds--- and grubs. No weeds, while less to deal with means fewer flowers for bees to survive on. As I overheard somewhere once, immaculate lawns look like deserts to bees, no flowers mean no food. Bad for survival, and aren't we lacking in bees already? (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/silence-of-the-bees/introduction/38/)

Also, many of these same chemicals adversely affect the larva of lightning bugs! CAN YOU IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT LIGHTNING BUGS?

To quote what many a politician have invoked:
Think of the children!!! (!!!)

Ahem. Not only are lightning bugs helpful little critters in producing some lovely natural mood lighting (joke), and are entertaining reminders of youth, the larvae are predators of snails and slugs, the bane of many a gardener everywhere.

So, if you see a lil' guy like this:


And you start to raise your hand, HEAR MY VOICE IN YOUR HEAD, "DO NOT SQUISH!"

Here's a helpful site about the buggers:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/Galveston/beneficials/beneficial-40_lightning_bug.htm

So, despite my husband and I letting the lawn go to hell, I will NOT say that you must too. I provide (yes, I am a provider!) some helpful links and a helpful summary as to how to keep you lawn in good organic condition DESPITE being a vegetable gardener and not caring in general a squirrel's behind for lawns (and your mother smells like elderberry!)

SOME ORGANIC LAWNCARE TIPS:

1) Weeds- don't like them? Hand pull! This is the most effective method of getting rid of weeds. You get some great some exercise (work them abs!) and learning about the deliciousness of dandelion wine, dandelion leaf greens, lambs quarters and more.

(Lambsquarters! Steam like spinach!)If you REALLY don't want the exercise, you can spot treat specific weeds by using this concotion: 5 parts white vinegar, 2 parts water, 1 part dish soap (http://www.eartheasy.com/grow_lawn_care.htm), or some people reccomend straight vinegar or boiling water, choose your poison.

Further prevention of weeds can be done using corn gluten meal which can easily be bought in some feed stores to be used as a weed pre-emergent preventer. Sadly this is not CORNMEAL, the stuff that your mama makes her famous bread and stuffing with, but that stuff from the store can coincidently be used as an anti-fungicide, good for gardens and lawns too actually. The stats on cornmeal gluten are fascinating too (see prior eartheasy.com link)

Also, if you thought Roundup was a safe method, please reconsider:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=weed-whacking-herbicide-p

Yeah, let's stop being a society of simple convenience. It's not always worth it.

2) Grubs- We all hate those Japanese beetles and their nasty grub babies, but an awesome way to prevent for a VERY LONG TIME their existence on your lawn (and from munching on your veggies) is milky spore. This is a natural bacterium that affects only Japanese beetles and after a few treatments is known to last for potentially decades in your soil speciding (word?) the critters for years!
When a grub is infected by the bacterium and dies in the soil, it's a gift that keeps on giving to the other grubs! It's SELF SUSTAINING, whoo!



3) Fertilization- As mentioned before, cornmeal is good, though a super easy method to refertilize your lawn is to leave the grass clippings on the lawn. Remarkable eh? No bagging needed! All that work the grass went into to get tall goes back into the lawn to replenish again, oh Nature, you are brilliant!
Clover is not the enemy. Please repeat that. It's nitrogen fixing, like beans and peas, and that means it self fertilizes and those around it. (It also makes a snazzy green manure for you vegetable gardeners out there).
(thanks to Bruce Lynn, lovely pic)
Those are a few tips, but obviously there is more to learn in the wide world of the internets.

Some interesting articles:
About the background of herbicides:
http://www.emagazine.com/view/?2476&printview&imagesoff

On fertilizers and Michael Pollan (author of "Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food"):
http://www.michaelpollan.com/press.php?id=49

Delicious!

Just wanted to plug this site that I have discovered:

http://www.pfaf.org/index.php

ALL ABOUT EDIBLE PLANTS (columbines, who'd have thought?)

The database is like candy for me!

Bunnilicious

Forgot to note, and post pics of the bunny situation.

Some time ago I set up a super lousy plastic wire and bamboo pole fence to keep the bunny from decimating new bush bean plants I was attempting again. Unfortunately the asparagus that was interplanted with got mighty tall and bushy and has blocked out so much light that I think the beans are suffering (though I do see some bean flowers still!) Anyways, my fence was SO lousy (geez, that has a Holden Caulfield-esque feel to it doesn't it?) that I went out one day to find a bunny stuck INSIDE the fenced area. As it turns out, the Lousy Fence, curls under and as I didn't secure it well, bunny can get in, but bunny cannot get out. MWAHAHAHAHAHA. *clears throat* So naturally I wanted to humanely rid myself of it.

(DIREGARD PREVIOUS POST ABOUT HASSENPFEFFER)

Luckily my mother in law was in town and helped me distract the critter because it was one fast fuzz muffin. Not wanting to experience a bun-bite I donned a pair of leather work gloves AND got a pair of cushy silicone covered tongs to pick up the bugger. (Yes, it was a little ironic to be picking up a bunny with a food utensil with the intention to release it, rather than eat it.) Alas, no pictures of the tong-age as I was in a hurry to get it in a bucket.

I gave it huge carrot in case it was hungry, and out of some remorse (and for the photo opportunity to show how TINY the thing was).

Later we took the bunny to the park where it was released in a patch of poison ivy that I didn't realize I had stepped in until my mother in law point it out to me. Ah, that finally helped my poison ivy recognition skills, always a little weak there.

(Mom in law releasing bucketed bunny)











You'd think the bunny would flee, but noooo... it decided to be scared for a full twenty minutes as crowds of children marched past tempted to poke and prod at it unless MIL and I politely asked them not too (and under threats of poison ivy).

After thinking that I had seriously caused mental trauma on its hare-brain (sorry, can't help it), I attempted to pick the bunny up when it said, "Screw this," and loped off. Bunnies, grr.

Hallu!

Pardon the lag in posts, it's been crazy as hell around here and I have been behind in all things in life as of late. Crazy in a good way of course, involving the visiting of friends and family, but it all throws a bit of wrench in my daily routine and it takes me a while to get back on track.


Here is a little thing I've had for a while, enjoy!


I went to the library some time long ago to attempt to be productive in my writing and could not help but stop by the used bookstore within. It’s always interesting to see what’s in the gardening section and I came across this gem:

Even better, it was a gift of the town’s library commission, and EVEN MORE BETTER it’s filed as a YA book. A book about psychoactive flowering plants for YOUNG ADULTS to read. (and it’s called Magic in Bloom!) Good job library commission! This was just too funny. (A friend of mine later asked, "Was it coincidence that the author's name is 'Mello?'")


The cover it shows morning glory flowers, which I have heard are hallucinogens (if you get a packet of morning glory seeds it usually will say something about not for consumption, which is what prompted me to look up and thus find out about morning glory properties). Paging through the book I also noticed they spoke of nutmeg, which I was also aware to have psychoactive properties.


Will be an interesting read.


I felt a little weird just getting this book on psychoactive plants, so I looked desperately around for something else suitable to purchase and luckily found Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” which I have heard is fantastic and after having read Oryx and Crake I have determined that I enjoy Atwood’s style.


LATER FURTHER READING.....


It is actually a quite interesting and objective book (I suppose it has to be, being a part of the Encyclopedia of Psychoactive drugs), with lots of explanations about ancient cultures and religious use of drugs that elders would use to initiate children into adulthood (unfortunately including beatings until nausea... or unconciousness I imagine) so that it forced the children to learn the consequences of these drugs and their potential circumstances from use (nowadays, adult initiaiting children into drugs means jail time).

I also noted that the psychoactive plants they have listed thus far come from the potato/nightshade family (morning glories, tobacco, potatoes of course and etc), nutmeg and cannabis/hemp family. Green potatoes are green due to a chemical called solanacae, which I have always been told is poisonous, aka hallucinogenic is seems.

Anyways, interesting stuff, noting cultural differences and plants being controversial and all.

Blimey!

Some time ago I encountered something wonderful and lovely on my hollyhocks:

This fellow was rather large, about the size of my palm (though I have small hands, so think 4 inches long and 3 inches tall). After some deduction I believe to have determined it to be a lime hawk moth, and luckily not another beauty of nature that wants to eat my plants. The moth hung around for a few days on the hollyhock, causing no damage that I could see of before deciding to make its departure.

This picture reminds me that I am utterly guilty of not posting more pics of my garden and I will be more vigilant of doing so from now on. As a matter of fact, this weekend I shall go on a pic posting spree!

For now, feel free to check out my defunct Flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14841692@N05/

Ta ta!

Canna I eat it? YeS!

So, the recent storm/hurricane like conditions that passed through here recently surprisingly did not screw up my vegetable garden.

The tomatoes are doing fine, malabar spinach is loving the water, the bean trellis broke a little, but I just propped it up a bit. Dittany of Crete (herb, member of Oregano family) got waterlogged and isn't looking great (aka all the leaves fell off) but I have a cutting when it broke earlier, so hopefully that will survive.

The real damage happened in the flower garden areas, with the tallest of my Bells of Ireland (interestingly spicy smelling I found out) flopped over a broke, Calla lilies sagged sadly and my cannas, those got majorly icked over and were so heavy and sort tall they decided to fall over in the soft waterlogged hill patch I have them in, so I decided to take all my sad flowers and make the very rare bouquet in my house:
No huge loss as I have a ridiculous number of cannas and I was thinking of giving half of them away anyways, but I have been thinking about their edibility and my research shows, DELICIOUS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canna_(plant)
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1996/V3-507.html

Glass/cellophane noodles are Asian noodles that can be made with various types of starches, primarily mung beans, but cannas are rising in popularity as their starch has been found to be apparantly quite excellent in noodle making. You can find glass noodles in Asian stores, in restaurants usually in spring rolls, or basic noodle dishes...mmmm....


(Thanks to http://maona.net for pic)
Though the idea of making glass noodles may be somewhat time consuming, I understand that you can eat the tubers like potatoes anyways... we'll see, if people don't want cannas, what better way to use them than to FEED!??

Gardening Lusts

There are a few things that I wish I could enjoy as a gardener and if anyone out there has the money or space for these things, I am jealous:

Alitex green houses (http://www.alitex.co.uk/):
I encountered ads for Alitex greenhouses in donated Gardens Illustrated magazines by a sweet friend and fell into a deep lustful frenzy over these gorgeous buildings that under what my husband calls "garden porn" into a subcategory of "greenhouse porn." Brick foundations! Built in cold/hot boxes! Even specific lower, long flat vegetable garden greenhouses!
In my ecstasy I visited their website and signed up for a catalog that came within days and was full of lush pictures of greenhouses that I drooled over.
I was sort of mortified when a representative from Jersey called me and asked about ordering one.... I had to explain that I "...didn't quite have the funds..."*cry*

Snazzy Potting shed and bench, though I guess the greenhouse could function as such:
Something that had lots of hooks to hang the gloves I never use, a built in tool sharpener, potting soil storage, a huge twine spool, shelves for various pots, a paper pot maker... and so much more...

Front yard Vegetable Victory garden:
Stupid property value, work and not certain how long we're living here :(

Mongoose (Mongeese?):
Just for the poisonous snakes? I am tired of worrying if the dog will get bit, I'd like a useful pet! (just kidding, my dog alerts us if people are around, that's helpful I suppose)



AND FINALLY....


Becoming immune to ticks/mosquitoes/spider bites:
....or even better, partially gaining a helpful mutant ability from these bites. SoIdon'thavetoworryaboutLymediseaseallthetime!

If only.

Weather, location, what?

The weather here, well more precisely the forecast on Weather.com has gone a little batty as it is telling me "Hurricane Preparation?" and "Beach Weather?" Granted, as long as I am getting correct weather information, weather.com doesn't need to be a "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" champ.

Dammit, I am NEVER going to get the game show's Rockapella theme song out of my head now!

Anyways, waiting on the weather to not have a chance of rain so I can NEEM spray my plants up because I am slowly realizing that I will be needing to spray once a week to control all these flea beetles and squash vine borers.

In addition to the spraying NEEM oil, I am going to use leaves/flowers of my feverfew and chrysanthemum plants to make a tea and create a truly organic pyrethrum concoction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrethrum), and hopefully that will knock out most of my pest problems.

I am beginning to wonder too if I need to turn the ginormous compost/lawn waste area by the house to expose pest larvae.

ON TOP OF ALL THAT, in my quest to have delectable squash this year, I will submit and be getting floating row covers (http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=2005) and Nema-Ject Nematodes (http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=2877) from Gardeners Alive because I really really want squash. What better vegetable than one that is tasty, decorative and that can hold for a long time? Plus, I have a $20 off coupon.

These nematodes sound awesome, something about tiny things that can create havoc on another species... hmmm, this explains a lots about my fascination with viruses and bacteria for a long time... NOTE: bacteria are good and essential too, for the soil and humans, so no one go all anti-bac on me!

Anyways, still watching the weather.