Habanero Fail!

I thought I was doing a good thing when I put my habaneros in the ground finally. I thought they'd finally grow big and produce fruit. But I think they were pretty stunted from the deer incident. They never grew. They didn't die either, but they were taking up room in my garden that now seemed appropriate for things that might actually produce, especially for a fall garden. So out they came! I'd be lying if I said it broke my heart to rip them out. I had given up on them. In went lettuce, Swiss chard, and ...uh... I forget. Radishes I think. Well, we'll see in 45 days I guess!

I also plucked some ripe tomatoes and one giant zucchini. I was a little disappointed we haven't had more zucchini by now. But I'm glad to have the one at least. No green beans yet. Well...I found one but no real green bean harvest to speak of yet. 

I think it might be an off year. We had lots of rain early on, then not much rain, then some suddenly cool temps recently. As one gardener commented, this much inconsistency isn't good for any one type of vegetable. It's bad for all. 

We also got a few of the early roma tomatoes (which I put in a brown paper bag to help them ripen just a little more) and some banana peppers too, which is nice!

Now to find a recipe that uses peppers, zucchini and tomatoes! Yum!

Habanero Angst

The habaneros seem to be my problem child this year. The first 2 died rather quickly, presumably due to bad drainage and excessive rainfall.  I repotted 2 more and they seemed to be doing very well. I was happy to even see them flowering. Then I found one had been eaten by a deer. Badly eaten. It's the one on the left that was badly eaten. 

Now they're in a screened in porch, but that can't be good for sunlight and pollination. I ordered a motion-activated sprinkler, which should be in later this week. The tag line was "squirt 'em, don't hurt 'em."  And I can get on board with that! I'm also wondering if a motion-activated light would help as well. My final line of defense is to have our dog pee all over the yard and I can brush her and leave her fur out there, but this seems way too subtle for such brazen deer. 

And now we'll place blame... It's my own fault for the most part. I put out a bird feeder with seed which apparently attracts the deer. I did not know this. The bird house was on a pole in the middle of the lawn, but when the lawn was getting mowed someone moved the bird house right on top of the hostas.  I noticed there was no bird seed left the next day. Also, they took bites out of some hostas that hadn't been eaten at all until I lured them with bird seed. Not having learned my lesson, I didn't change a thing and the deer came back the next night and ate one peony and one pepper plant. Grrr. 

Silly me thinking I could deter a deer with a hot pepper plant!!

Dilly Beans!

Last summer I canned several jars of dilly beans. I love these! They're spicy and pickled. And go very well as a side dish to meat or in a salad like this. We just used our last jar in a salad and I can't wait to jar up an even larger batch this summer! 

All Things Seem to be Growing

Peppers, although slightly bushier than I expected seem to be doing well. I saw a flower for the first time today. 

The blueberries are almost blue...

And the sun came out today! I don't think it's expected to last very long, but it's out for now!

Water Conservation

Look what showed up today!

She's bigger than I thought she'd be! So what's the story behind this, you ask. 

Well, a few months ago, Albany County ran a special on rain barrels.  It was like 20% off if you ordered through the County. So I ordered one knowing that we'd be in a house at some point this summer. And isn't she a beaut!?

Morgan picked her up and apparently these barrels are re-purposed pickling barrels from Greece. Even better!

As soon as we move into the house we'll set her up and see how she does!

One step greener!

Turnips!

Look what we grew! I can't wait to make another turnip greens soup!

A good sign...

Flowers!

On a few tomato plants

And on a banana pepper

These flowers make me the happiest because they're plants I started from seed. I expect the few I bought from the store to flower, but it always surprises me when my own plants flower and produce fruit!