So glad to hear from you @bogman! I have two of your Aji Amarillo’s going, and one rocatillo, but the rocatillo isn’t looking too good.
Love the way you arranged the lettuces.
The turtle just showed up, or did you put him out there?
Aww, a wee turtle! I hope it’s happily sunning away nearby. I found a little frog the other day in my lawn again (only the 2nd time I’ve noticed); I’m not that close to water so I have been surprised each time. I’m just relieved I didn’t mow the little girl by accident. 
So the warmth is finally here (cough June! cough) and it’s led to some supergrowth in my grass for sure. My pepper plants are surprisingly budding and I see what looks like baby flowers that may sprout soon. I quickly repotted to bigger pots last week, so hopefully they’re ok.
My lemongrass are LOVING the sun, surprise surprise. And starting to grow a lot of leaves. Some nice sprouting on the side too which is a good sign since my original stalk was probably a little long. Should have trimmed it down more, but they were going in taller jars and bottles of water for root development.
Lastly, my own little special treat. I decided to buy a dwarf makrut lime plant and this was the unboxing. The smell when i first unpacked it was amazing! Sadly my box got delayed by 2 days due to weather issues, and I hope this didn’t cause extra stress on the plant that might be irreparable. Now no more fragrance, but it’s getting good sun in my yard. If it gets cold, I can still bring it in for the night.
I will keep it in a pot, which the website said would be fine as long as it gets the sun it wants. It’s small though so will be a while before I can even harvest leaves, let alone actual fruit!
On a not so happy note, my garlic still has no scape visible, and it’s starting to make me wonder if maybe they aren’t spanish rojas?? They had the slightly purpley/red skin, but maybe there’s another variety that just looks like that? The plants seem healthy so I guess we’ll find out.
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I covet your makrut lime @kobuta! Good luck with us and keep us posted on it’s progress. I’ve told the fam I’d like one as a gift, but think they’re afraid I’d kill it, albeit accidentally. Would so love a fresh and immediate source of leaves. One of my very favorite flavors and aromas.
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Thanks @bogman for explaining the empty pods, will try my best to avoid that next year. Your lovely lettuces reminded me that I should grow some soon. Right now my winter lettuce is bolting with violet flowers.
Wasn’t very hopeful earlier in the harvest, and now regretting not doing a better job of labeling last month. Especially Spanish Benetee.
Which one is Spanish benetee?
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My over-wintered mustard greens have produced an abundance of seed pods. Is there anything I can do with them, other than the obvious (grow more mustard greens)? Last year I pickled a mess of coriander seeds, which were AWESOME. But mustard green seeds are very small.
It’s the spice mustard - so Indian cooking, or make… mustard!
Never tried it, but heard of it. Here’s one with yellow mustard seed.
Serious eats pickled mustard seed
ETA oh…mustard GREEN seed! Maybe that’s different.
It is? They look so much smaller than the mustard seeds I’ve seen for sale.
Nice harvests, everyone! I am off to a slow start with pepper and basil seedlings, but my garlic is looking gorgeous. I have lots of scapes to harvest this week and I’ll probably start harvesting bulbs next week - earlier than usual, but the outer leaves are browning already!
Hello All! Thanks for the compliments. This is crazy, plant everything now season, here in VA. Well, the frost sensitive plants can all go in.
There is a very healthy population of native Eastern Box Turtles here . At times, hundreds of eggs hatch out and there are cast away shells all over the place. The babies scatter and live for years, almost entirely underground. The ones I find wander in and like all the soft soil and easy access to water (Chinese water Chestnut and Chinese Water Potato pools). I find adults swimming sometimes, amongst the frogs and tadpoles. I relocate them all to safer areas outside of the high traffic garden beds. Some of the adults have beautiful colors.
Found this guy while weeding blueberries.
Shrinkrap, glad you’ve got some Aji Amarillo going! I love that kind of “grapefruity” taste in the fresh peppers, and that one can adjust how hot it is. Maybe the Rocotillo will liven up; they like heat. Seems most of the Capsicum chinense like very hot weather while Aji, C. baccatum prefer cool to warm. Let me know if you need more seed. There’s another Peruvian chili, Rocoto, C. pubescens which is super sensitive to heat. It has black seeds, purple flowers and goes pollen sterile about around 78-80 F (25-27 C).
Kobuta, congrats on the Thai lime! You’ll enjoy that taste and smell only Bai Magroot has. I have a large potted one and pilfer leaves frequently. They’re easier to keep outside for me. Indoors, Mites and scales get out of hand. Dishsoap and neem come in handy on dark days. A few things about them:
They are heavy feeders and appreciate a foliar fertilizer with seaweed once in awhile.
If you experience yellowing in the leaves, despite feeding, it may be Calcium deficiency; stir 1 tsp./5 ml dolomitic limestone powder in 1 gallon cold water and water the plant with this. If you have “hard” water, Calcium deficiency is much less likely. Many fertilizers do not contain Calcium that plants can uptake.
The limes taste terrible! Use the zest for Phrik King curry paste, or other pastes. The seedy pulp is most disagreeable. Although I hear it makes leeches let go!
During the warm season, my tree gets too big for it’s spot indoors and needs a major haircut. Lime leaf freezes OK, but loses it’s charm over time. Ditto with drying. I made a tincture by packing leaves into a pint jar and pouring warm, neutral-flavored vodka over the leaves. Remove/strain out all the leaves after 3-4 days. If you leave the leaves in too long it’ll taste awful. The extract can be kept in the freezer for years. I gave some to some chefs, one of whom made a fancy sorbet for the restaurant’s menu. I cook off the alcohol in some water before adding to coconut milk.
I tried the same tincture process with lemongrass…blech! Don’t waste the vodka.
There are some Flying Dragon Trifoliate Orange (Poncirus trifoliata) seedlings under a tree in the yard. They’re just the right size to try grafting a Thai lime onto, a future project, for fun. Should create a more resistant, hardy and dwarfing tree.
Naf, I’ve not seen a lettuce flower that was not yellow. What lettuce is it?
There are primarily three types of mustard. The mildest, yellow or “white” is Sinapsis alba. The most common mustard in Indian cuisine is typically much smaller and darker-Black Mustard, Brassica nigra. Brown Mustard, Chinese Mustard greens and powder come from my favorite: Brassica juncea. Most leaf mustards grown in the USA are B. juncea. There are wonderful Asian selections, like Wrapped-Heart mustard, Kekkyu Takana It has just enough bitter to be interesting. Tsa Tsai is another cool one which makes bizarre tuber like bumps on the stem. Green-in-the Snow, Horned, the list goes on!
I just got in some Dijon seed, but can’t tell what species it is from the seed. If it grows, the plant will provide clues.
The first harvest was , is pea tips from Sugar Snaps. Only edible seeded/podded pea greens can be eaten; Pisum sativum. The rest are toxic (except the earthnut pea, Lathyrus tuberosus, which hardly anyone grows these days).
Anyway, I don’t parasitize my rows of Sugar Snaps. The tip harvests come from my inability to accurately judge how many peas are needed for, e.g. a 10 meter/30 foot row. I wet a ballpark number of pea seeds, drain them, and sprinkle powdered inoculant on the seeds. The powder contains Rhizobium bacteria which colonize the roots of peas, beans, etc. and the bacteria feeds the plant Nitrogen fertilizer. After the row is planted, I rudely plant leftover seeds in out of the way places. Those provide the tips.
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I sure hope so! Days have been over 100 F most of the last 10 days. I was thinking it wasn’t ready, or maybe it didn’t like being spotted up just before the heat set in.
What is the weather were you are?
Strangely enough, my 4 year old rocoto (tag says manzano and peron too. Ripens orange and pretty hot) is looking fine and throwing flowers, although I do not see fruit. Some of the flowers were there before the heat, so maybe some will.
So interesting about the turtles! I think my mind would be blown.
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Yep
Different varieties, I’m sure
I planted packet seed mustard and spice cupboard mustard - greens were about the same.
You may want to check if you need to dry / roast the seeds before using as a spice
Sorry about the apricots… re snakes - YUCK! My #1 fear.
“Our” jasmine just started blooming (apparently the first time - I’m attributing it to all my company, because it’s in the little alcove garden where I was babying seedlings) 
But also - I live in fear of snakes - childhood stories about them liking the jasmine family.
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I mulched all the tomato pots with wood shavings from sibling’s woodworking… phew. Hopefully I will be done slug-hunting 
Also discovered a teeny tiny tomato in those still-small seedlings - it’s not even a foot tall yet (which has me a bit worried tbh).
First-time-gardener puzzling observation of the week: the BEST performing tomato plants are the ones I planted in pots that had not-great strawberry plants along the edge. The tomato and strawberry plants are both doing fabulously - as if they are enjoying the company… I’ve heard of companion planting, but this seems like an odd pairing… the strawberries came to life, and the tomatoes are doing about three times better than their contemporaries.
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They weren’t rattle snakes, but they were big and rattled!
I ate a few of the pecked apricots, they were what I was hoping for, and I am looking forward to the few that are left. Maybe I’ll baby this tree a bit longer, or find a way to put it in the ground.
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Love the tiny turtle @bogman! Wish I could lend you my cat Molly for a few days. She specializes in hunting both moles and voles. Maybe more tulips will overwinter, now that we have an apex predator…
Jasmine is also blooming for the second year, got it last year. Although the smell isn’t quite what I’ve expected, more a sweet note of cinnamon than like a the smell of say, jasmine tea.
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I used a bag of mixed seeds, but the lettuces didn’t correspond to any of those names. You can see it has toothy leaves.
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@naf, night blooming jasmine may provide the aroma you’re expecting. The fragrance is simply amazing.
