i noticed that for every blossom I picked the chive stem it was on later died. but that did make it produce a lot more new stems. so the next time I pick chive blossoms I will also harvest the accompanying chive stems to use elsewhere at the time.
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I picked my first few peppers today, from my Sriracha plant (to be fair, they were green, and growing practically on the ground - the flowers they came from probably should have been pinched off). Tomatoes are coming along nicely - I’m just hoping that all of the flowers I currently have are already pollinated as we’re heading into a heat wave this week. I have several tiny fruits on most varieties, a few reaching decent size on Early Girl. I can’t wait for the first Purple Cherokees!
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I just added this Manzano pepper from a nearby Mexican grocery store!
Last one I grew didn’t set fruit until it cooled off, but I was able to overwinter it.
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On Keene organics described as a purple stripe, Southern States (US) - Heat Tolerant Garlic
Small plants and small bulbs but it did surprisingly well in whatever container I stuck it in.
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I just unloaded a ton of mint, sage and tarragon on my neighbors, and I feel a lot less claustrophobic now. Even got rid of some of the sourdough starter that is holding me hostage.
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I put in an order for fall bulbs with Keene. Hoping I’ll have good luck next season too. I planted maybe 20 bulbs last year, but 1/3 or so, did not grow. No idea why. Have been also battling the digging critters who want to constantly dig in those planters - have about 1/2 left that should survive until end of July for harvest (fingers crossed).
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I stuck two little seeds in the pot over the weekend (before this heat blast) so hopefully they will grow. I’ll keep you posted if I have luck with them.
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@kobuta
@phenikia
You both encouraged me to plant more tomatoes this week. Our starts (first, second, third!) were all doing poorly. Unsure as to why. We had them in a green house and monitored them closely, but it was looking pretty grim. I moved every single one of them out - even the back-up back-ups which are usually a throw-away - and planted them. I checked the PH levels of the containers, and amended with lime where I thought it would be beneficial. After a few days, they are starting to look a bit better, but far from where we would be in a typical year. There are about 20 plants in the garden now. If a fourth of them produce normally, we’ll be in good shape. If they all produce normally, I’ll be back here boo-hooing for sure! 
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350 grams pitted Montmorency sour cherries for the freezer. Today’s pick and the second day picking. This is enough for two small kirschkuchen (German sour cherry cake), or one scant cherry pie. More to come!
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Looks like I’ll be pickling scallions tomorrow.
Also picked carrots today, strawberries, and sour cherries.
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Ooh. Put some aside for ginger scallion sauce.
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Yay! Scallion ideas! How much of the green part do you good folks use?
Actually, planning on scallion-ginger pot stickers…
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Sigh…
Where does the green part end and the white begin? A riddle I’ve been pondering for a few decades.
I use all of everything I can. If I need more white than green for my dish, I chop and save and the greens for some other purpose. And vice-versa. I think overall I would like more white and less green, but that’s not what nature intended…
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The garden this year is much smaller than normal, due to an April and May with extreme drought. We’ve finally started getting rain, coupled with high temperatures, making it feel exactly like a jungle! This rough picture is of the tomato and pepper rows, with some Physalis mixed in:
24 tomatoes are already between 5–6 feet tall. The top row is 60 feet (18m) long. The peppers are lower-growing types, some rare in the US. One I’m particularly excited about is Chinese, Er Jing Tiao. I got the seeds from Etsy, which is often a gamble. But, these look like the real thing:
The mature, red peppers are pickled or dried, having a wonderful aroma and med-mild heat. A must for Sichuan chili oil. The three pepper species growing shouldn’t hybridize much, if at all, so I can save seeds. One, Madre Vieja, from Guatemala, is very rare in the US. The other, Aji Limo is also very hard to find here. This is a seed run as much as a food planting.
Among the tomatoes is a Physalis, Tomatillo “Chupon de Malinalco”, which is an unusual fruit.
The fruits drop when mostly ripe and improve if left in a basket until completely yellow inside.
The fruit can be eaten out of hand or made into salsas. It’s sweeter than most tomatillos, like a sweet tomato. Production looks good, despite the climate. It’s my first year growing these, so uses will evolve.
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Such interesting fruit!
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It is! There are 18 plants of another Physalis here: “Goldie”, which is a tropical fruit-flavored ground cherry. It’s much smaller, sweeter and lends itself to pies and jams. I hear it also makes good dried fruit. So far, they get eaten fresh fairly quickly.
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I’m growing cucumbers this year; first time growing these. I have been watching the vine grow aggressively these past two weeks and I noticed lots of blossoms and some tiny baby cucumbers. Figured it would be a while yet.
Tonight however I was astounded to see a full-sized cucumber just lying there. How
could I have missed this?! I did some quick research and decided it wasn’t QUITE ready to pick bec the withered blossom was still attached to the far end. But otherwise the thing is firm, green and covered in the tiny characteristic spikey protrusions.
I hope the taste doesn’t disappoint me. (The celery I grew, the melons, the green beans, many other things - not worth the trouble.)
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