The Winter Garden

I made a few additions to the Garden this month.... Added a few complementary herbs such as Basil, Parsley, Tarragon, Garlic Chives, Oregano, Lemon Balm and Thyme. They seem to be enjoying their new home. Which is a good thing.

However, one thing I didn’t take into consideration during the month of December was the very low temperatures and the unusual high winds. Lol. As you can tell by the pick I have a garden cloth semi covering the garden during the day and then at night it is let down and held by the bricks you see at the bottom, and secured to what ever I could grab onto by big office clips. (Funny I have had these big clips for years, and was reluctant to throw them out…. Well I guess I have now found a use for them. =)) I am telling you, covering this garden has become quite the process in the evenings.

The one good thing is that the garden is protected, and as you can tell, there is quite a bit to protect. =) so I am happy to do it.

Till next Log!
Michelle

Amethyst Peppers?

When California Green Peppers are not California Green Peppers after all...
All this time I was under the assumption that the peppers that I had planted last spring were in fact California Green Peppers. At least that is what it had stated on the packaging of seeds I had purchased.



Amythest Peppers by definition are green to start, then turn purple (now at this stage I was really worried that I was doing something wrong here, did I not have enough nutrients in my soil... did I have too much?) then turn back to green, then they turn brilliant red! Yes you read it correctly. Hard to believe and in fact very hard to find any information regarding the Amythest Peppers at all.

If anyone has any information regarding the Amythest Peppers I would love to hear your comments! In the meantime, I am going to just simply enjoy the wonderful array of colors that my pepper plants have produced. Oh and did I mention... they are awfully delicious!



Until next log! Cheers!

Arizona Monthly Calendar

In doing some research on Gardening in Arizona... I stumbled upon what seems to be a great mini gardening checklist for those who live in this dry desert oasis that we call home. Check it out at About.com

What is really great is that I had discovered that Tomatoes and Peppers have two growing seasons here in the desert, that is if you can keep them alive long enough to do the necessary trimmage to 18 - inches in the month of September for re-growth and harvest in early December. =)

Check out the calendar, it not only covers Vegi Gardens but Grass (for those of you who do not know, we have two growing seasons for two different types of grasses here in the desert, Bermuda for summer and Perennial Rye for the winter), Trees and Shrubs, Flowers and a Monthly Does and or Don'ts Lists for the month.

Till Next Log...

Cheers!

Ohh the Peppers

This Arizona weather is taking its toll on my poor peppers. They were looking pretty good at the beginning of the month.

Then it started to get into 100-115 degree weather and I started experiencing Blossom End Rot. So I cut the peppers off the plant. =(

Blossom-end rot usually appears on the first fruit cluster of a plant due to the combination of rapid plant growth and water stress. Even a temporary water stress during early fruit growth can cause blossom-end rot because the fruits are the last to receive adequate calcium.

Also, lack of calcium can be the problem where the plant's root uptake of certain nutrients is inadequate. Where as another cause of blossom-end rot is over-fertilization, especially with nitrogen, which stimulates vegetative growth.

They say that when the weather gets above 90+ that blossoms will no longer produce any fruit, and that the blossoms just fall off. Yup... experienced the same problem.

Fortunately if you’re an Arizonian, all is not lost, as long as you can keep the plant alive all summer there is hope for fruit production once the temperatures cool, say in September. Sigh... so in the meantime I will just have to patient for summer and keep those babies alive.

Till next log...
Michelle

California Green Pepper Log 04.12

Its been a little less than a week since my last post regarding peppers... They are looking pretty good right now. Other than I have something munching on them! Seriously, the common Pepper Pests are Aphids, flea beetles, cutworms, thrips, and the whitefly. However when I do my research none of these pests cause the damage that I have displayed here. Feel Free to click on the pic for enlargement.

I am at a loss... they were looking so good a few days ago. I do know that we have a wide variety of lizards in our area. Do lizards eat leaves?

I am off to do more research regarding this irritating problem that I have discovered.

Until the next log.

California Green Pepper Log 04.06

The peppers have been planted and are looking really good. So far...

Interestingly when it comes to planting them it is totally different than the tomato. The tomato plant requires you to bury the stem in the ground where as the Peppers you do not. Nor do you need to pinch off any leaves. You just plant them. They do suggest not growing peppers in the same spot two years in a row.

Same rules do apply in terms of spacing; roughly 12-16 inches apart. It is recommended to use some compost or aged manure into the pepper bed before planting. This will give the peppers plenty of nutrients. Use aged (not fresh) manure to prevent nitrogen overdose, which can cause low yields. One of the articles I had read about peppers had cases of six-foot tall jalapeno plants with plenty of foliage but no pods on them, because the grower fed them too much nitrogen too fast. Thankfully we let the soil in the garden sit for two weeks before we did our initial planting. (We used Miracle Gro garden soil. I hear conflicting results when using Miracle Gro vs just plain Manure or compost material. So we will just have to see how it turns out.)

Again, since I used the Jiffy Professional Greenhouse peat pods in a package of twelve and I only used five, I kept the remaining pepper peat pods around for a while. Since the stems are above ground, I have had a few of them snap in half due to wind, critters, etc. and needed to replace them... make sure to keep your peat pods moist and not let them dry out.

And keep that garden weed free. Weeds can attract pests like leafhoppers, which can spread the Curly Top Virus. This had happened in New Mexico in 1995 where many a crops had been lost.


Until the next Log... Cheers!