[CH] Da Garden update
Jesse [CH1200] G. (CH1200@comcast.net)
Fri, 08 Aug 2003 21:55:07 -0500
Saludos, CHs, from NW of The Fields....
This procrastinator's garden goes slow. August, as July, is cool and
damp. June was drier, so it made for nice baseball weather for the kids,
at least. NW Indiana has had plenty of rain, but the other CH areas of
Indiana have been SOAKED, so I am NOT complaining.
The cherry tomatoes are FINALLY starting to ripen. Plum tomatoes: still
pale green. BIG plants, for partial sun: 3-5' high (1-1.6m!)
On the capsicum side of the garden:
- Hungarian hot wax are coming along nicely, 2-6" long (5-15cm =^) )
- The Zia, Chaco, Jamaican kitchen, Thai, and over-wintered Fatali are
fruiting. That fatali is like a MOTIVATOR for all the others, always
doing well in spite of its chinense-ness. Fruiting early, fruiting
often, to borrow the Chicago-inspired "voting" phrase. After all, I'm 20
miles (32 km) from Chicago's Loop (downtown). These squash-yellow
fatali's make an EXCELLENT active ingredient in the
mustard-vinegar-brown-sugar-mango sauce, whose recipe has been posted
here-abouts.
- I have one hab fruit, and flowers;
- Tiny peri-peri fruits, and flowers;
- Serranos are flowering, as are the aji dulce, and Malagueta, but
- the wild Brazil, arrivivi gusano, piment bouc are just growing slooowly.
Nice non-chile surprises: the perennial purple coneflowers = echinacea;
snapdragons, which smell like grape drink mix; and sweet basil. Oregano
has been isolated and contained. They all re-seeded themselves.
Whatever oregano I find outside of "the containment field" I re-pot and
give to neighbors. Can't wait for pesto OR peppers!
On another CH note: I am "temping" i.e. working short-term at a herb /
vitamin supply house. They have a "Vitamin E and Capsicum" cream, $5
USD ("on sale") for a 2 oz. jar. It's RED and it's HOT... i.e they had
PLENTY of returns when it first came out. I've seen the raw materials.
They made me sneeze! I'll post a URL of the raw materials when I get
my digital camera. Stay tuned.
Hasta la lista,
Jesse G.
CH#1200
P.S. And thank you for keeping the chipmunk punk flame wars to a
manageable ("moderate"?) level =^) That's the two Dutch light lagers
typing there... and making me re-read the posts in "CH-ipmunk falsetto
voices...