June 24, 2006

First Tomatoes

Although I only planted two tomato plants this year, both are producing fruit like there is no tomorrow. Most of the tomatoes are still green, but this afternoon, I spotted a pair of ripe ones in the bed. I am happy to say that I have my first ripe tomatoes from my garden! They are small Celebrity Tomatoes of a beefsteak style. I'm not sure what I will make with them yet, but I'm looking forward to using them.

Meanwhile, the pods are still forming on the chile peppers. Most of the plants have pods now, although few are ripe enough to eat. I'm growing concerned about a few of my chile plants. The chiles are turning black. I'm not sure if this is some sort of fungus or if my pepperoncini peppers are NOT pepperoncinis. The one replacement pepperoncini seems to be perfectly normal and it is beside the others in the bed. I will have to ask a few questions of the MSN Chile forum and see if the experts there can figure out what is wrong with my pods.

My garden paths were cleared of weeds today and all the juniper needles that had fallen on my gravel paths has been raked up and hauled away. The area is looking quite neat and tidy and I'm well content with that. I still need to pull out the wandering jew vines on the far side of the cinderblocks, but at least most of the work is now completed.

June 12, 2006

First Batch of Homemade Salsa of the Year

Last week, my husband and I bought a "Magic Bullet" blender/food processor system. We wanted it for blended drinks, but I was hoping that it would be an easy way to make salsa as well. It is! This morning I harvested the first chile pod from my garden, one of the salsa garden variety, intending to make homemade salsa.

I followed the seven second salsa recipe that came in the book with the machine. I threw in a quarter red onion, 10 grape tomatoes, most of the garden salsa pepper minus the seeds, two cloves of garlic and a couple of sprigs of fresh parsley. The Magic Bullet whirled this into fresh salsa in an eye blink and I found that the portion was perfect for one serving. One great thing about the Magic Bullet is that the clean up is just as fast as the processing. Just a quick rinse and you are done.

The salsa garden pepper was a bit more crisp than a jalapeƱo, but the heat was definitely there and it had a decent flavor. I'm glad that I included one of the plants in my garden.

June 02, 2006

Summer Heat Arrives

At last, the summertime heat has arrived. Bright sunshine and warm to hot temperatures are making my gardens sing in delight. The peppers have been growing taller and most of them are starting to put forth pods! My husband and I go out and view their progress each evening with delight.

The tomatoes are spreading out and taking over the entire 3'x3' bed. Two plants was more than enough for my limited garden space. If I start to grow tomatoes on a regular basis, I think that I will look into a vertical growing method for next year. I hate to lose what little growing space I have in my small backyard.

While it is not salsa related, I wanted to note that my roses are flourishing their colors in a grand manner. I don't believe that I've ever had such a major showing of blooms from the majority of my roses bushes before. It is quite pleasant!