A rather unusually windy week for my area it was. Normally we never get much and it ended up catching me a bit off guard. Along with that just a lot of clouds but very little rain throughout the week from them. Resulting in me to water almost daily at least that is a great excuse to go outdoors during the week.

Red Peppers

I took this photo a day before it happened. Some wind came by and those lower hanging branches did not make it. There were 5 red peppers attached to two of them in total. They snapped and I ended up just bringing them inside.

That is one thing I’ve started to learn. Just how fragile these plants really are. I just find it strange they can’t hold their own weight in what they are producing. I had some zip ties around some of the branches but my fear with that is the weight might cut into them at some point. I had the same thoughts with using a string as well. As such, I was hoping them being on the ground like that they would be just fine.

For most of the week, I did not notice any damage to the branches at all. They seemed to be just holding in there and when not the ground would have been there to support t it. My only fear was some critter might use that as a bridge up into the plant itself.

There nothing wrong with eating them right now. They smell like green peppers. I’m just more of a red sweet pepper kind of guy. I will more than likely be stuffing them with some things such as cheese and diced jalapenos that I’ve been growing as well. I also have plans at some point to grill them for Shish kabobs.

I might just keep one of them around to see how they ripen. I don’t want it to get too mushy and that is my fear when waiting for it to turn red. There is at least 5 more remaining on the plant. Most of those are more spread out among the other branches. Even one of them is growing inside of one of the zip tie loops I created. I have a feeling that one might be a little funky looking at some point.

Big Bertha

Out of all the plants I’ve tried to grow this year this one has been the most untouched by anything eating at its leaves. There only a couple of small holes as I was checking all the plants this week. I gave it a little spray and I hope that will knock down what little has tried to cause any damage.

This guy is starting to grow much wider than the other ones as well. It is not as tall as I was expecting it to get. I can’t wait to see how wild looking this one becomes. I’ve given it a bit of space on either side of it for some isolation protection from anything else plant related. I would prefer this one to remain as untouched as possible. I’m rather interested to see how not having large issues would go for a plant in terms of it producing.

While it is still much smaller than the rest. I did get it much later in the season. I’m not really worried about running out of time seeing it mature and have a few cycles of pepper production. One of my long-term goals is even to get a few of these to make it past our more mild winters down here.

Green Pepper

Between my own accidents with it the other week and mother natures counted assault on this guy things are just not looking great this week either. This is also why people get a few plants at a time. Just in case one of them does not make it. I’m still rooting for this one thing are just looking a little sad for it.

I made sure to give it a watering a few times this week but the summer heat has more than made I wilted looking. It should have more than been producing flowers by now but I have a feeling that just not the case. Another week or two and even the Big Bertha could pass it up in terms of height. It already has it beat by a mile in thickens.

Jalapeno

What is starting to be really amazing is the Jalapeno not only has peppers that could be picked soon unless I want to leave them longer for red ones. It also has more flowers coming in. I could see if someone really enjoyed eating these they could stagger a couple of these plants and have a few Jalapeno during the week without running out of any.

I did today use the last Jalapeno I picked from last week’s harvest. I allowed it to ripen more into a red one and used it on a sandwich for this evening. It did not have the spiciness the one I picked when it was red did. Still, it tasted great and had a little bit of crunch left to it.

A couple more days and that should be around when I want to start using some of the under ripped red peppers perhaps by then they will ripen up somewhat. Either way, I’m just glad to start being able to combine several things that I’m growing into a meal or two.

Tomato

This guy is starting to flower up again as we can see with a couple of white flowers. I’m hoping round two will go much better this time around.

Some of the leaves are starting to get some blotches on it. I have no idea what it is and if I should have any concern about it. Might have to be something I need to look into this week. I was thinking of taking some crushed up egg shells and springing it around its topsoil to see if that had any effect.

Will have to see what I find out if I don’t forget to look things up. Along with what I end up doing next week. Here hoping round two goes much better and I get more than one tiny little tomato. Which I had the other day.

Starting Tray

To say I’ve been rather disappointed with this system is an understatement. On top of that, the soil they proved is now starting to turn rather disgusting looking. It might just be time to toss this thing out altogether. I’ve been making sure to empty out the bottom tray of any extra water but that not been a big thing this week.

Sadly the cilantro I planted a few weeks back is already starting to die back down again. The Bunching Onion on the outside is also just even there for a month or longer doing next to nothing but holding on.

I think I just need a bigger and deeper container for this kind of thing. These seeds just don’t want last long and they are not ready to be transplanted into something else either. Wish I could go with a raised bed or something outside of the area I have this all contained in. That is just not an option for me.

I’m still going give it another week and if things start to get worse or the soil starts to smell I’ll know it’s time to just give up and toss this lot out. It is like something got into the soil in a couple of the cells.

Final Thoughts

Perhaps in the far feature, I’ll have some land of my own to do this a bit more proper. Have a few raised beds and no longer any buckets trying to keep things alive in. Put a nice little-wired chicken fencing around it to keep the bigger things out. While still allowing a lot of sunlight to get to the plants.

Have a wonderful week! I’m now blessed with having a kitchen with a light scent of green peppers in it!

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Photos were taken by @enjar using a Photosmart M627.