GARDEN REPORT - Edited to add more hot pepper pics

by Robin

Where to start. First off, it's 90+ deg hot & the t-storms are coming at 2:30 every day. I could set the clock to them the past couple days. I am so thankful for the rain but probably not as thankful as the garden.

Secondly, let me say that things aren't working out like I expected. Of course, this is all a big experiment with trying to get stuff to live through this heat. See if you can follow this. My green bell pepper plant decided to go red last month. Not that I'm complaining...... it tasted pretty good red.

My colored sweet bell pepper garden (click to enlarge to see arrows) have only produced one barely white, 2 chocolates and 3 varieties of green. I'm being all I can to be patient to wait for color changes that don't want to seem to happen. Some plants are close to waist high. (I'm short)

(Unpictured) I have a yellow sweet bell pepper plant that produced green peppers all fall/winter and this week, it seems to be producing a yellow one. Does the heat vs water change the color of peppers? I wish I could ask God this question.

Here is a picture of my main garden. Those 3 trees on the right side are my cherry tomato plants. The green is great but many of the blooms die before I get tomatoes. Not good. I think they're affected by the heat.

My large tomatoes (big & better boys) don't want to produce anything either. I think I may have picked my last large tomato this week. FLmom, who is south of me in the same county has ton of tomatoes on the vine, so I'm thinking I have a bad variety for summer heat. I believe she has beefmasters & romas. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

My eggplants were growing well & blooming. I did the pollination for them but had no fruit. As you can see from the silvering on the plant, the red mites have decided to taken over. Actually, I'm not certain the mites cause the silvering but they're definitely all there at the same time. That with my neglect is going to kill this plant.

The smaller plant next to it is still green & unaffected. Must. spray. tomorrow.

The hot peppers are doing fantastic. I'm seeing Hungarian wax, Serrano chilis, Jalapenos, and Slim Red Cayenne. The latter is turning red and I strung some up last week for drying. More on those later in the week when I remember to take a pic of them. I catch myself salivating while waiting for my next hot pepper harvesting.

The herbs are still happy & growing. Carrots are maturing nicely with the rain, as are the onions. Lettuce is all gone and I'm only collecting seeds. Cucumbers don't love the heat but I'm still getting a few more from the remaining 6 or so plants out of the 12 I started with. My biggest issue is not having male blooms to fertilize the female fruit with. Yes, I'm still hand-pollinating w/ a q-tip. Summer squash is dead if you didn't catch that last report.

Then, last but not least, sometimes I see this in the garden. We don't let our 4H hens out daily but we do let them out when I clean their pen & reload feeders. They have quickly discovered the garden to be a smorgasboard of bugs. They also love to eat the lower cherry tomatoes and peck at my red pepper until I shoo them off of it.

Can you tell my meat chicken from the egg-layers? That's Lucky. She is a Light Brahma who should lay brown eggs in a few months. Her sisters are White Leghorns (pronounced Leggerns), famous for their large white eggs.

Here they are between carrots and thyme. I just love my chickens.

I'm looking for any suggestions of what to plant in the dead heat of summer. Should I just wait for August to plant for my fall garden?

There are Red Slim Cayenne peppers drying on a string. They turn red as they dry. I'm using to seeds to grind into a spice and the outside will be lightly fried and made into "crunchies".

I'm claiming these to be Hungarian Wax. They're not very hot at all. They're similar to a banana pepper.

Serrano Chili. 4-alarm hot. I have no idea what to do with these. I have so many coming!

I can't decide if these are serrano or jalapeno. The more they grow, the more I'm thinking serrano.

I also am suppose to have an Anaheim but not sure I've got any of those producing yet. I still have several plants that aren't producing but have flowers.

This is definitely a jalapeno. I have another half dozen or so about to be picked this week. I can see a bunch of poppers being made for the guys.

I can also make some vegan ones stuff with rice for me.