Earthly Garden

1. ‘Black Pearl’ Ornamental Pepper

Time of fruiting: midsummer to frost
Description: 18-inch plant sports black leaves and clusters of shiny round black peppers that turn red at maturity.

*Unlike many petite ornamental peppers, ‘Black Pearl’ is not strictly a front-of-the-border plant. From mid-June to September, its decorative dark foliage and shiny clusters of “black pearls” are beautiful additions to borders or containers.

2. ‘Mariachi’ Hot Pepper

Days to maturity: 65 (from transplant)
Description: medium hot, 3-to-4-inch cone-shaped peppers are pale yellow blushing to orange, then red.

*For a hot pepper, ‘Mariachi’ is relatively think-walled. This makes it ideal for grilling, stuffing as hors d’oeuvres, or adding to salsas, anything you might want to use a hot pepper for. It is mild.

3. ‘Carmen’ Sweet Pepper

Days to maturity: 75 (to red)
Description: Two-foot-tall plants produce 6-to-8-inch peppers.

*You might expect a pepper name ‘Carmen’ to have a fiery disposition, but this is not the case. The fruit has the look of a jumbo cayenne (long, slender, and with the “rumpled” quality), but a taste that is wonderfully sweet, without an extravagance of seeds.

4. ‘Socrates’ Bell Pepper

Days to maturity: 65 to green; 80 to more red.
Description: Thick-walled, blocky bell pepper, early. Satisfying to grow and eat.

*If you have trouble growing a hefty, juicy pepper, you need to try ‘Socrates’. It measures about 5 by 7 inches and starts producing in late July and continues into the fall. Harvesting will require pruners due to the size of the peppers.

5. ‘Sweet Spot’ Banana Pepper

Days to maturity: 65 to 75
Description: Produces prolific amounts of delicious 6-to-8-inch, slender, mild fruits that mature to red. Bred for resistance to bacteria.

*These sweet yellow peppers will produce all summer, except when heat gets to them for a long period of time. Brown spots will appear on some of the fruits. Production will become great when there are cooler nights and even milder summer days.

Many generations of gardeners have trusted the advice given by The Farmer’s Almanac. Over the years, various versions of the Almanac have been published by different companies, but they all have things in common….like listing the “best days” to plant a certain thing, or the best days to do a certain thing.

For example, this online Almanac says that today is a good day to cut your hair to increase growth. If you’d gotten it cut back on the 16th, that would retard the growth. Today apparently is a good day for planting beans, peppers and cucumbers “where the climate is suitable.” These dates are based on phases of the moon, etc. and even though many think this is just plain ol’ superstition, there is some scientific basis for this, and many farmers and gardeners swear by this information. (I plan to write more about this as time goes by.)

Either way, I find these almanacs fascinating. It’s just another link between me and the gardeners of the past…the gardeners who didn’t have computers, or websites, or blogs to know when to plant something.

So, if your climate allows, go plant some beans!

(And thanks to Wanda, who sent me the link to the online Almanac this morning!)

Dig it!

bobbi c.
In Central TX where it was 80-degrees yesterday!

Farmer’s Almanac, gardening almanacs, moon phase gardening, gardening by the phases of the moon, online almanacs, beans

This morning it’s 27-degrees and all thoughts about early planting of spring tomatoes have been replaced by worries that I might lose my little lime tree that’s been living in a pot on the porch since last year at this time. Actually, I’m surprised it has lived this long. This winter has been harsh here for us in many ways–more icy storms and colder temperatures. Maybe it will be a blessing in disguise, and will kill off some of the grasshopper eggs I know are lurking underneath the cedar mulch that covers my garden paths…nature’s way of dealing with bugs!

My new grow light stand (a late Christmas gift) I ordered finally got here, and even though it’s a bit late for us, I’ll be starting tomato, pepper and herb seedlings myself this year. It will be nice not to be tied to the small inventory of hybrid varieties that the local garden center sells, and I can space the timing out instead of buying them all at once. I’ll be starting some Brandywine tomatoes, a popular, tasty heirloom. I always grow cherry tomatoes, too, for salads, and those do well in pots as long as they are fed some fish emulsion or liquid seaweed.

I’ve been going through all my garden photos, and will be posting more of those as I find them.

Happy Valentine’s Day, all!

Dig it!

bobbi c.
All photos and text Copyright©2005-2007 by Bobbi A. Chukran

insects in garden, grow light stand, antique rose, white heirloom rose, lime tree in container