my garden is so confused as to what it’s supposed to be doing right now. usually we are averaging low to mid 70’s and it cools down to the 50’s at night. lately it’s been mid to upper 80’s and the night temperature is 60 degrees. needless to say the garden is going crazy still. i went through the garden with joe on sunday as a “last call” for tomatoes but i couldn’t believe how many green ones are on the vine still. looks like i’ll just keep freezing them. we went and bought another little deep freezer that i can use just for frozen veggies. i’m almost out of jar space so they get bumped to the freezer.
i plant at least one watermelon every year and this is the first time i have actually been able to pick and eat one watermelon from the garden. i planted a variety called sugar baby. they are super small about the size of a softball and have a delicious pink center with a yellow rind. they are very sweet (but full of seeds). it made the perfect sunday afternoon snack. i don’t know why i let one plant take up so much room with such little yield but i think it’s just the thrill of seeing what i can grow and what doesn’t.
it’s hard to choose favorites when it comes to tomato variety (probably because i planted over 70 plants) but i have to say these jewel toned cherry tomatoes might be some of my favorite. i love the purples, yellows, oranges and deep reds. they are just gorgeous and look fantastic in salads.
then there are the peppers… i don’t know if you follow me on instagram but i had quite the issue with these on sunday. i spent the afternoon seeding and chopping up all of these peppers. mostly poblanos. i left the jalapeños alone. i chopped about 40 pounds of poblanos not really worrying because poblanos are very mild and have little spice. they’re meant for stuffing or roasting. i got done chopping the peppers and jumped in the shower. as soon as my hands hit that hot shower water they just started to BURN. burn like i had grabbed on to a hot pan and couldn’t let it go. i finally figured it out what was going on. I yelled for joe to come and bring his phone. i can just about imagine what was running through his head. i said GOOGLE PEPPER BURN REMEDIES NOW. i sat with my hands pressed against the cool tile in the shower. lemon juice! i poured lemon juice on my hands but the burning returned after about 30 seconds. i would rotate lemon juice, getting the shampoo out of my hair, lemon juice, getting the conditioner out of my hair. after i got out of the shower the lemon juice continued to work in 30 second increments. i tried everything else, almond milk, vinegar, NOTHING worked. I didn’t have milk so i got so desperate that i stuck my hands in a costco size tub of greek yogurt. that worked until the yogurt warmed up. i ended up keeping the yogurt, putting plastic bags over my hands and then soaking them in a bowl of cold water the rest of the night. i slept with an ice pack under my pillow so i could rest my hands on the ice (which made things feel better). the burning was MUCH better in the morning but in total it lasted almost 24 hours. lesson learned i will never chop peppers again with out gloves. i don’t care how “mild” they are. that is a lesson i only need to learn once.
other than veggies i have tons of flowers still and orange eggplants which i’m loving. i’m just going to keep picking as long as everything keeps growing!
happy thursday!
