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How Hot Are Your Peppers?
Peppers are a favorite in most gardens behind tomatoes and herbs. They are often grown in container gardens and they do well. Peppers are a warm season favorite however, they require higher temperatures, grow more slowly and are smaller in size compared to a tomato plant. They require full sun and they need to spaced 12-18 inches apart. Peppers are a thirsty plant and need plenty of water. The soil must drain well so the roots do not get saturated which can water logs the roots. A little history about the spiciness/heat of pepper began in the 1900’s. The Scoville scale of heat is a measurement of the spiciness/heat of…
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Is Squash A Vegetable?
Well, that’s a good question, as there are various opinions! Technically it is categorized as a fruit because it develops from a flower and it has seeds Summer squash is producing in large amounts in my garden and everyday I pick a basket full. Squash is divided into summer squash and winter squash. Summer squash includes zucchini and yellow squash. I grow both types. They are picked while they are still somewhat immature, small and tender. The outer skin is delicate and easy to eat. The plants need to be checked daily for new produce, and when removing the squash, cutting versus breaking them off at the stem is…
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Peachy Pick-Me-Up
Peaches and apricots picked at their peak of ripeness are some of the most delicious fruits of summer. We have both peach and apricots trees and the trick to have a bountiful crop is to pick trees that fit your climate. Our apricot tree has had only a few years of a bumper crop. Apricots primarily mature in early summer making them on of the earliest available summer fruits. Our apricot trees seems to always bloom early with only a few days of warmth. We inevitably have a string of warm days in March which triggers blooming of our tree followed by a mild freeze which damages the delicate blooms.…
Home Grown is Best
