Shule's 2021 garden grow log

[Shule]

Here's my end-of-season hot pepper and muskmelon harvest:

[Shule]

Well, I guess it's not the end of the season. The first frost isn't until Wednesday morning. I think I'll finish the harvest tomorrow! I just picked lots of green tomatoes for storage (Orange Jazz, Aunt Ginny's Purple, Napoli, Amana Orange and probably Picnic_B).

There aren't as many Napoli fruits per plant, this year. That late start must have reduced productivity.

We have loads of Orange Jazz tomatoes from that one plant. At least 7 ripe, and a couple containers'-full green.

[Shule]

I was wrong again. We have another frost-free day. Well, I think a couple plants by the currant bushes got hit by frost this morning, but most were fine.

We have plenty of green tomatoes, though, but my sister wants some, and I need to harvest the West India burr gherkins.

I plan to grow pure winter watermelons next year (and no other kinds), if I have and/or get seed, and let them cross:
* Navajo Winter
* Navajo Red
* Santo Domingo Winter
* Queen Winter
* King Winter
* Wintermelon
* King and Queen Winter
* Black-seeded Ice Cream
* Santo Domingo Brown Seeded
* Santo Domingo Dark Green
* Whichever ones I'm missing

I'm excited for the nectarine tree in the years to come.

[Shule]

The first batch of sweet peppers finished dehydrating (they took a while). Here's the resulting powder (in a quart jar):


upload pic

It tastes surprisingly sweet (I haven't done the Jimmy Nardello Italian peppers, yet), but not as flavorful as the mildly hot pepper powder from last year. It smells like good American Chinese food.

[Shule]

I added some of the sweet pepper powder to my macaroni and cheese. It added a nice roasted flavor to it. I dehydrated the peppers at 167° F., so that should explain the roasted taste.

[Shule]

I'm about to save a bunch of seeds. Here's a picture of the fruits I plan to use (I don't plan to save seeds from the green ones until they ripen, however):

Top row (left to right):
Mexican Yellow, MatinaBush_B, Terhune, Aunt Ginny's Purple

Bottom row (left to right):
Snacker_B, Snacker_B0 & Frittata Kitchen (B0), Morsel_A, Gallop_A, Nax_A

Yes, Terhune and Mexican Yellow are undersized, but it's what I've got currently. Note that Terhune was from a cutting, later in the season. It's had somewhat larger fruits, but not full-sized ones.

MatinaBush_B and Frittata Kitchen are smaller than they're capable of being, too.

[Shule]

Gallop_A is a volunteer (not sure which one, but it's near the caged Purple Calabash). It's a medium-large yellow/gold round prolific cherry that isn't sweet. I think it's related to Galapagos Island. Most of these are on the smaller end of the spectrum of its fruit size. They can get about as big as most Snacker_ tomato fruits get (quite a bit bigger than Galapagos Island).

[Shule]

Oh, I forgot to put Orange Jazz with the others. I plan to save seeds from at least three of these, and maybe others, too (these are the ripe ones we haven't eaten, yet):

[Mark_Thompson]

Those Orange Jazz look awesome

[Shule]

@Mark_Thompson
Thanks! It's one of my favorites, this year. It's kind of like Amana Orange, but later, with stripes, somewhat different flavor, and a calyx that if you pull out might pull out fibrous bits from the fruit. I ended up saving seeds from all five fruits. There weren't a lot of seeds.

Sorry the picture's so dark. My tablet camera could use a flash.

I got three containers (a large stainless steel bowl and two large pots) full of unripe Orange Jazz fruits at the end of the season.

[Shule]

The fan in my bedroom where I usually dry my seeds is making loud screeching sounds (and I have each kind in its own herbal tea bag, with a lot of seeds in some bags). So, I put them in the food dehydrator at a temperature that should have been safe. They dried out pretty fast. I didn't want to risk them molding.

[Shule]

I just finished powdering the second batch of sweet peppers. These (despite having fewer bell peppers than the previous batch) had a strong bell pepper taste, and were bitter! (But not an unpleasant bitter.) I dehydrated these on 145 degrees F., but they finished drying faster than the last batch even with the significantly lower temperature. I filled the rest of the jar, and then put the rest of the powder on top of (in the same jar as) the mildly hot pepper powder from last year (we're running out of space to put jars in the spice cabinet). I plan to dehydrate the hot peppers next week, and put the powder in with the jars of hot pepper powder that we already have.

[Julianna]

I have always wanted to get a dehydrator and pulverize various things. It looks so useful.

Your harvests are looking fantastic!

[Shule]

I love it.

I'm dehydrating the last batch of peppers from the garden this year now (on 140° F.); they're mostly mildly hot peppers. I have an Orange Jazz tomato with them to fill up the extra space.

Horseradish and my sunroot x sunflower F1 are next on the list to powder, but I might dehydrate tomatoes without powdering them in the meantime.

I want to do mint, sage, blackberry and rose leaves, too. Maybe I'll do those first.

[Shule]

The most recent sweet pepper powder sure is good on scrambled eggs.

[Julianna]

Are the blackberry and rose leaves for tea?

[Shule]

Are the blackberry and rose leaves for tea?

I didn't have a specific purpose in mind, yet, other than nutrition and flavor/scent, but blackberry leaf herbal tea is great. I've never tried it with powder. I wanted to try them for culinary purposes, I suppose.

[Julianna]

Are the blackberry and rose leaves for tea?

I didn't have a specific purpose in mind, yet, other than nutrition and flavor/scent, but blackberry leaf herbal tea is great. I've never tried it with powder. I wanted to try them for culinary purposes, I suppose.

I wasn't sure since I hadn't heard of using rose leaves. There is a rose -- Felicite et Perpetue-- and it has the most scented rose.leaves I have ever encountered. The whole climber smells of roses even when not in bloom and scents the garden.

[Shule]

Are the blackberry and rose leaves for tea?

I didn't have a specific purpose in mind, yet, other than nutrition and flavor/scent, but blackberry leaf herbal tea is great. I've never tried it with powder. I wanted to try them for culinary purposes, I suppose.

I wasn't sure since I hadn't heard of using rose leaves. There is a rose -- Felicite et Perpetue-- and it has the most scented rose.leaves I have ever encountered. The whole climber smells of roses even when not in bloom and scents the garden.

I recently found out that rose leaves are edible (as long as the plant isn't given anything harmful to humans). I ate some a few weeks ago, and they were delicious. I like to experiment and try new things. So, I may experiment in order to find out what I like the powder in.

[Julianna]

I recently found out that rose leaves are edible (as long as the plant isn't given anything harmful to humans). I ate some a few weeks ago, and they were delicious. I like to experiment and try new things. So, I may experiment in order to find out what I like the powder in.

What did they taste like?