Slept suuuper well after yesterday’s hard work and my hand is blissfully okay. My thoroughly under-exercised muscles were whining from DOMS so I’ve pottered a bit on the balcony (sans any sun protection which was incredibly dumb).
garden rambling!
Did a quarter arsed job trussing up the ignored volunteer tomato plant that’s been flopping and breaking everywhere; it’s been producing anyway so I’ll take what I can get with minimal input besides season and Charlie carp.
The copper tape seems to be working as I see the snails moved on to another untaped pot. (and I found one inside the head of my watering can when I noticed the flow was blocked. Ewww.) That pot is now taped.
Keen to see my sunflowers all actually thrive this time. And the borlotti beans that I sowed on a whim earlier this month… they are alarmingly vigorous.
If this tape really does work fully I might even have a go at late season bush beans again. Maybe I’ll even have another go at beetroot once the basil is all done?
.
by the way, remember the near dead scotch bonnet chilli and salvia?
Check out how lush they are now! Okay, the chilli is a bit TOO lush but there’s little flower buds hidden in there so I might yet get some fruit.
I also finally harvested all the chillis off the balcony after forgetting about them a bit too long. (The manzanos in the box were harvested 3 weeks ago and kept in the fridge and need to be used asap.)
chillis chillis chillis
I think I’ll do another nice chilli and garlic paste for the manzanos and freeze em. They are hot but mellow out with cooking and are very flavourful.
The hot Thai chillis OTOH stay mouth-punchingly hot even after cooking. What should I do with them?! Any ideas? One full sized chilli is enough for a stock pot worth of stew. The plant is very productive - last season I just chucked most of them.
I think I’ll freeze the small ones as is, but the bigger ones… Get the gloves out and deseed them before making a chilli paste to freeze, maybe?
Lasts forever in the fridge. Still rocking some from 3 yrs ago and no botulism yet.
OR
Chilli powder. I usually just cut them in half chuck them skin side down on baking paper. In the oven (middle rack) @ 60-70 degrees for 5+ hours keeping the oven door open a bit with a wooden spoon then blend.
Mine started flowering in like late October so they’ve been very happy aside from the brief interlude of neglect. I think it’s the northeast facing aspect and being (relatively) sheltered from wind, the chillos are always wat ahead on my balcony. There’s more flowers appearing on the manzano and a few buds on the Thai, which is crazy… would be nice to get some late autumn chillos if possible.
Anyways. Hot sauce!!! I have been scared of doing it because I’ve never fermented anything in my life. I’ve considered sauce cos I have this delicious bottle of homemade rocoto sauce from a friend, but I’m not a huge hot sauce user and I’m going through it slowly…
Maybe I’ll do half (deseeded) as a paste with ginger and garlic, and half as a small bottle of sauce, blended with some milder chillos to round it out…
I also got a banging rempah receipe from a cousin but I’ll need to get some dried shrimp 🤔
Nice. None of my chilis, capsicum, tomatoes etc. are actually ripening - plenty of green fruit, but that’s it. I planted a few borlotti beans this year and noticed the first pod on one of the plants, they are nice and decorative.
Hopefully, if they don’t ripen at some point I will have to make a lot of green tomato pickles! I have tons of green tomatoes, and lots of green chillis too, but nothing is ripening ☹️
Slept suuuper well after yesterday’s hard work and my hand is blissfully okay. My thoroughly under-exercised muscles were whining from DOMS so I’ve pottered a bit on the balcony (sans any sun protection which was incredibly dumb).
garden rambling!
Did a quarter arsed job trussing up the ignored volunteer tomato plant that’s been flopping and breaking everywhere; it’s been producing anyway so I’ll take what I can get with minimal input besides season and Charlie carp.
The copper tape seems to be working as I see the snails moved on to another untaped pot. (and I found one inside the head of my watering can when I noticed the flow was blocked. Ewww.) That pot is now taped.
Keen to see my sunflowers all actually thrive this time. And the borlotti beans that I sowed on a whim earlier this month… they are alarmingly vigorous.
If this tape really does work fully I might even have a go at late season bush beans again. Maybe I’ll even have another go at beetroot once the basil is all done?
.
by the way, remember the near dead scotch bonnet chilli and salvia?
Check out how lush they are now! Okay, the chilli is a bit TOO lush but there’s little flower buds hidden in there so I might yet get some fruit.
([Here’s what it was like 3.5 weeks ago)
The salvia is happier recovering in the shade. I’ll move it back out when it cools down.
(baby shoots 3.5 weeks ago)
.
I also finally harvested all the chillis off the balcony after forgetting about them a bit too long. (The manzanos in the box were harvested 3 weeks ago and kept in the fridge and need to be used asap.)
chillis chillis chillis
I think I’ll do another nice chilli and garlic paste for the manzanos and freeze em. They are hot but mellow out with cooking and are very flavourful.
The hot Thai chillis OTOH stay mouth-punchingly hot even after cooking. What should I do with them?! Any ideas? One full sized chilli is enough for a stock pot worth of stew. The plant is very productive - last season I just chucked most of them.
I think I’ll freeze the small ones as is, but the bigger ones… Get the gloves out and deseed them before making a chilli paste to freeze, maybe?
Hot sauce!
https://www.feastingathome.com/fermented-hot-sauce-simple-and-delicious/
Lasts forever in the fridge. Still rocking some from 3 yrs ago and no botulism yet.
OR
Chilli powder. I usually just cut them in half chuck them skin side down on baking paper. In the oven (middle rack) @ 60-70 degrees for 5+ hours keeping the oven door open a bit with a wooden spoon then blend.
OR
Chilli salt.
edit: nice haul though! mine aren’t nearly ripe yet :(
Mine started flowering in like late October so they’ve been very happy aside from the brief interlude of neglect. I think it’s the northeast facing aspect and being (relatively) sheltered from wind, the chillos are always wat ahead on my balcony. There’s more flowers appearing on the manzano and a few buds on the Thai, which is crazy… would be nice to get some late autumn chillos if possible.
Anyways. Hot sauce!!! I have been scared of doing it because I’ve never fermented anything in my life. I’ve considered sauce cos I have this delicious bottle of homemade rocoto sauce from a friend, but I’m not a huge hot sauce user and I’m going through it slowly…
Maybe I’ll do half (deseeded) as a paste with ginger and garlic, and half as a small bottle of sauce, blended with some milder chillos to round it out…
I also got a banging rempah receipe from a cousin but I’ll need to get some dried shrimp 🤔
Nice. None of my chilis, capsicum, tomatoes etc. are actually ripening - plenty of green fruit, but that’s it. I planted a few borlotti beans this year and noticed the first pod on one of the plants, they are nice and decorative.
Hopefully this week’s sun will tip them over into getting nice and ripe. The tomatoes only started ripening about last week.
The chillis have been ripening through Dec and Jan, they’re bonkers.
Hopefully, if they don’t ripen at some point I will have to make a lot of green tomato pickles! I have tons of green tomatoes, and lots of green chillis too, but nothing is ripening ☹️
If you’re making green tomato pickles I’ll gladly take some off your hands ;)
And I’ll take the green chillis - so good for salsas and in Indian cooking.
I want the Jalapenos to ripen so I can make chipotle.