Deep Summer Frustrations

This time of year is a time of hiding in the AC, paddling in a lake or river, and throwing copious amounts of water on the vegetables i try to eek through the summer. Sadly, sometimes water just doesn't do the trick! Earlier in the year i was watering about once a week. As the temps increased i bumped it to twice. This week? it's been about 100 degrees every day with lows only in the high 70s: i've been watering every other day!  Granted - i have really crappy, old, not-very-well-functioning soaker hoses in my gardens. One day i'll have a more permanent setup that works more efficiently.

Wilty habanero. Perks back in the mornings usually, but hates the afternoon.

I seem to be having a problem with peppers this year. A pepper problem. My cayenne curse continues - the 'not cayenne' plant that was supposed to be a cayenne plant just bit the dust. Rot? Wilt? General malaise? In one day it went from productive perky pepper to sad wilted dead pepper. I plucked off the remaining fruits and pulled it up - sure enough the roots were not extensive, and the stem at the soil line showed a bit of black with a hollow/chalky/rotty looking center. I'm not positive what ailed it - but i am praying whatever IT was IT doesn't spread to my other happy peppers. My habanero is closest in the bed, and hasn't even close come to fulfilling my habanero hankering - so it better not bite the dust!

In my other circular bed, more malaise. My big thai pepper which has yet to bear a single fruit is perpetually wilty. Just today the delicious Mucho Nacho Jalapeno started to show signs of wilt as well. It may be 103 outside, but those peppers should perk back in the morning regardless of water. I probed the soil and came up with 'wet' so no more watering from me - too much water is just as bad or worse as too little. Nasty diseases like the moist environment and spread more quickly, and rot is eager to grab its hold. Not 2 days after that initial crash, the jalapeno is a goner. Again - picked the fruits off the dying plant and pulled it up. Wah!

Sad Mucho Nacho Jalapeno, or is it a Concho - need to check my labels

I took a bit of a laison fair attitude (no idea how to spell that, by the way) to my garden this year. I guess it's getting back at me. I'm not one to folior feed often with seaweed or anything else. I fertilize at planting. I fertilize at flower. I fertilizer every month or so - but i don't overly coddle my plants: perhaps i should.  I read about certain treatments you can baby your veggies with in the hot summer. I guess i'd better employ a few of those, starting with compost tea. Compost: the cure all! I may make my own or purchase a gallon from the Natural Gardener, i still have my gallon bucket from my employee-discount days  somewhere.

So, say a little prayer for my pepper friends. I'm not about to give up on them yet! At least the 3 new little transplants i put in the other garden seem to be chugging along.
For now.

What do you do for your garden in the Summer heat?

(ps, i'm so jealous of all of you in prime tomato season! I just can't stand this August 'too hot to even go out and turn the compost much less flower and set fruit' weather!)

Wholesome Wednesdays: Capsicum!

Jalapenos, serranos, poblanos OH MY! I love me some hot peppers. My baby loves him some hot peppers. My parents ---- nope, they can't take the heat so i have to cook 'gringo style' when they're around. The rest of the time: my recipes are loaded up with garlic, onions, and of course HOT PEPPERS!

 Note: The curse of the cayenne continues! This is the plant i bought to replace my wilted cayenne. Notice anything un-cayenney about it? Everything! At least they're spicy - they ripen to orange and have good heat. Anyone have any idea what type of pepper this is?

Peppers (bell and hot) are part of the nighshade family that contains tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes and a few others. When gardening, try and rotate these crops biannually, not planting nightshades in the same place for 2 years. How i wish i could: my garden is quite small and although i can move planting locations by a few feet, i rarely get a good rotation. One day, one day........    I lost a lot of tomatoes and a habanero to some kind of wilt last year and my Rutgers succumbed to what i'm pretty sure is Fusarium Wilt this year. With careful watering (too wet promotes nasty bacteria and rot) and better drainage (planted in raised beds, pots, and near the edges of my large garden) most the plants seem to be faring alright.

One more gardening tip and a note on arthritis: if you like your peppers hot and mean, you need to be mean to them. You may see your plants withering in the hot afternoon sun - don't water! Let them suffer! If, however, they're still wilted and sad the next morning - take pity on them and water - a good DEEP water. Then hold off for a while. I water my peppers about once or twice a week - my whole garden except the cukes get the same treatment - but the peppers i'm especially mean to. If you expose the plants to some stress, you'll get hotter peppers. Peppers are also hungry beasts, so give them plenty of organic fertilizer, especially at bloom set -not too much nitrogen or you'll get pretty plants with no peppers, pick a fertilizer like Flower Power or Buds and Blooms to promote fruit set.

Nightshades and Arthritis: Many people who already suffer arthritis will find their aches made worse after eating members of the nightshade family. But don't resign yourself to a life without tomatoes and peppers! Their benefits, including delicious flavor, are too numerous. Instead, consider preparing your nightshades without their skins. This isn't quite as easy with tomatoes (though when cooking down simply place the whole or halved tomato in the pot and heat until the skin is easily removed, then blend for a sauce or puree) but peppers can be skinned quite easily. Simply roast the pepper and wipe off the skin. This can be done in an oven, directly on a gas stove burner, or outside on the grill. Turn the pepper occasionally to blacken all of the skin, place pepper in a paper bag until cooled then simply wipe the skin right off - easy as pie! and easy on the joints.

Finally - the nutritional content of peppers. I have long known that hot peppers are great for the metabolism, heart health, and wink wink - the libido. Here's what else they have in store for our health:

Read this great article on the many health benefits of hot peppers and the Capsaicin that makes them spicy. Here are some quotes i found most interesting:

Capsaicin, the hot pepper’s natural heat-causing component, has been proven to kill cancer cells, prevent sinus infections, serve as an anti-inflammatory agent, provide gastric relief and produce fat oxidation.

It retains the unique ability to provoke prostate cancer cell suicide, repress joint pain, block pro-inflammatory chain reactions in the blood and reduce nerve fiber swelling in the brain.

Look at all this vitamin C:

Sugar, shmugar. I had a hard time searching for 'hot peppers' in general, so this screen shot may not be totally accurate, and i'm sure not all peppers from serranos to habaneros are alike. But i say here yee here yee to hot peppers in every meal!

I ground up some jalapenos into a delicious sauce last night, as you can see we liked it a lot and there's not much left. I will be developing my own 'secret recipe' of this sauce so i apologize for no details. If you're local - check out Taco Deli's green sauce. It is delicious, but beware of heart burn. I hope to perfect my own variation over the course of the summer.

Tamale Pie

It is about to snow, the bell pepper has been harvested and turned into a green snow deflector for the other viable plants, jalapenos harvested, poblanos harvested, and an attempt at baking tamale pie is at hand.I've never made this before, so we'll see how it goes.
The recipe is not exact as i just threw together what i had in the garden, but this is an approximation of such.

• 2 roma tomatoes, chopped with liquid set aside for corn meal misture
• several bell peppers, about a cup
• 2 jalapenos, one with seeds removed
• about 1 or 2 poblanos (mine are sillysmall)
• cumin
• salt
• pepper
• garlic, 3 cloves chopped
• cilantro to taste
• one onion chopped
• some cheese
• one egg
• 1 can black beans, drained
  

crust:

• 2/3 cup corn meal
• teaspoon salt
• one smaaaal habanero finely diced
• 2 cups cold water
• drizzle honey
• forgot to add the 1 tablespoon olive oil, woops!

Saute the filling stuff until soft, add can of beans, set aside and later add some cheese, mix in. I added an egg for extra protein.
Meanwhile put the water and cornmeal mixture in a pot and heat over medium until thick, stirring like crazy. Took about 10 minutes total. You are supposed to add some butter, i was going to use olive oil but forgot - so we'll see. Added some honey instead of sugar. Mix mix mix until the mixture is thick. Not sure if i got it thick "enough" but it seemed good and pastey.
Line a greased pan with half the cornmeal, add the filling, add more cornmeal. About 5 minutes pre eating time add some cheese to the top if you want.
375 degrees, 45 minutes.

Was pretty tasty, texture a but "mushy" might just make cornbread to go along with the sauteed "filling" next time. Also not nearly as spicy as i thought it would be.
Served with Coleslaw.