Update 26 - 9624

Harvesting has Commenced in Earnest - Hope it Doesn't Get too Cold

Edit: 9824 1237 as I type this: Well NC State got their butts handed to them when the QB threw a “pick-6” to Tennessee player, and then the game was essentially over……oh well. I hope the team I cheer for does well today, but to be honest I don’t give a flip bout the NFL anymore.

The purpose of this edit is to ask a simple question:

How many tomatoes in this image:

How many?

My guess is over 200 or close to that, but some of them are bigger and some are smaller in scale.

What is your guess?

If I get a guess, and not kidding around about this - then we can count them up and the “winner” gets a bottle of pepper sauce to order.

How you like them apples!

Go Bills - but I don’t really care….

BK

ps - bonus question on this edit: how many seeds in the tomatoes?

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Back at the Getaway Place after a week or so, and as expected ripening is now happening broadly and tis time to finally “reap the harvest” of hard work and lots of planning and blessing from the soil and above I reckon. The next week or two will entail picking ripe fruit. Here is a sampling of what I picked yesterday:

The “ones” on the upper step (on the left) - I’ve set those aside to save their seeds - I’ll be doing this for many different tomatoes/peppers over the next few weeks - and that likely will be the focus of probably the final post for this Season of ‘24 - I’m also planning a post focusing on the hot peppa coming in - cause those peppers go a “long way” in sauce and I need to find another use being I’m just small-scale.

With that said, I’ve been experimenting with various pepper sauces lately and sending them out for some “taste-testing” and it is a joy to be able to share with friends, family, and neighbors this way. One of the best parts of doing this is I have utilized some jars of concentrate and other “vacuum-sealed” product that was just waiting for its purpose to be revealed. I try not to let anything go to waste, but sometimes it takes patience.

One set of the peppers in the image above I want to call to your attention - check these out:

My camera doesn’t really “catch the color proper” - but those three have a rather unusual hue - sort of “peachy-golden”…..I’m pretty sure they are definitively golden primotalii. I sampled a bit of one of them and it did not disappoint.

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Anyhow - hope all are well and here are the rest of the images:

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Carolina Reapers no doubt

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These are the “cayenne-jalapeño” hybrids I’ve been talking about since last year being I saved their momma for overwintering and I really am fond of them. They finally have begun to ripen - but I think it is fair to say they taste good when they are green as well - not too hot, but still a little spicy. My kinda eating peppa!

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The two images above show tomatoes and I point these out because in the top image is the 3rd Generation (or is it 4th?) of the heirloom tomato we’ve been growing since my wife and daughter purchased the initial tomato at the farmer’s market in Independence for $5 (ha, ha). Mixed in with the bigger tomatoes in the top image still is a type of tomato referred to as “Tommy-Toe” that I really wasn’t sure if any of the smaller saplings I started from seed had survived - but since this took in the soil it has been most productive and I’ll be saving seeds. In the bottom image is the most prolific cherry tomato I have ever had the pleasure of encountering - the picture does not do it justice - this thing is about seven feet tall and four feet in diameter and literally has had 100’s of cherry tomatoes - and to think - this plant came back in the garden on its own accord - I didn’t plant it - it sprouted from a seed that was buried from a tomato not eaten presumably last year and when I saw it there early in the season I decided to let it be - and my oh my - it has blessed us with bountiful cherry tomatoes that are so sweet - they sort of taste like candy!

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When you stick you head under the canopy of pepper leaves - there are so many down there! The images above give a sense of that.

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All of the pictures were taken yesterday - they all are from the “main garden” area, but I’m pleased to report the other garden area is also doing well with fruit ripening. This morning I mainly went to both areas and did some “weeding” and also tried to give each plant some dedicated space.

I know in the “off-season” one thing I’m going to have to explore is “soil-maintenance”, but so far in the few years I’ve been gardening here, the soil has just been magnificent. It is so fertile. I think the “peat moss” I added on whim earlier this season has been beneficial because I’ve read tomatoes and peppers prefer soil slightly acidic and this is what peat moss does - it came from Canada.

I betcha they didn’t have to pay the shipping costs I did for the bag of peat compared to the one lonely bottle of sauce I sent to an “internet friend” across the border up north!

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In making the various pepper sauces I’ve made the past few weeks I have used some jarred zucchini (vacuum sealed) from last year’s season, and next year I think I may have to grow that again. Wouldn’t mind having a section of onions as well and I sure hope the cilantro comes back on its own accord again.

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That’s it for this more detailed update - I suspect I will have two or three more in September, and then it will be time to start thinking about next season.

Peace!

BK, 9624 1017

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edit - I said I would do this and here is the image:

For the fun of it: