Rog wrote:That'll do? I'm not ready to agree with your assessment.Good Call, Rog. Neither is the Rosemary Fairy. I found this a few minutes ago when I went to check on the plants:I was glad to find this, as I was thinking for a few days that I should really go find Rosemary somewhere.Hungarian Lightning PeppersRog wrote:Is this an excercise from BRW's WOD list?Not this time, it's what the people at the Kilbourn Park seedling sale called it.Kevin - I don't have any cilantro back there yet. I may add some, as Old Man Parsley is not taking to the great outdoors very well, I may go for another couple-a seedlings this weekend. Plus I just heard the Logan Square market is happening this year after all, and they usually have fun garden-y stuff to look at/buy.

spacebar wrote:Rog wrote:That'll do? I'm not ready to agree with your assessment.Good Call, Rog. Neither is the Rosemary Fairy. I found this a few minutes ago went to check on the plants...Albini Claus?

Up until last week, there hasn t been a lot of major growth in the garden. Most of the notable changes back there have been a mixture of nature and random passers-by crapping on the garden in one form or another. No dog poo yet, but something ate all of the leaves off of the Hungarian pepper seedling. Then, the Rosemary tree (which Steve so nicely acquired and planted) just died. The amount of water and sun were the same as last year, and it was quite healthy for about a week. Then it just turned brown. This made us all very sad, so I went to the Logan Square market and found replacements. So, with a new Hungarian Wax Pepper and a new Rosemary (and while I was out I grabbed a Chili Pepper seedling), we re back to normal.So that s the first round of garden œissues .Round two: that big hail storm a few weeks ago. Strangely, the hail missed the block I live on, but seemed to throw down all over the rest of the city, including the studio. A handful of plants looked a little rough, but the jalapeno really took a beating by the hail. By the time I got a look at it, there were maybe two leaves left. But it s starting to re-grow, so I think the jalapenos will survive (picture below):Round three: WTF with this sand in the garden? I mean, I don't know how it got there, but there it is. I picked up a handful to examine it. I was itchy for a day-and-a-half, so it doesn t seem like something I want to keep there. It seems to be this weird fiber-glassy probably bad-for-a-garden sand. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised when something like this ends up in the garden. But I am.Progress in a moment. First, please enjoy this picture of Basil gone wild (mint is in the far back, oregano has the orange flag, everything else is basil):Last year, one or two little basils sprouted up from the garden all by themselves. This year, there are probably a dozen little basil bushes throughout the garden. It s not like we need that much basil, but I think it s so cool it keeps growing all by itself year after year. So many basils!The pepper plants are all starting to blossom, and that means real peppers soon. I can t wait. Onions, Parsley, Sage, New Rosemary, Oregano, they re all noticeably bigger now. And everything seems to be healthy (well, the broad-leaf basil seems to get wilty, but I m trying to keep it hydrated more frequently). And again, there s basil-a-plenty. I can t put my finger on exactly why, but I think basil growing itself is rad as hell.Some various pics from yesterday below:(onion above)(parsley above)(rosemary above)(basil above)(oregano and wild basil above)(tarragon and wild basil above)(mini bell pepper and WTF sand above)Oh, and I pulled a huge pile of weeds - these populated the garden in a single week:

spacebar wrote:Somebody snathced my prized pumpkin from the garden last night.I am out for blood.Dude, call me on the Batphone. That's the kind of important shit I got into this line of work for.

Re: The setbacks - Keep fighting the good fight, JSP.the Rosemary tree (which Steve so nicely acquired and planted)Am I G.D. psychic or what?

chad wrote:Dude, call me on the Batphone. That's the kind of important shit I got into this line of work for.Thanks, Chad! If you're in the neighborhood, please help yourself to garden goodness - I'm carrying on thanks to your previous efforts - hope I'm keeping it going appropriately.Also, the peppers are beginning to grow.Mini Bell PeppersThai Hot PeppersChili PeppersThat is all.

Next year someone should build a raised bed for the garden. It would make it look a whole lot better and wouldn't require a whole lot of money/effort. It would get the plants up off of the ground which would reduce the risk of being trampled, eaten by vermin, and/or pissed on by bums. Also, since the plants would be higher, you wouldn't have to bend over as much (no more achy back!). Raised beds also allow you to plant earlier. It would also be a good idea to take a pictures on a clear day every three hours to see which parts of the space get the most light. That way you can plant accordingly.

Frank R. wrote:Next year someone should build a raised bed for the garden. It would make it look a whole lot better and wouldn't require a whole lot of money/effort. It would get the plants up off of the ground which would reduce the risk of being trampled, eaten by vermin, and/or pissed on by bums. Also, since the plants would be higher, you wouldn't have to bend over as much (no more achy back!). Raised beds also allow you to plant earlier. That's a great idea, but it can't be done because that space (which is also the only space that would work on the property) is between two driveways. Part of the challenge is being able to allow door clearance from either side. A raised bed would mean cranky people.Frank R. wrote:It would also be a good idea to take a pictures on a clear day every three hours to see which parts of the space get the most light. That way you can plant accordingly.I'll have to give that a try. As for now, the stuff I'm planting has been doing ok, but I'm always up to improve things.Speaking of "clear days", every time I've been by to take pictures for update purposes it's been night or rainy. That or I'll water them and forget to take pictures altogether. 'Scuze me for the delay!Feast your eyes on these, the best this garden has been to date:Basil is out of control, but I'm fine with it. I transplanted as many as I could, but they're growing faster than I can pinch them back. I had to uproot one on Monday just so it wouldn't impede the growth of Mr. Oregano. I plucked and froze the leaves, even if it's not same-day fresh it beats anything off of the Jewel spice rack.Below is the mini Bell Pepper plant. Look carefully and you'll see some have turned red. Lookit! So many mini Bell Peppers!Ok, here's a red one:No red jalapeños yet, but they're in excellent shape considering there existed only a branch and change once:These should stay yellow, I think, so I'm just picking the ones that look like they'll explode if I don't:In between the basil and the basil lie the Thai Hot Peppers. Most are green. Red means "pick 'em already!", and steve enjoys the flavor most when they're dark purple (somewhere in the middle of green and red), so I'm trying to get as many as I can in that phase. The trick is they're not that shade for long, but also there are a bazillion of them so there's usually a handful prime for purple pickin'.Speaking of peppers, I hope to pickle these again this year, but I'm going to wait another several weeks. It's basically what I do at the last minute to make sure none of the peppers go to waste.Mint and basil! Look at all that Mint and Basil! ...also there's tarragon and oregano in there somewhere. They are doing well, just chillin' in the shade of ALL THAT BASIL.Rosemary and Parsley do look a little droopy, but mainly it's because I took the pictures mid-day. At about 6:00 they'll perk right back up.Oh here's the oregano:And also the tarragon. Also note somebody stepped on some of the garden. Fortunately it was on the BASIL.This onion is giving me the horns. Metallist onion ever:Chili Peppers! One is almost red:And a quick few pics of what I picked today. Best. Garden. Ever. (here).

Harvest Day, 2011:Steve and I cleared out the garden today. Harvested everything but the onion (which will prove useful soon enough for something I'm sure) for various food projects. And there's STILL a mountain of mint, basil and peppers left to be had over the next several weeks. Feels pretty good I must say.Steve has been working on this flavor-packed, spicy olive oil all afternoon:I didn't ask him about portions and I didn't retain really anything about cooking time, etc., but what it translated to was a half-of-a-sink full of herbs and spices swimming in many gallons of olive oil. First to boil, cool, and later be bottled for more kitchen mad science I'm sure. I don't have a fancy food nose, but I enjoyed the smell last time I walked through the studio kitchen.Parsley had his curtain call today - most of it was used in the above project. This year was the first that parsley we grew had any root larger than a medium sized marble. This can later be cooked:I pickled these dudes today:Intern Charlie and I pickled last year, and I may pickle more, but for now these peppers have been picked and my options were to either eat them or start a contest with someone else on staff to see who could eat more. Here's my recipe (I looked it up last year on youtube and a few blogs. Charlie and I later refined it after some playing around):5 Cups of vinegar (last year it was apple cider vinegar, this year it was plain-old distilled - just keep its acidity at 5%)1 Cup of Water2 Tablespoons of sugar2 Tablespoons of fancy sea salt (canning or kosher is supposed to be fine, just not table salt)1 Tablespoon of black pepper corn2 Cloves of garlicMason/Ball/Kerr jars with lids. 1. Add the above, bring to boil while stirring occasionally.2. Heat up your mason jars so there's no thermal shock. (last year I dunked them in a big pot of water and kept the heater on medium for 30 minutes prior to canning. This year I ran them in the dishwasher with no detergent with a hot dry, and put 170 degree water in the sink and dunked them in there.) THEY WILL BE HOT, BE CAREFUL HANDLING THEM. TONGS OR A LONG SPOON SHOULD WORK TO MOVE THEM AROUND WITHOUT HAVING TO TOUCH THEM.3. Wash your peppers4. Cut 2 or 3 slits into each pepper (helps the brine get inside the pepper). Mine have been 1/2 inch to 1 inch in length. Doesn't need to be exact.5. Stuff the peppers into the jar(s).6. After the brine has boiled, fish out the pepper corn with a strainer or spoon.7. Carefully pour brine into the pepper jars (I just ladle the brine in, and I usually fill the ladle then wait for a minute or two just to cool the brine a little. It is still steaming, though). Leave 1/2 inch or a little more of room in the jar for air.7.5. Add 1 teaspoon of pepper corn to each jar if you are so inclined. 8.Once you can handle the jars (I use an oven mitt or a towel for a buffer between the jars and my hands) stick the lid on top and screw the top on tightly. (I usually flip and shake the jars a few times to make sure they are sealed.That's it. I used two batches of this and it was plenty for two jars. Last year I used one batch and it got me to about 1.5 of the bigger jars.Here are the peppers now:They will sink in a day or two after the insides of the peppers have absorbed the brine.

Not quite All Systems Go yet, so far it's been pulling a few weeds here and there. At present there are way too many, and it's rainy/muddy out there, so I'm going to wait a couple of days until this off-and-on rain/storm business has cleared. There's a big seedling sale (well, seedlings=little, amount of seedlings=big) at Kilbourn Park in a few weeks (I think 2 weeks?), where I will stock up on most everything I need. What they don't have I'll pick up at either a farmers' market or anywhere else I can find them. I still like the idea of growing things from seed, but most didn't survive before when I transplanted them. So I will adopt.I bought twine and little stakes - going to try and measure out spots where each plant will grow. Seems that in the past I haven't improved my eyeballing skills. No expansion, but the condo people on the other side of the building have started back up after their 2 or 3 year lunch break. Hopefully there's no increase of people stealing from/pissing on my crop.So yeah, nothing exciting yet. Activity soon. . .