August report

Here are my Portuguese (top) and Jalapeno pepper plants (bottom). Not a bad crop but so far, they have not been very hot. Maybe if I wait until they turn red the will hotten.

Help! a blue jay is eating my eggshells

This year I am only growing jalapeño and Portuguese peppers. I'm getting a small crop, peppers are not too hot yet, but they are still green rather than red yet. When I eat eggs for breakfast I am grinding up the eggshells and pouring them on top of the soil.

The other day I noticed that the egg shells seemed to have disappeared from the plants. I thought they must be getting absorbed into the soil with all the rain we have had. Then I noticed a blue jay from my window. Closer inspections revealed it was eating the eggshells that I had scattered across the plants. Apparently they eat them for the calcium. Things I would never had noticed had I still went to work every day. 

2018 peppers and basil

And so I am growing basil and cayenne pepper on the porch after transferring them from inside. One pepper plant and one basil plant is starting to get big, no peppers or flowers yet, and a second pepper plant is starting to climb on the fence. Judging from prior years, August is the time when I should start seeing some results on the peppers.

December peppers

Instead of throwing the peppers out, this year I brought them inside. They don't make bad houseplants. The cayenne plant produced lots of peppers, the latter one never produced a pepper but it has pretty leaves.

End of September

This plant is finally growing up, hopefully I'll get some peppers before the frost.

The Shop Rite cayenne plant has produced lots of hot quality peppers. They are more squat than the ones I've raised before. Must be a different sub-species. 

Peppers and basil late August

So here we are on August 23. I added the basil plant, also bought at Shop-Rite, from a plastic bag in the produce department. Very healthy and a standard basil flavor, nothing weird here, no essence of cinnamon or pie crust. The cayenne is thriving, the peppers are starting to turn red and are hot. My other pepper plant is doing well. Need to cull a bit more, they may do well if it gets hot again.

So how are the peppers doing

Now it's August 3 and my cayenne plant is finally coming up with some peppers. Look, there's a red one! The second pot is showing some sprouts. These peppers did not have much luck on the windowsill a few months ago. Maybe they'll do better on the porch. I threw out the bag they came in and I forgot what they are called.