I don’t know what’s being harvested in the rest of the world, but on my balcony here in Munich, bell pepper season is in full swing. Given that they live in pots, instead of out in the wild, each of our bell pepper plants had an important decision to make: size or quantity. Some plants, such as the one that produced the green peppers in the photo, went for size. Its peppers approached the dimensions of bell peppers one sees in the grocery store, but there were only three of them growing on the whole plant. Other plants, such as the one which grew these red peppers, shunned size and went for the numbers instead. A couple plants have as many as 12 peppers growing at once, but they are all midget-sized. No matter: all of them are tasty.
As of this weekend it has turned cold in Munich. While I am very excited about the arrival of autumn, I know that this means my balcony garden’s days are numbered. I suppose I could harvest the remaining green tomatoes (40 or so) now, before the plants die, and ripen them on the windowsill. The zucchini plants are still alive, but due to a stubborn white mildew seem to be done producing any zucchini. There are some carrots left to be picked, and several more peppers, but otherwise I guess the balcony meal ticket is about to come to an end. Now to figure out how to remove plants while salvaging the pots and soil. Anyone have any tips?
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Congrats on the pepper harvest! They look great! I never have much luck with bell peppers, but our jalapenos are trying to set records for quantity AND size. I might have to figure out how to make poppers.
As for salvaging the soil and pots… the pots are probably easy enough to save, but if you’re having fungus issues with the zucchini, it might be best to ditch the soil and get more next year. Soil in pots gets all dried out and nutrient-free over the course of the year anyway, so I’d recommend a fresh start. My two cents, which really isn’t worth much once you convert it to Euros.
Mmmmmm… jalapenos. Might have to try those for next year.
Excellent point – we probably should get rid of at least the tainted zucchini dirt, eh? What makes me want to salvage as much dirt as possible is remembering how difficult it was to schlep it all here – not an easy task when you don’t have a car and the nearest dirt store is a couple bus stops away. Perhaps we will have to hit up a vehicled friend for some help come next spring…
All in all, excellent input despite the exchange rate! Which incidentally has moved in your favor this week. Any idea why?
I don know that Srawberries are being cut right now in the Central Valley of California.
In addition, Roma tomatoes are still being shipped to Modesto and into the Tri-Valley canneries all over the place.
Those Bells sound great with fried green onion and garlic butter friend with fresh eggs, and topped with giant chunks of Gorgonzola….
Ciao!
Mmmmm… strawberries. Our strawberry plants put out in the middle of summer, but then decided they were done. These days they are busy growing leaves and runners instead of berries.
And an omelet sounds like a great use for some of these peppers!
I’m guessing the exchange rate improved (for us) because our trip to Vienna ended a couple weeks ago, and therefore there is no more need to charge US$9 for a slice of Sachertorte.
Ah, topic. Dirt. Maybe just dump the fungified soil and add some peat to the other pots. That might keep them all going for another season. I can understand not wanting to schlep bags of dirt on the bus and up stairs and stuff.
I knew there had to be a reason that wasn’t “Sarah Palin’s nomination increases consumer confidence in the dollar”.
Peat, OK. Will attempt to figure out the German word and acquire some. Thanks for the tip!
I think you should dump the dirt where you have annual vegetables: there is always a fungus/blight problem with tomatoes/peppers/zucchini and sterilize the pots with a bleach/water solution. For flower soil, add compost/fish tea/composted manure and some equivalent of mulch for the winter.
Thanks for the input, G. Not what I want to hear, but definitely stuff I need to know!
No tips on gardening…I definitely have a non-green thumb! However, I am very happy to hear that it’s getting cooler in Munich. Just 3 weeks away and I will be there!
fried green tomatoes, obviously. or you could make salsa verde. there are so many things to do with green tomatoes!
Lulu – if it stays like this, make sure you toss in a hat and gloves! It’s been quite nippy. I love it, but only when I’m dressed appropriately…
Caddy – so are green tomatoes really just unripe red tomatoes? I always thought they were a different breed or something.
yep, they’re really just unripe tomatoes. in the case of salsa verde, well, that’s probably actually made with tomatillos, which are totally different. so that could be where the confusion came in. but the fried green tomatoes of movie fame and of every other restaurant in atlanta (because you can’t have fancy southern cuisine without fancying-up some fgt’s, grits, deviled eggs and pimento chz – altho, one hopes, not in the same dish!) are really just unripe red (or yellow or pink or whatever heirloom one’s using) tomatoes.
Good to know! I might have to exercise my frying skills…