A few scenes from the garden, after surviving 40 straight days of 100+ weather. We had a short rainstorm to celebrate the end, and 5 days later, here are the results:
Tag: basil
A quick review of the July seedlings
The cover is off! The June-sowed seedlings are growing without the protection of their humidity dome. It has been nearly 3 weeks and most of the seeds have germinated. Only one Jupiter bell, one Thai chili, one banana pepper, and the salvia greggii failed to germinate. I’ve seen only one parsley seedling so far, barely out of the ground, but I’m not holding my breath on these seeds. Like the salvia greggii, I’m not even sure that they’re viable.
Since I doubled up on the Red Rubin basil and banana peppers, I’ll thin those out to separate pots soon. I also brought back indoors the last ornamental pepper seedlings that I attempted outside. It is joining its 5 other brethren in the bathroom greenhouse. Sadly, it appears only 2 are going to make it; the other 3 peppers probably won’t revive from the scorching exposure.
I’ve cleaned out the non-performing cuttings and still have a number of felicias left. I don’t think my oregano cutting is going to catch; I may have to run the community garden for another try.
Red basil, mint blooms and ripe chilis
The Red Rubin basil never did stay red for me. These days the leaves emerge green with red veining, but never fully color out. They have remained this way ever since I transferred them into starter soil, then placed outside during late spring. Could it have been stress-induced reversion? After reading some internet literature, I found out that the purple color in basil tends to be unstable and reversion back to green is typical. However, it still retains its characteristic basil scent when one draws close enough for a sniff.
The pineapple mint specimens are all blooming like crazy. I need to cut them back again…I’m concerned they might reseed heavily, like the coral nymph salvia which has jumped into the lawn.
Finally, the Thai chili peppers are ripening. The scarlet and orange chili fruit are very eye-catching. K reported that these were some spicy-hot chilis; he harvested one a couple of weeks ago from a specimen I gifted him.
July 4th colors
Check out the eggplant bloom. I’m hoping that it’s position underneath the gaura will entice pollinators to visit.
Behold the blue
Is it a Mum? An Aster? I found the blooms hiding underneath the faded Oertel’s Rose yarrow. They looked nearly identical to the scabiosa blooms just barely a foot away, but smaller–about the size of quarters.
We had quite a thunderstorm last night, with strong winds that broke tree limbs and scattered debris across our yards. Of course the storm dumped quite a bit of rain as well, which probably gave rise to some new blooms in the morning.
I sowed a new flat of peppers (Jupiter bells, Thai chilis, and banana), chives, parsley, and Red Rubin basil. This time, I’m using 3″ pots with MiracleGro garden soil for flowers and vegetables. I’ll be growing them under lights and clear cover in order to promote faster germination. By the time they are ready for transplanting, it should coincide with the proper planting time for peppers. Fingers crossed.