Every day our garden dies a little death

Each afternoon, after basking in the unrelenting Colorado sun all day, our pepper and tomato plants wilt under the intense heat. Each evening, after watering, the plants perk back up to make it to another morning.

I also trimmed the oregano, sage, and mint in addtion to the thyme. Here is the newly trimmed garden and the sage, thyme, and oregano (clockwise from left) laid out and prepped for drying:

The BEFORE and AFTER of the thyme trimming (note the purple flowers on the "before"):

Enjoyed some freshly-picked Fourth of July tomatoes on our hamburgers last night. Yum.

Growing, Harvesting & Using Culinary Herbs

Here's where I found out that we could treat the thyme the same way we did the oregano.
Thyme: Harvest by cutting it back to 2 inches above the ground in midsummer. (I will probably dry it then).
Sage: During the season, single leaves can be picked after the plant is 8 inches tall. End of season, cut whole stems down and dry. Beware of the leaves getting moldy during the drying process.
Basil: Leave 4-6 leaves above the ground when picking.

We used some fresh mint to make Honeydew Lime Smoothies this morning. The recipe is in the current (August 02, I believe) issue of Bon Apetit, but unfortunately there is no recipe posted yet on the site. So here it is, approximately:

Makes: One tall glass

1/3 c. fresh squeezed lime juice
1/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. cubed honeydew melon
1/2 c. plain yogurt
12 large mint leaves

Pour lime juice into ice cube tray in four equal parts. Freeze for at least 8 hours or overnight. (I know this sounds ridiculous, but it makes sense. There is no ice added to this smoothie, so you'll need the frozen lime juice cubes to help provide that ice consistency.)
Blend lime juice cubes and other four ingredients until smooth. Serve with lime wedge and mint sprig.

Different and yummy.

Here's the latest herb garden shot. Nothing much to report here. Other than I still don't have the info regarding harvest of the thyme and sage.

A couple of shots of the vegetable garden. The tomatoes and peppers are coming along nicely as you can see in the second shot:

Here's the deal on the sulphur powder and the pest control problems on the arugula. The bugs are still there, so are the holes (obviously). But the arugula is growing better than before (by this stage last month, we had lost the first planting due to the flea beetles). The sulphur seems to have helped control the pests, but not eliminate them. My theory is that it is hard to keep up with the dusting after the watering. Here is the current state of the arug. (note the smaller second row that we planted in front of the first row--re-plant):

Hey, it's past the Fourth of July and our Fourth of July tomatoes haven't borne fruit yet. What gives?

Progress Report - Herbs

Here's the current state of the herb garden--weeded, all herbs trimmed for dead foliage, mint trimmed way back as it grows like a weed, extra mint trimmings placed in pitcher of water in kitchen for aromatic purposes, first harvest of oregano dried, cleaned, and in a ziplock bag, second wave of oregano coming on strong, thyme growing like crazy, considering harvesting and drying now (like we did with the oregano), will research, sage and parsley coming along nicely, rosemary stuck in neutral, basil finally growing well:



Thyme and oregano:

Progress Report - Veggies

Here's the current state of the garden--weeded, tomatoes are being regularly pruned by myself and Mary, tomatoes have a lot of flowers and most have fruit, all peppers have flowers, first harvest of cilantro is in the fridge, second round of seeds in the ground, I planted a second row of arugula to help over-compensate for the pest problems, the left cucumber plant has many flowers on it, the right cucumber is finally growing:

After much research, here is my report on what is wrong with the arugula and tomato leaves (pinholes) and how to fix the problem:

1. The bugs doing the damage are, in fact, flea beetles.
2. Neem oil was suggested, but the horticulturalist at the Country Fair greenhouse said that dusting the leaves with Sulphur powder would be less expensive and easier on the environment. Organic and safe.
3. I have started dusting about every four days and have done so just twice.
4. No visible progress just yet.

Note the holes in the arugula leaves... to date:

We harvested the lone bell pepper (California Wonder) and enjoyed it in a salad the other night. Yummy. Some of the Super 100 tomatoes are ripening nicely (pics soon). And I have an update on our pest control issues that I will post later. Lots of research was done, and hopefully we have arrived at a suitable (organic) solution. Also, the oregano that we are drying is more than dry by now (it only took about a week in our hot garage--winter drying takes much longer). I will also update on the gathering of the dried leaves from the stalks this weekend.