Recycled potting soil versus new potting soil

I started a little experiment to test whether recycled potting soil with cow manure and fertilizer performs differently than fresh potting soil. I bought two jalapeno pepper plants and put them in the same 3 gallon container. Here are pictures of the jalapenos at different stages.

Center is fresh potting soil, right is recycled potting soil

How they are today. Left is fresh and right is recycled soil

The heat has been destroying many of my vegetable plants on the balcony but jalapenos have thrived. The plants are doing so well with many fruits. I am very happy to see that both plants are doing well. There is no difference in the size of the plants and in the number of fruits (although in the final picture the plant in the fresh potting soil looks a little bushier, but from different angles there is no discernible difference). I think I have enough jalapenos to make one jar of pickled jalapeno and maybe one jalapeno jelly.

Jalapenos up-close

Two of the fruits had a little bit of sun damage but the others were protected by the foliage. 

Jalapenos with sun damage

On a completely different note, I want to leave a message for Wendy over at greenish thumb. I hope your site is OK and you can figure out the malware issue. I am a total computer dud so I don't know how I can help...but I love your blog so I'm hoping that it'll be cleared soon! 

Spacing and plant health

The kale and beets are growing steadily, but I think I may have overcrowded the container. With the kale, it is clear that the container with fewer plants is doing better. I want to thin out the crowded container, but rather than pulling the plants I plan to transplant them to another container. I am fresh out of containers, so I will either have to go buy more or use smaller containers and plant one per pot. Unlike the kale, the beets in the smaller container (presumably with less root space) is doing better than the larger container. The spacing is about the same and I also used the same soil so I don't know what's going on.

Container on the left is a ~3 gallon container and the right a ~5 gallon container.
The beets were started and transplanted at the same time but the plants are larger in the smaller container.

I also transplanted 2 mild jalapeno starter plants into self-watering containers (3 gallon) I found at Lowes. This is about the same size as the 13" Mainstay self-watering container I buy at Walmart. They are about the same price but I think the Mainstay container is better quality. Anyway, I've started a little experiment with the jalapeno plants. In one container (the middle) I used 100% new potting soil, and in the other I used recycled soil with fertilizer and cow manure.  It'll be interesting to see if there are difference between the two.

The grey containers are the new from Lowes. The white one is the Mainstay container that I have been using.
The middle container I used fresh potting soil. I used recycled soil in the container on the far right.

I have spotted some aphids on the pak choy plant from last season that is beginning to seed. The aphids are attracting ladybugs! 

I also spotted the first set of flowers on the bush early girl plant this weekend. I am a little concerned that it is too early to leave the tomato and jalapeno plants outside, but it has been quite warm so hopefully all the plants will thrive.

Bush Early Girl flowers

Fall garden update

A quick update of the surviving plants @ charm city garden. I'm already thinking of next year's garden. The last ichiban eggplant. I'm letting it grow so that I can collect the seeds.

Red romaine is growing, one plant is starting to bolt. The lettuce itself is quite bitter but still pretty good.

Red Romaine Lettuce

I have 2 containers of bok choy. These are very good in stir fry. Next to the bok choy, I also have a container of romaine lettuce that I probably started too late because it is not growing very big.

Bok Choy and romaine lettuce (back)

Bok Choy

I have 2 containers of chinese kale...to be honest I don't know how big they are supposed to get. I should probably just harvest them and some point.

Two container of Chinese kale

The chinese pepper plant is getting bushy and still producing fruit.

Super bushy Chinese Giant pepper

Chinese pepper of varying size

The supersweet tomato still has many green tomatoes but I think it is too cold for it to ripen.

Both the jalapeno and thai pepper is starting to yellow but still has many peppers. The pickled peppers is so delicious! I definitely will make more pickled jalapeno with the remaining peppers. I'm not so sure what to do with all the thai peppers...

This plant fell over after the storm, so now is supported

The jalapeno is starting to turn red

Thai red pepper - so many peppers still!

Thai red pepper

Harvest Monday - August 15, 2011

It rained over the weekend and some of the tomatoes were starting to split so I quickly picked all the ripe tomatoes.

from left: Homestead, early girl 50, supersweet 100 (including the tiny tiny ones on the far right)

I think I will have a couple more harvest of tomatoes but most of the plants look like they are nearing the end. The supersweet 100 definitely do better in full sun - you can clearly see the difference in the size of the tomatoes from the plant growing on the balcony versus the plant up front in the shade. The taste of the tomatoes from the balcony is also better than the ones from the front of the house.
     Here are the first set of not so giant, Giant chinese sweet peppers. They are small but they are beautifully red.

The hot peppers (thai and jalapenos) are still going strong. I'm not sure if the jalapenos will produce more peppers after this harvest. But I'm really happy that I discovered pickled jalapeno. I'm really liking the salad dressing made using the jalapeno-infused vinegar.

I also had a small harvest of eggplants. So I used some tomatoes and thyme from the garden to make some pasta sauce.

Fairy tale, gretel, ichiban eggplants, thyme and early girl 50s

The gretel and fairytale eggplants just get very mushy. I have yet to discover the best way to use them....maybe fried. But unfortunately, I probably will not get any more harvest this year.
     I also made some oven-dried tomatoes using supersweet 100s.

I definitely over-dried them, but the ones that dried just right taste wonderful. I'm going to try to make one more batch.

I'm linking to Daphne's Harvest Monday and Wendy's garden to table challenge! Thank you both for hosting every week:)

Tomatoes all tangled up!

I think the early girl 50 plant is on its last leg. There are still a bunch of green tomatoes - hopefully they will  ripen before the plant dies.

I've been having some problems keeping the tomatoes from falling over. I've been using bamboo sticks to prop them up but as the plants get bigger the weight is too much. I've been adding more bamboo sticks and tying them together every which way.

I have exactly 4 homestead tomatoes growing on one plant and 1 on the other. They are ripening which is great! I don't have much hope for more homstead tomatoes on the balcony. I have one plant in the front of the house that has more fruits so hopefully that will give me some harvest.

Supersweet 100 on left and homestead with 4 tomatoes on right

The thai peppers are getting red. The stinky bugs seem to like this plant. Besides the fact that they are nasty they aren't doing any visible harm to the peppers (which by the way are SUPER HOT). I think they like it because the plant is bushy and they and they can keep out of direct sunlight. I'm getting may red beautiful pepper and I have no idea what to do with them...

The jalapeno plant is amazing. It is still making tiny jalapenoes. Maybe I'll try making poppers as Ben suggested in my previous post. Another thought is to make some base for curry.

The chinese peppers are doing well in the shade. There are about 4-5 peppers in each plant (I have 3 plants). Next year I would like to grow a variety that produces more fruit. But I'm still looking forward to eating these peppers:)

Pickled jalapeno peppers

I harvested many jalapenos peppers, more than I could use up so I made pickled jalapeno. This is my first time canning anything. I had one 'real' canning jar and 2 recylced salsa and jam jar. I used apple cider vinegar and a couple of sprigs of thyme from the garden. The jalapenos are now hot, very hot. I used too much vinegar so I made one jar of jalapeno vinegar. I used this for salad dressing and it was really good. I wasn't sure if the recycled bottles would seal, but it did. I'll use these bottles first.

The jalapeno plant is now making smaller peppers. I'll have to think of another way to use it.
         I wanted to post a picture of my miniature sunflower that finally bloomed. I love it, it brightens up the "back" garden.

 Linking up to Wendy's blog for the garden to table challenge.

July 18, 2011 - Harvest Monday

The basil was starting to flower and needed trimming to make pesto. The sweet and purple basil pesto tasted pretty much the same - the purple may be a little milder than the sweet basil.

Some of the thai peppers are turning red - and it looks like many more will be turning red too. I'm not sure what I want to do with them, so I will have to do some research.   The jalapenos also looked like they were starting to turning red too. There was definitely some stink bug damage on the jalapenos. I'm thinking of making pickled jalapenos.

I was also able to harvest some eggplants. I'm thinking of grilling them tonight.

The early girl 50 tomatoes are getting really sweet. They make a great side salad!

Linking to Daphne blog for Harvest Monday!

July 4, 2011 - Harvest Monday

Happy July 4th! I hope the weather holds up so I can go see the fireworks! But the sky is looking like it wants to rain.

In the garden I've been getting some more early girls which is very exciting! The summer squash continues to produce, but I have to pick them small since there were no male flowers blooming (I finally saw one today).

The jalapenos now have a little kick to them. I like them sweet, but spicy is delicious too! I see some salsa in the future!

I want to restart some dill since the first batch was starting to get brown. I thought they would get bigger and bushier. Maybe the pot is too small. I am thinking of trying the dill that Granny sent me.

Linking to Daphne's blog for Harvest Monday!

Harvest - June 20, 2011

There wasn't too much of a harvest this past week. I had a whole bunch of basil that I forgot to take a picture of.  But here is the "harvest" from last week - I'm hoping there will be more eggplant...and I can't wait for the tomatoes!

I'm linking to Daphne's blog for Harvest Monday!

Harvest Monday - June 13, 2011!!

Please join Daphne and see what people are growing around the world! Here is my contribution from last week. Harvest from Saturday that went into the pasta - ichiban eggplants, jalapeno, zucchini (that didn't pollinate), some peas and basil:

Here is today's harvest...currently transforming into my dinner! The jalapeno plant is full of peppers. They are not spicy so I'm trying to figure out what to do with them. The harvest includes jalapenos, mesclun greens, purple and sweet basil (which are really wanting to flower/bolt), some peas (I think these will be the last since they are just drying up...to bad), zucchini (the biggest one so far) and ichiban eggplant!

I have to post the zucchini on the plant, the biggest from the smaller container! The zucchini plants are now full of female flowers with no male flower in sight...so I suspect I will have many unpollinated zucchini. I'm not sure if there is a way to promote the growth of male flowers. I'll have to google it.

The eggplant flowers continue to drop. Currently there are 2 little eggplants growing, and a few small flower buds but it seems they just want to fall off:(  I think it is the heat since I am flicking them to pollinate.

The early girl is fruiting like mad, but all the fruits are still green. But overall the plant is doing well.

And the Giant Jalapeno is doing well. The Bonnie plant page says this variety is suppose to get to 4 inches...so perhaps I should let them grow a little bit more before I pick them next time.

I am happy with how much the garden is producing! Happy Harvest everyone!