The peppers are turning red!

The peppers have been shaded to prevent sun damage so I didn't notice until today that some of the peppers are turning red! I thought that they might get a little bigger since they are called "GIANT" Chinese peppers. I'm excited to taste these peppers!

The oregano is getting bushy. I should try trimming them and making some dried oregano.

Herbs in the garden

The hot weather is doing great things for the rosemary and german thyme. The plants are getting lush and look generally healthier than when they were growing inside. I would really love to learn more recipes using these herbs.

German thyme looking strong

Rosemary smelling wonderful!

The basil and oregano don't like the heat as much. The oregano is turning purple and bolting. I've pinched the flowers but I think I need to move it to a shadier area.

Both the purple and sweet basil leaves are narrowing. The plant itself is very strong (ie: the stems are hard) but these are also starting to bolt.

Purple basil turning green?

Sweet basil are curled up and the leaves are very hard

I will be moving them to a cooler area in front of the house. If you compare the basil plant on the balcony with the basil in the container with the tomato plant out front, you can definitely tell the difference. The leaves on the plant in the cooler spot is larger compared to the ones on the balcony. The balcony basil are considerably stiffer.

The balcony basil used to look like this before the heat wave

My only concern about moving the basil here are slugs. So far the slugs have not found their way up to the balcony but last year when I had the basil on the ground floor outside, they slugs feasted on them. EWWW. I will have to keep a close eye on them! The dill is also doing so much better now that it is out direct sunlight. I love dill and hope to use it more in my cooking.

So now I have a little bit of space on the balcony. I'll have to see if there are herbs that are particularly resistant to heat (any suggestions?). I'm wondering if the jade plants would do well in the heat. They are generally unhappy in the house and I saw some of neighbors with HUGE jade plants in front of their homes. I love these plants but succulent tend to die in my hands...

I have a shopping problem

They had a farmer's market today at the parking lot next to our office. I wanted to see if they had any fruits I can add to my Greek yogurt. Unfortunately it was a rainy day so there wasn't a lot of people there, and I was imagining a farmer's market like the on 32 second street, but it was much much smaller and not much produce. There was a food booth, ice-cream truck, 1 small vegetable booth, and 2 vendors selling plants. One booth was selling tomato, pepper, rosemary, and parsley plants. The second booth was all herbs. I spotted a purple basil plant - I have seen pictures of this plant but had never met one in real life. I really wanted to buy from the other vendor since the women manning the booth looked like they took a lot care growing the plants and cared about them (now that I know how much TLC is required to grow plants from seeds) while the herb booth was manned by 2 teenagers that looked like they didn't want to be there. However, I could not resist the allure of the purple basil and bought that (along with an oregano plant). I need to stop purchasing plants, I'm gonna run out of space.




And the Genovese basil at home is growing nicely - looking more like basil. They smell fantastic!
   




 

Check out these seedlings here...look closely, they are so tiny. These are arugula seedlings I sowed 3 days ago. At least that's what is said on the package.

I'm really liking the way the planters look on the balcony. I've decided to leave the peas, tomato (early girl), and zucchini (in the larger pot) outside overnight. I hope it doesn't get too windy and break the young plants. I need to start thinking of ways to create a wind barrier for the balcony.