Fall begins, astronomically for us, today, September 22, 2010, at 10:09 pm CDT. We had our first frosts at the beginning of the month, but the ground was still warm enough to ward off any damage from it to the gardens. However, the cold, nighttime low temperatures are now hanging on longer into the mornings, and the daytime highs now are not getting that high anymore - barely breaking into the low 60s (mid to high teens for you metric people). Even with the temperatures getting lower, and each day's light noticeably shorter, there is still much to do with the bees and the gardens. Hives need to be winterized and bulbs need to be planted.
We have been eating the corn, cucumbers, aji pineapple peppers and, habanero peppers. The results of our unscientific "taste tests" (also known as "meals") is as follows...
Corn
The corn is sweet (there were red ants on each stalk), and tastes nice, but there have been a few draw backs. Low yield (to use corn-speak) - only one ear per stalk. Under the same low yield umbrella, the ear that does develop on the stalk, has poor kernel development with an irregular pattern. I will be planting something else next season.
Cucumbers
We cracked open the jumbo cucumber to reveal a fresh aroma of cucumber. Actually, all of the cucumbers we have picked have been delicious. The extra-jumbo-cumbers are not exactly fantastic eating, but the smaller, more normal, non-irradiated-looking cucumbers are far more tasty. And whether eaten fresh, in refrigerator pickle form or tossed into to a veggie stir fry, these cucs are good eating. This may sound like bit of a white whine, but the one noticeable annoyance is the seed size and quantity.
Aji Pineapple & Habanero Peppers
Started during last winter, both the aji pineapple and habanero peppers, obtained from Bayou Traders Pepper Mania, have been a long time coming. The aji pineapple peppers we actually grew in the house. On the window sill, above the sink, in the kitchen, we have a large pot of herbs growing. During the late winter, I pushed some of these seeds into the soil and more of less forgot about them. By early spring, the plant was about 16 inches tall, and was producing flowers but nothing else significant. By mid summer, we had lots of tiny, green peppers hanging on it. At the end of August, the peppers were maturing into ruddy-skinned, medium peppers. Very slow to grow in our less-than-tropical climate here in northern Minnesota, I would grow these again, and again, indoors. They have very slow-to-big heat, and can be quite intense. If eating just the pepper, raw, with nothing else (as I did to test them), have a beer or glass or ice milk near by; these peppers made me sweat a little, and that can be a hard thing to accomplish with peppers less than a habanero.
The habaneros were started in the house at the same time as the aji pineapple peppers. Early summer, I needed the window sill room for other things, and the peppers were moved out to the small six by six raised garden at the back of our property. The plants sort of took care of themselves, and I did little to intervene in their growth or progress. The yield was low, only three, small, bright red peppers; however, I would get seeds from the same place, again, with the caveat of just growing them inside. For the heat and intensity, these peppers are excellent. They will make your eyes water, your mouth burn and all the other things you would expect from a quality hab.
The honeybees seem to be going stir-crazy. The weather is hot and humid as of late -- the bees seem to be expecting a massive amount of florae to be available for foraging, but the florae, nearly done with blooming, have something else in mind: fall and winter are approaching. The last day of August, and the deciduous trees' leaves are turning orange and red; tamarack will be showing their fall colors, soon, too.
