Container Garden Update

It's been hot, but things are growing. Yay!

Planting

I that I never posted about my gardening/planter boxes this year.  The pot above was just something I threw together last week for some color on our front porch.  But I planted the boxes back in April and forgot to every post here.

Just a recap, I have 4 raised beds/boxes that Eric made two years ago.  They are sheet metal boxes encased in wood, with drainage holes in the bottom.  They are filled first with pond stone for drainage then dirt.

Box One:  Lettuce.   I planted several varieties of lettuce - a few types of romaine and some black seeded simpson.

Box Two: Peppers.  3 jalapenos, 2 cayenne and 6 small habaneros.

Box Three: Herbs.  Parsley, cilantro, 2 basil plants, rosemary and lemon thyme.  The lemon thyme is leftover from last year, hence why it is HUGE!  I also planted dill in a separate container, not pictured here.

Box Four: Tomatoes.  I planted better boy, roma and cherry tomatoes this year.  One plant of each.

And just for fun, one other little flower I planted to sit on the front porch table.

Container Garden Updates & Pepper Recipes

It's been forever since I updated on our container gardens.  Some things are going strong, some thing are not.  Skip to the bottom if you'd like to see some recipes for all your peppers.

What's working:

Tomatoes - the actual plant parts look awful, but the tomatoes are delicious

Peppers - cayenne, jalapeño, habanero, & poblanos growing like crazy

Garlic - should be ready for harvest very soon

Herbs (minus dill & cilantro)  -- pesto coming soon
Lemons - they are growing...we will see if/when they are complete

What's gone 

Cilantro

Dill

Lettuce 

Some ideas for your peppers:

Candies Jalapeños

Jalapeño Popper Chicken 

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly 

Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

Grilled Eggplant (&Pepper) Pizza

Jalapeño Popper Chicken

We have tons of peppers growing in our garden, especially jalapeños.  A few weeks ago, before we headed to the beach I was looking for a few recipes to use some.  I had seen this recipe for Jalapeño Popper Chicken on Skinnytaste previously so I just adapted it to work for us.

Ingredients Chicken breasts, thinly sliced 1/2 block cream cheese 3 jalapeños, diced  3/4 C cheddar cheese, shredded 1 T olive oil 1/2 C lime juice Panko S&P Wash chicken breasts. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Mix cream cheese, jalapeños & cheddar cheese together.

Lay chicken breasts flat.  Top with cheese mixture. Roll up chicken breast using toothpicks to hold the edges together. Mix olive oil & lime juice in a bowl.  Dip chicken breast in lime juice mixture. Roll in panko. Place on baking sheet, seam side down. Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes.

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly

Two summers ago I set out to learn how to can and this was one of the first things I made.  I found this recipe in The Complete Book of Canning from 1982.    

  Ingredients (Makes 5-6 1/2 pint jars) 4-5 jalapenos  4 bell peppers (I used red)   5 C sugar 1 C White wine vinegar 1 pouch fruit pectin (3 oz)       Prepare jars in hot water bath canning pot.     Process bell peppers and jalapeno peppers together in a food processor.

Combine pepper mixture, vinegar and sugar in a large pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, add pectin, stir together.  
Return to heat and boil for 1 additional minute.   
Ladle into hot jars allowing 1/2 inch head space.  Seal jars.

Just a note:  I used red bell peppers so my pepper jelly is red.  If you prefer your pepper jelly to be green you can use green bell peppers.  Or do one batch each way and give it away as Christmas presents.

First Tomatoes

We picked our first tomatoes yesterday.

And what better way to enjoy them than in our first BLTs of the season.  

We also have a ton of peppers that are ready to pick so I am hoping to can some pepper jelly this week.  If I can squeeze that in along with work and vacation prep than I'll be back to share it with you.

Summer Veggie Recipes

We love having access to fresh vegetables in the summer and have made some really delicious meals with vegetables from our garden and our CSA.  Here are a few recipes you may have missed.       Fried Green Tomatoes  

   
Grilled Eggplant Pizza

Squash & Zucchini Pie

Cucumber & Tomato Salad

Cauliflower Fennel Au Gratin

Corn & Tomato Salad

Squash, Green Onion and Corn Naan

Herbs & Veggies: An Update

Our little container garden is doing so well this year!!

My lemon tree is flowering!

We have been cutting back and eating up our lettuce but you can see some small plants coming up where I replanted a few weeks ago.

Dill is getting tall...

Just look at our peppers.  I would say peppers seem to be the biggest improvement over last year.  Last year they were in a container that also had tomatoes and this year I dedicated an entire planter box just to them.  We have tons of peppers growing and some of them even look as if they are nearing time to eat.

Ancho peppers

Jalapenos

Cayenne

Garlic  seems to be doing well.  I have to do some more research to known when the garlic is ready for harvest.

Our herbs are doing really well with the exception of the cilantro.  The cilantro was doing great but at this point it has seen better days.  I think it is about time to pull it up and replant it for more.  It's important to keep cilantro cut back even if you aren't using it and not let it flower, but it was growing so fast it got away from us.

Basil plant with lemon thyme in the bottom right corner and rosemary at the bottom left.

Parsley and oregano...

 

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Rosemary, lemon thyme & basil.

and lastly, tomatoes...lots of them!

A Container Garden Update

It's been about 2 weeks since I last showed you all the progress with our container gardens.  They are coming right along.

The lettuce is coming up but not as much as we planted.  I saved extra seeds so I am going to fill in the bare areas with some additional seeds.

The peppers are getting taller...

The herbs are growing like crazy.  Our cilantro is huge.  The parsley is really growing, as is the dill.

The garlic seems to be growing well too.  This is the first time we have grown garlic. 

The tomatoes are growing as well.  I caged them last weekend and they are just shooting up.