Peppers

It's been a while. Let's see... none of the sunflowers came up (due to cavalier planting), some grass and some clover came up in some of the bare corner, lots of clover came up in the garden and the dallies, due to bloom in July, are sending up their racemes with a few buds on them already; the salvia looks healthy enough but hasn't bloomed much; half a dozen dead trees have been taken down, and I've casually sown deer and rabbit resistant wildflower seeds in various spots around the driveway and in the paths through the woods out back. Unfortunately we had torrential rain a couple of days later, so there's no telling where the seeds wound up or if I'll ever see the flowers. But none of that stuff is on miming right now. I'm thinking about peppers.

The jalapeños are alive if not quite thriving in the pots I put them in after Olly destroyed the original pot. They were looking happy and healthy although not showing a whole lot of new growth in the unseasonably cool May weather; but then the biggest of the three developed holes in its younger leaves. No sign of bugs, no discoloration, just neat little round holes. Then bigger holes, still with no discoloration, and still only on leaves high up on the plant. Now the newest leaves on all three plants are crinkly and curled upward. I think I saw a mealybug on one of them today, and there was something white (whiteflies? mealybugs? bird poop?) on the dill. I hit all of them with the hose, hoping to wash the pests off, and then I went out and bought some castile soap. Stupidly, I did not get a spray bottle. I have to dilute this stuff - a tablespoon to a quart of water - and spray it on the plants at a time when the pollinators aren't active. It's supposed to smother nymphs, larvae and adults alike.

Meanwhile, I bought some ornamental pepper seeds and I've planted a few of them. I should have done this indoors in February and put the plants in the ground after the last frost, so I'm way behind; but if they germinate faster than expected, I might see a little bit of fruit before the frost kills them in the fall.  In any event, I have plenty of seeds left over to plant in the spring. I'm given to expect about every second or third one to germinate if planted next year.