Succulents and More™

As much I was looking forward to seeing our garden after our trip to Maui , the transition back to reality wasn’t easy. I wasn’t ready to come home, and there were still parts of Maui I hadn’t been able to explore. But I guess it’s good to leave something for next time… As for our garden, it didn’t look much different. In spite of the incessant summer heat, the perennial beds in the front yard still look decent. And the areas I planted earlier this spring (on the left in the photo below) are filling in nicely. I’m happy about that. Perennial bed inside the front yard fence

Like last year , we planted jalapeños in one of our raised vegetable beds. Since the summer of 2011 was less hot than normal, it took noticeably longer for the peppers to ripen. I like to leave them on the plant until they’re bright red because I prefer the rounder, fruitier taste of fully mature jalapeños to the far more pungent and far less complex taste of green peppers. However, with Christmas almost upon us and day-time temperatures rarely exceeding the 50s, there’s really no way the jalapeños will continue to ripen. Jalapeños in a raised bed On Sunday afternoon  I proceeded to pull out our lone jalapeño plant. After I cut off the roots, I tied the stalks together with twine and hung them under the roof of our front porch. Instant ristra!                                       ...