December Mesclun Harvest

The mesclun mix is growing very well despite the cold, foggy weather. Tonight, I filled a big colander with fresh lettuce, chicory, escarole, arugula, and frisée (curled endive). It's so nice to have fresh greens when the store-bought lettuces often wilt into mush, which is not exactly appetizing.

Does anyone here have experience growing lettuce and mesclun? I am having aphid problems and could use some advice.

The Tower

The tower of morning glories in my garden, taller than anything, even the bananas. The ladder is shown for scale.























From below:

Sweet Basil

The basil is now doing pretty well. I originally bought it as a 4-inch pot at the grocery store. Now it is in a 3-gallon container and still growing. The leaves go wonderful on hamburgers, especially when covered in a thin layer of Swiss cheese.

Ready for Ignition

These 'Thai Hot Dragon' chile peppers are great. After turning from green to orange to red, they take on a heat that is 8 times more intense than a Jalapeno.

Some of the peppers are crinkly, and have almost no flavor or heat. They seem to die on the plant and dry before getting any flavor. Any suggestions as to why this is happening?

Thai Dragons

'Thai Hot Dragon' chile peppers on my single plant. This plant has grown fast and produced many peppers.

There was a bit of a mystery concerning this plant: some of the peppers had absolutely no heat at all (they're supposed to be 8 times hotter than a Jalapeño). I discovered it was because those peppers were drying on the plant and not ripening.

The other day, I tried a plump, juicy red pepper. After chewing for a few seconds, I was running back into the house hollering.

The heat lasted about 1 hour.