Horseradish & Honey

Cincinnati went from winter to summer with a brief stop for spring in April. With the exception of a few days, It’s been hot here since the beginning of May and the plants are LOVING it—especially the peppers.

And this is the first year, since I started gardening, that I can remember seeing peppers actually forming on my plants in May.

Can you spot the tiny jalapeño pepper just getting started? I still have two large jars of pickled jalapeños from last year but, man, I’m ready for more!

Here are some Chinese 5 color peppers. I love these new-to-me-last-year peppers! They grow all season, don’t need any special attention, are super pretty (yes, there are 5 different colors), and have enough kick to keep things interesting. If I could only grown one hot pepper plant each year, this would be my choice.

I’m not a huge fan of bell peppers by themselves but I always grow some for using in recipes and pickling. This karma pepper is growing like a champ…and has me dreaming of gazpacho and salsa!

Hungarian hot wax peppers make pickles that are almost as good as pickled jalapeños.

So, there you have some of the peppers of May.

Up next? The tomatoes of June if I’m lucky.

Well, hello there! How is it suddenly the middle of May? I tried to get back into blogging in April but wasn’t very successful. Both March and April were busy with work and the weather wasn’t all that great (especially in March) so I just never got back in the saddle…much less back on the horse!

But I’m back and better than ever! Or at least I think I’ll have lots to share. So here we go.

Unlike the past couple of years, I’m not trying anything new in the garden this year. Except for a couple of new-to-me varieties of tomatoes (Black Seaman and Green Zebra, but I’m not sure if that counts.

Anyhoo, to get you caught up with what’s going on in the garden, I thought I’d share some of my favorite photos from the past few weeks. Starting with this patch of volunteer sunflowers. Oddly enough, growing directly under a sunflower feeder. 🙂

Check out these lovely beets. Not the best picture, and doesn’t includes all the 50 or so that I’m growing. “Hello, my name is Sarah and I’m a beetaholic.”

This may look like any ole’ squash flower to you but it’s actually part of my ongoing cucumber beetle battle. Supposedly, cucumber beetles go crazy for blue hubbard squash plants so I’m planting a few as trap crops. Here’s to my success!

I have an herb garden dedicated to pollinators. Here’s one of the sage plants flowering – even prettier in person.

Have you ever seen horseradish flowers? Well, probably if you follow my blog or Horseradish & Honey Instagram account. But if you haven’t, check them out. Super delicate and pretty. Don’t smell like much, and some people think you shouldn’t let horseradish flower, but I’m not some people!

So, there you have it – a bit of a garden update! How’s your garden coming along this year? Are you trying anything new?

April has remained on the cool side. And that’s being nice…really, it has been cold. Like hard frosts and snow cold. Regardless of the unexpected weather, there are signs of spring everywhere in the garden.

I have no doubt that, in a month from now, the cold days of spring will be long over and long forgotten.