Cardiff Garden Blog

So I am hoping I see a lot more of these purple balls. This is a purple variety of tomatillo I have growing. I have had success in the past with the green variety but never to many purple ones. All that I had never really produced fruit until this year. Plant still looks healthy too.  Here is another tomatillo variety the green type. It's grows very wildly and stretches well beyond its roots. This one is in a pot that you can barely see in this photo.  Another angle  The fruit grow into what looks like Chinese lanterns hanging on the branches. They start small and eventually outgrow their paper wrapping. They often have a sticky sap on the outside of the fruit as well. It tastes a bit between a cross of pepper and tomato. Great for salsa. I even have some growing from seeds deposited from tiny fruit from last season. Always cool when nature does the work for ya!

Lots of pepper variety in the garden this summer. From left to right: jalapeño red and green, rainbow bell, Hungarian Cheese, Santaka, Bulgarian Carrot, Dancing Spirit, and Cayenne. I have others growing as well just not pictured here including Lantern Habanero, Cubanelle, and Joe's Long Peppers.  Who doesn't like a little variety. Not all are spicy but I would say over half are. Always want a good variety of colors as well. 

These pink beauties are Indigo Rose tomatoes. They were some seeds I saw in a catalog and just had to have because I had never heard of them.  Also have other types of tomatoes growing this year too The yellow small tomatoes are super Snow White. You can see some peppers in the background as well. It's been another good year for spicy and non spicy peppers.  Looking forward to tomatillos coming in by the end of the summer. 

I planted pumpkins and squash not long ago in the raised mounds. The mounds are made up of compost and soil. The seeds do better in mounds because of the drainage and loose soil. It's good to structure them with a bit of a indent in the center like a volcano. That way when you water it the water can sit and then drain.  Two weeks later. And still growing 

It was a good year for carrots. I pulled about 5lbs from the ground. Those purple carrots are dragon carrots. All pretty tasty.  Looking forward to planting more in the fall maybe.