I don’t otherwise like Hershey chocolate, but their chocolate syrup on good vanilla ice cream slaps.

We had a shishito pepper plant last year. It yeilded way better than our bell peppers ever have. I really regret not planting any this year and will be sure to plant some next year.

Like you said, they’re really easy to cook and taste great too.

If you’re somewhat handy, there are tons of cheaper DIY options available.

Apple sauce is a favorite of ours. Apple pie is another. Both are made very easy with an apple peeler, corer, and slicer. For the apple sauce, we toss in some cinnamon sticks and don’t add very much sugar.

You could also go for apple juice or cider (fermented or otherwise), although this will mean that you’ll probably want some kind of grinder/mill and a press.

Our peppers tend to not be very prolific either with one exception: the shishito pepper I grew last year was a pretty prolific producer despite not being more than two feet tall. We have 2 bell peppers in the ground this year and have only harvested 7 peppers so far. We will get a few more, but far from a bumper crop.

I’ve grown leaks in SE MI, which was recently reclassified as 6a, as a spring into summer crop from seeds started indoors. I didn’t have any problems with health or yeild. Haven’t tried them as a fall into winter crop.

Like all things produce, “Leak” is a family with different members being more cold tolerant than others. It looks like 20 °F is the floor, but dropping below freezing can do damage.

Great read, with some amusing asides.

Shots fired!

Thanks for sharing! First time growing zucchini? Some of them can get massive if they get away from you. We were gone for 10 weeks in July a few years ago and came back to one that was nearly as long as out toddler was tall.

I am a die hard laptop/desktop person but the majority of my outside of work ‘computer’ time is on my phone these days :(

Not trying to plant-shame in the slightest, but under optimal conditions, your plant would be well over the 6’ mark at this point in the season.

This really depends on where you live. I’m in Zone 6a and a 1’ tall tomato plant is doing pretty well right now. We have some posters who are up in Canada and I don’t think they’re even passed their last frost date.

They look happy, so yay!

I’ve had mine going for three years and they seem to be holding up as well as the cheap poly grow pots, so woo. I keep my starts in a tray to keep the extra water and keep the bottoms moist if I miss a watering.

Solo cup (or generic equivalent) starts! I do the same thing. Way cheaper than buying “gardening pots”, but you do have to put holes in them.

I have a very cobbled together grow light getup for my starts, but have thought about trying to make an enclosure around one of my raised beds to get the temp up earlier and push the season out.

As long as they’re not wilty life is good!

Indeed, congratulations! Just make sure you’re getting them enough water.

I am not sure if the upper right plant in the first picture is the dill you were talking about, but it looks like it might be fennel. I say this based on what looks to be a bulb forming. I have not grown dill, but I have grown fennel.

As in… a bit invasive? I have a raspberry and I’m a bit wary of it getting away from me. I just dug up the runners that escape my raised bed and they’re amazingly long.

TIL cinnamon is good for plants and cuttings.

We’re fairly critter free with the deer/rabbit fence, but birds were stealing some berries last year. I hadn’t considered them dropping seeds, but that’s obviously going to happen. Bird netting around this one bed will be somewhat annoying to set up, but might be worthwhile.

I will be, this season at least. If I can’t easily keep them in the bed I’ll probably dig them out.

From what I’ve read, raspberries can be pretty invasive and hard to get rid of. I’m a little wary of them getting out of control, but will keep a tight eye on them. Thankfully there’s a pretty wide mulch boarder around the bed so it will be easy to see them trying to escape.