The habanero brings the heat to the MVG

habanero peppers

Over the past few months the MVG has not slowed down. The warm month of September was a big month and produced an array of vibrant peppers.

habanero plant

The hot pepper plants took the longest to mature but are finally filling out dishes with spicy flavors. The hottest pepper is the habanero. These little spicy bulbs have made their way into stir fry and pasta dishes. The habanero pepper might look small but they really do pack a punch. I had to cook off most of the heat from the pepper to make most of my dishes edible and digestible.

hot pepper box is overflowing

The long slender red fleshed Thai chili peppers are no comparison to the habanero. The chili peppers were bland in comparison and had little to no heat. In the future, I will plant and grow only habanero peppers. These little orange orbs of hotness have proven themselves deliciously spicy to me and my family.

supersauce tomatoes

The first week of October brought a huge wave of large red SuperSauce tomatoes to our kitchen. My mother made a few batches of salsa but froze most of the tomatoes for use during the winter months. I have also used the tomatoes in many of my curry dishes. The sweet flesh adds a nice layer of sweetness to the the savory taste of the curry. However, nothing beats eating the tomatoes raw with salt and pepper or sliced up in a salad... mmmmm!

last harvest of green beans with
a small harvest of Cherry Stuffer peppers

The Sweet Big Daddy pepper is a favorite with many members in my family. The pepper is very sweet and soft yet the skin is crisp and crunchy. The pepper is excellent when eaten raw. My mother slices them up in salads. I like to cut them up in long strips and add the sweet delight into my veggie springs rolls. Anyway you cut it, the Sweet Big Daddy pepper is a fantastic colorful addition to any garden. This is another items that will be planted in the garden next year.

The MVG is beginning to change and prepare for the winter months. The corn stalks have been cut done and tied into bundles.

A family friend picked up the corn bundles and will be using them in his front yard Halloween themed landscape. Last year, I used the corn as a backdrop for my Halloween photo shoot with my dogs.

2012 corn stalks

The biggest change to the MVG does not have to do with the cleaning up but with the location. My boys and I have recently moved to a new smaller location. This means that the MVG will be moving with us. I have already started a small vertical garden on the small patio we now call our garden.

small green kale sprouts, yeah!

We are going to start small this fall season by planting (from seed) blue kale, brussel sprouts, sugar snaps, spinach, and pok choi. I have also purchased a few herb plants too: oregano, sage, and rosemary. I had lots of fun learning about vertical gardening and trying out a variety of vertical gardening techniques in 2012. I hope this fall season will be just as fun.

November starts with a mound of greens

The victory garden is still enjoying the cool fall rain and warm rays of sunshine. The frost has not hit yet. This means the bitter melon is loving the sun and grown into a large curtain of green leaves. We are harvesting as much bitter melon as possible. We hope that the sun will stick around so that the thumb-sized fruit can mature into bitterlicious lumpy green 6-inch or longer fruit. Once the frost hits, the entire plant will wilt and die within a week.

a green curtain of bitter melon leaves

The greens are doing very well. Our recent harvest produced a mound of southern giant and giant red mustard greens with a small bouquet of Russian and dinosaur kale on the side. The greens will be put to good use. My mother loves to stir-fry the greens with pork and steam a small batch to eat as a side dish. I personally like to stir-fry the greens with chili oil, garlic, mushrooms, eggplant, and any other veggies from the garden.

variety of eggplant and peppers

The warm fall weather has kept the eggplants producing purple and white fruit in all shapes and sizes. The pepper plants are still pushing out green bell peppers, jalapenos, and habaneros which add a certain zing to any stir-fry or soup dish. I hope to harvest a few more eggplants and peppers before retiring the plants to the compost piles.

habanero pepper... spicy goodness

While working in the garden, I was greeted by a mantodeas elder. The mantodeas are plentiful and I have seen over twenty mantodeas when peaking behind the bitter melon curtain. The biggest mantodeas are living in the herb garden. They are roughly 4-5 inches in size. I still remember when they were the size of my pinky finger nail. They must be keeping the herb garden and bitter melon bug free.

However, we still have a few causalities from time to time. We laid the swiss chard to rest in the compost last week. We had a terrible aphid infestation that would not go away. I saw many mantodeas elders fighting the good fight but the chard was too weak to survive. I have taken additional precaution and will be using an organic bug killer (Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew) to help keep the evil invaders away during the colder winter months. Once the frost hits, most of the mantodeas warriors will retreat, lay egg sacs, and die. Without the warriors to protect the garden many of the greens, cabbage, and brussel sprouts will not survive the winter. Rest in compost sweet and delicious swiss chard. You will be missed in our winter soups and stir-frys.

We see cauliflower!