A GOOD SERVICE BUT DISASTER IN THE GREENHOUSE

We are now back home after a very hot church service, or should that be “a church service with very hot temperatures”?  The worship was good and we had a great sermon encouraging us to spend more time being quiet and reading our Bibles, so we are trying to do just that and also to keep cool.  There is more cloud about today, so hopefully, the forecast is right and we should see cooler temperatures from tomorrow.

Not only are Mr. HCB’s Californian Wonder peppers a disaster because most of them are actually red hot chilli peppers, but when he looked into his small greenhouse, his shout of “Oh no!” alerted me to the fact that there was something else not quite right!

He said that the tromboncino, which he had been nurturing, had fallen off the plant. Mind you, they were a disaster from the start, if you ask me, because they should have been planted outside on the large frame he built a couple of years ago, but he made a mistake and thinking they were cucumber plants, planted them in his small greenhouse.  Doomed from the word “Go”!

Anyway, just to inject a little humour - but I must admit, not at the best time - I asked him to “give me a tune” and of course, he did see the funny side of it and did just that.  Actually, he played quite a good tune on this one - as he said afterwards, it’s a shame it wasn’t Silly Saturday!  

It’s all very well this squash having fallen off, but that means I have to do something with it - and I didn’t really want to do much cooking this week, as we are going away on Friday - ah well, I will just have to be inventive.  I’m certainly not taking it with us - I’m hoping to have a complete break from cooking and cleaning.

I decided that I would take a shot of the red hot chilli peppers - and there are now lots of them - but would you believe that the tiny, beautiful, white flower just above, would produce something so hot?  Just shows that you never can tell - you should never judge a book by its cover or put another way, never judge a pepper by its flower!

I suppose I could do a stirfry using the tromboncino and a chilli pepper, but Mr. HCB would be the only one who would enjoy that.  I have emailed Johnsons and told them about the rogue seeds and they have said they will send another packet of Californian Wonder peppers, but obviously they won’t be planted until next year.

Stay cool and if you want any red hot chilli peppers, just let me know!

“There are no gardening mistakes, 
     only experiments.”
Janet Kilburn Phillips


P.S.  Our lovely neighbour, Lynn, rang the bell, just as she was taking her Mum home, to say that there was obviously a serious drought problem, as the even the ducks are swimming in our bucket in the waste water!  We love our neighbours!!