Big Bertha Peppers

Big Bertha is the pepper to win the largest pepper contest for the 4-Hers this year at the fair. I have some extra plants to give away. Hopefully, you will be attending the "Irrigation Audit Demonstration" at the front of the Riley County Courthouse at 9 am on Saturday morning, May 21. I will give away peppers to those in attending.

Cut stump outcome

Earlier, I had blogged about treating a stump of a hackberry tree I didn't want to grow back. The stump was treated with glyphosate. The hackberry tree apparently shared the same root system to the hackberry next to it. The hackberry not removed has sparse leaves. I had plans to remove this hackberry in the future. The time line may have gotten shorter. The elm tree in the same row shows no injury.

Strawberry Harvest?

Strawberry harvest is close. The bottom picture was taken the night before. This strawberry needs another day or two to ripen on the ground side. I woke up to this frost the next morning. It is the same strawberry.
Berries don't ripen off the plant, so be patient and leave them on until fully ripe to get the best flavor. You need to snap the stem with the thumbnail to harvest. This way the cap and stem will be on the berry and will keep longer.

Hail on Hosta

This Sum and Substance Hosta was planted in the new Hosta bed at the Riley County Courthouse Plaza on Friday. Early Saturday morning, it got hailed upon. Stop-by and watch these Hostas which are part of the Prairie Bloom suggested cultivars to plant in Kansas. Go to http://www.prairiestarflowers.com/Prairie%20Bloom%20pages/Hosta_allpics.html to see the Hosta collection.

Frost on May 2

Freeze injury to my potatoes on May 2. Potatoes will bounce back.

Frost on Strawberries

My last post suggested planting tomatoes, which I did. Three days later, it frosted. I cover the tomatoes but not my strawberries. Time will tell how the berries handled the frost. May 5 is a 95% chance of no more frost in Riley County.