Tea

Having a little garden is fun - and i love to experiment, try new things. So... one of my new favorite teas is:     Oregano.

Tastes pretty much like the (organic) oregano it is, no sweetener of any kind, and is a hearty, bitterly brew, just right for a quiet evening. I can't have this too often, but it is a nice change from green, black and other herbal / fruit teas. (We also have it at times to help soothe a cold or sore).

Habaneros

Just a few days later, the habaneros look even better. I was lucky enough to pick them all before it froze.

This is about a week ago - with a little okra on top:

and this is from today:

Made a small glass full of home made ketchup, boiled a bit of tomato puree in apple vinegar, plus salt, 3 habaneros and a pressed garlic clove - done. I keep it in the freezer, but I think it should keep a few days anyway (because of acidity and capsaicin).

It tastes well - super spicy, though.

Peppers

Peppers and Fruits, to be exact.

The medium green items  and the orange in the upper left are Habaneros. Hm, good but really spicy. The small red items are Chile Piquin and Chile Tipin, both pretty hot, some more, some less.
The big green items are not really ripe Pineapple Guavas - delicious in juices, but also just fresh. Once ripe I know them yellow, but these are edible already. And the one really yellow item in the lower right is a Meiwa Kumquat.

Found a maracuja - flower in my garden

This is the first - not so little - flower from the passion flower in the garden. There were some buds since a few days, but yesterday this opened in all its beauty. There is a native passion flower in Texas that carries flowers and even sometimes bears edible fruit - who could withstand these temptations!

It is also heat tolerant (or even needs it) and a butterfly larvae host, a good plant to have, so we got it some 2 month ago, and while it is still very small and far from covering the fence, it clearly has taken root and is doing well.

Passion flowers are also called maracuja, make a delicious treat and juice, although they might take a moment to adjust too, the texture is surprising.

Pineapple Guava

Even before the most welcome rain - we're having a bunch of flowers on our pineapple guava bushes!
We got two cuttings two years ago from the MUD community center - they had a welcome party for everyone who moved in. And they offered these cuttings. We just stuck two in the soil, and now 2 years later the first flowers, and the bushes are still small and super low maintenance.

The flowers are pretty (and edible I have read but not tried) - and I hope to get a few fruit. They are delicious in shakes, I love a blend of a few of these with orange juice - yum.

Texas Garden from last year

What grew best last year in my little garden? Chile piquin, or cayenne pepper as it is called when ground to powder. Little hot peppers - loved by the birds, and oh so delicious on a sandwich. A slice of selfmade sourdough wheat bread with butternut squash and olive oil and a few chile piquin. ..... Getting hungry, need to stop writing about food...