Since the time my mother made me stay home at age 10 and clean out the flower beds, I developed an affinity for gardening (naturally, I prefer the fancier description: horticulturist). This year, son Leonard has taken an interest in gardening with a focus on hot peppers. We started the season in April when we planted the jalapenos and tabasco seeds in our indoor “greenhouse”. Our back deck is now starting to look like we’re pepper farmers. I’m not sure what we’re going to do with our massive production of hot peppers… In addition to a large perennial and annual flower garden, we’re also growing grapes, cucumbers, pumpkins, melons, tomatoes, etc.
I like to come home from work and putz around my gardens, pruning the plants, training them to grow up the trellis, or removing dead blooms. Missy recently asked my why I was pinching off the dead flowers and I had to explain the concept of “deadheading” (not to be confused with fans of the Grateful Dead). This is the process of removing the dead flowers to encourage the plant to continue to produce more blooms.
