Midweek Meanderings - Baker and Olive, Farmers Outlet, and how does our garden grow?

Sadly, our stash of olive oil we brought back from Granada and Seville ran out a couple of months ago.

We've tried various Spanish brands here in San Diego; the Missus loves the grassy-peppery nuances of Spanish Olive Oil, and most have fallen short. So we headed back to.....

Baker and Olive:

This little shop in the Del Mar Highlands Town Center, stocks various olive oils and vinegars.

We're really not interested in the flavored one's, but just get whatever version of Arbequina Olive Oil they have. At the time of our visit, they were starting to switch from Northern Hemishere product (i.e. Spain), to Southern Hemisphere (Chile). Here are some of the bottles we have.

Nice folks working here. One of the women is from Kailua, Hawaii, though she doesn't look it. It's always great fun chatting with her. I will also get Dea Harissa Paste here once in a while; though I usually order it from Amazon.

Baker & Olive
12925 El Camino Real
San Diego, CA 92130

Back during the middle of spring; the Missus was also grumbling about how hard it was finding unshelled walnuts. She was really enjoying using the nut cracker she bought in Sarlat. So one morning I was in the Mission Gorge area and decided to stop at.....

Farmers Outlet:

We used to come here all the time when we lived in Mission Valley. Its been over a decade since I've last visited.

Still looks the same, with a nice variety of produce and other products for sale.

And yes, there were unshelled walnuts for sale.

Which got the Missus crackin' again......though that loud cracking sound scares the daylights out of Sammy!

Now, if She'd only clean up Her mess.....

Farmers Outlet
10407 Friars Rd
San Diego, CA 92120

How does our garden grow:

Because of our travels and other things, we got a late start on the garden this year. Still, we've done pretty well so far. As janfrederick commented on in a recent post, we had quite the bumper crop of cucumbers for a while. Sometimes 3-4 a day! The funny thing was; the Missus didn't want to waste, She was determined to consume every single cucumber. Which is how it was for about 3-4 weeks!

I think it's time to plant the next batch.

It looks like squirrels have eaten all our Roma Tomatoes and kale, so that's a lost cause.

Though the leeks are doing quite well this year.

As for our peppers. Again, I was kind of late, though it looks like the Trinidad 7 Pot Douglah is doing fine.

These are very hot, but not as fragrant as Ghost Peppers in my opinion.

Speaking of Ghost Peppers; they are just starting to ripen.

Though the Scorpion Peppers are a little late.

We have Serrano Pepper plants that are getting up there in age; they are starting to produce smaller and less fruit. There's a golden lining on this however. A few months back, I was weeding the plants, when I noticed a couple of little sprouts; which, after nurturing a bit, became some fairly robust plants.

Not sure what the deal is; but these are some of the biggest Serrano I've ever seen.

Sadly, our White Ghost Pepper didn't make it. But while pulling out the dead plant, I saw a couple of little shoots. So now I'm hoping these will do ok and will bear fruit this year.

Our Chili de Arbol is doing well too.

I was surprised to see a certain chili plant when I went to the nursery to pick up some fertilizer. I just had to get it.

I realize it might be a little late in the season....but I'm hoping we get some nice Carolina Reaper chili peppers from this one!

That's it for now.

How is your garden growing this year?

Comments

[kat]

too hot over here, not much growing over here. glad most of your peppers are doing fine.

[James]

I'm addicted to the B&O Lemon Balsamic Vinegar (great in salad dressings) - their shop at Liberty Public Market is much more convenient than Del Mar. Farmers Outlet is also one of my favorites - ho da prices!

[Soo @ hungryones]

Great looking garden! My rosemary is doing really well! Rosemary seems to be the only edible resistant to the bugs in the neighborhood....

[janfrederick]

We also had a huge crop of cucumbers too. We're getting a few stragglers, but for a while, we were giving a lot away. Sounds like you have a similar problem with expansion. I started out with 3 tomatoes and a zucchini. But every time I made a run for fertilizer, I ended up with a new plant until I had 17 plants to look after. Everything is winding down, but the little yellow tomatoes went bonkers and I ended up canning about 16 pints of the red maters we didn't eat right away. I've made quite a bit of green salsa from the giant tomatillo weed and incredibly productive jalapeno plant. Now I have a ridiculous amount of Thai bird chilies that I'm not sure what to do with...chili water? Fun times.

[Kirk]

Hi Kat - Peppers would probably do real well in the heat! ;o)

Hi James - Yeah, I tend to go to the Del Mar Heights location because it kind of makes me get out to an area of San Diego I don't get to very often.

Time for some lamb Soo. Our rosemary...and mint grow in spurts.

Hey Jan - Think of some kind of hot sauce....or drying them and using for cooking. Frozen for later on might work ok as well.

[Lynn @ Oh-So Yummy]

Your garden is so cool (I felt the same excitement visiting a friend who also gardens). Maybe this is my calling to start growing something! Although, I'm babysitting a friend's succulents and not doing that great of a job :(

[Kirk]

I thought I had a "black thumb" Lynn....but I've been doing ok with certain plants. You should give it a try.

[Lynnea]

oh, those peppers look hot, even on the computer screen ;D

the cucumbers are gorgeous too! my favorite thing to do with waaay too many cucumbers is to scoop out the seeds and make little "boats" to fill with cold salads, like tuna salad, or chicken salad, or any other type if those are too pedestrian for ya! :D it makes a delicious, low carb dinner(not that I worry about all that!! :))

[Kirk]

That sounds great Lynnea.....the peppers are sorta hot; but not too bad.

[caninecologne]

Love your garden post! We grew tomatoes (yellow pear, cherry, roma, and purple heirloom), eggplant, flat leaf chives and Tuscan kale. Our strawberry plants from last year really started producing a lot more fruit this year too which is nice.

[Kirk]

That's quite a bounty CC!