Plants of the Week

This green looking veggie is a red pepper, but a red pepper in its green stage. It is growing in a pot in my back yard (MBY). It has a Latin name, capsicum annuum. It is a plant which is native to Mexico and northern South America and was carried to Europe in 1493, presumably by Chris Columbus. I'm waiting for this one to turn red to indicate that it is time to be feasted upon.

An interesting note: green peppers are unripe bell peppers, while the others are all ripe, with the color variation based on variety. Because they are unripe, green peppers are less sweet and slightly more bitter than yellow, orange, purple or red peppers.


This tomato plant is also in MBY. It is also a native of Mexico and South America and is a member of the night shade family. Tomatoes have the reputation of out producing the needs of single family growers. I have two plants and suspect that I may be eating more tomatoes than are really necessary. My Wilson tennis racket and hat for scale. My dad would only eat fried green tomatoes, because, he claimed, that he had eaten far too many of them as a child growing up in Wisconsin. I, for one, have not yet reached that stage of satiation. I have, however, indulged in frying and subsequently eating green tomatoes and have found them tasty enough to try again.


I had a day off from the tennis wars. It was cloudy and cool and probably would have been a fine day to crush some forehands. I did not. It was a day to lounge around a bit, mow the lawn, and solve one of those pesky New York Times Sunday crossword puzzles. The one I "solved" had a theme based on the sayings that can show up when one uses the famous "magic eight-ball" to tell one's fortune. One of the answers: "It is decidedly so." The question: "Are you made out of plastic?" The puzzle was a difficult challenge. It also required the name of a Theater of the Absurd pioneer (Eugene Ionesco) and several other arcane pieces of information.

Blueberries.