2019 Hay Bale Pepper Patch

I've been a member for a while but never posted a grow log. My usual garden is too boring for that. I use 20-30 pots and overwinter my mama plants in a hillbilly winter shelter. Our ground here isn't good for in soil gardening and I've not been enthused enough to undertake the work and expense to build raised beds.
 
Now I have my peppers working the way I want and have the need for a much larger grow to supply a project. The main peppers I'll grow will be reaper, douglah and fatalii. For a couple of years I'll do hay bale gardens and heap tons of organic trash into the area. I have monumental amounts of pine straw, oak leaves and bonfire ash every year to dump in the walkways. I think this will do a world of good to make this new garden area mo'betta for eventual in ground growing.
 
I closed off a 38x38 patch in the NE field that gets full sun. This is the area I chose. The big painted guy is my fertilizer supplier.
 
The little painted guy is my running buddy and load inspector.
 
 

 

[DWB]

I've learned the in-ground overwintered plants are not so hardy. They've steadily given it up. I goofed up and killed one myself by careless placing of a pot on it for a temperature that reached 30.7° the morning of March 19. I broke off the single branch and nothing came back. Most of the rest slowly lost their green stems and shoots or could have had their shoots clipped off by a critter or bug.

There are three left that are doing well and one more that may do something. Down from the thirteen that initially showed signs of life.

 

[DWB]

The electric co-op did line cleaning recently. They brought me a nice pile of mulch from the chipper yesterday. Not sure how many loads they brought but it looks like 2 loads/12 yards. This stuff starts making some pretty decent compost in about 6 months.

Right on time too. Last time they cleared lines was in late 2020 when they dumped 6 yards for me. I have plenty of that left for this year but the pile is getting small.

Working dog is enjoying all the imported smells

 

[DWB]

They brought me more chipper mulch Friday. That's the good part. I know for a fact this new pile is two loads. This means the pile they hauled in the week before was a helluva lot more than 2 loads/12 yards. That pile is huge compared to the new pile.

The bad part is the new driver dumped the first load right on top of the remainder of my 2020 pile and all the compost I was gonna use this year. Now I have to improvise because I probably don't even have 10 gallons in my storage buckets. I suppose can get me a couple of wheelbarrow loads by pulling back the leaf cover in the woods to scrape up a bunch of humus and mix in some dried horse poop. Or maybe just go to town and buy some bags. That'll be a first.