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Pulpiteer 2013 Grow Log

I've been meaning to get to this for quite some time. I've put off planting about as long as I can stand it, so in the next week or so I'll get seeds in the soil. Until then, I wanted to get the glog started for this year. I've been reading and learning about an alternative agriculture system called "permaculture" so I'm playing around with that. I hope to show not only the growth and cooking in this glog, but also some permaculture inspired stuff to share what I've been learning because it's pretty awesome.

I looked over my 2012 beginning and I was way ahead last year, but then I ran out of room, so I've waited about a month in hope that will pay off.

So a couple of things. First, I produced a bit of pepper jelly, hot sauce, and powder last year, most of which I gave away as Christmas presents. Here's a shot of most of it.

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And here is a close up of the sauces. I made the labels at home and had them printed at Staples. They turned out pretty good, and I learned some things doing it all.

sauce.jpg


As far as hot sauces, if you have not tried fermenting, you need to. Amazing. It's hard to describe how it fills out the flavor of the pepper as opposed to mixing it with just other flavors. Anyway, I really enjoyed doing that and hope to improve next year.

Here's a shot of the garden at rest (about a month ago). It's been pretty cold here, I think we're under 15 degrees as I type.

winter.jpg


Ok, on to the plans for beginning things here. I got some help and some scrap wood from a parishioner and constructed a grow area in our basement for the pepper starts. It's a 6 foot by 6 foot square with 5 foot high walls. The bottom looks like a pallet, but that was all done by us. I put some mylar emergency blankets up for walls and a ceiling. They should hold in heat and reflect light. I also had to put in chicken fence to keep the stupid cat out. I pig tailed some vanity lights I bought from Menards, and have 4 105 watt cfl bulbs and some 26 watt cfl's. All of them are 6500k in color temp. This gives me daylight, basically, but not as powerful. I also have 2 shop lights on the top - one a T8 and one a T12. Here's the pics:

growframe1.jpg


growframe2.jpg


And here is my current grow list. I'm trying to cut back a few from last year, but I got so many awesome varieties that it was hard and the cut back was small. Anyway, the plan is for 142 plants, about 60 varieties. Here they are:

Peppers for 2013

Bell Local Greenhouse
Bhut Jolokia Red pepperlover
Bishop's Crown pepperlover
Canary Bell totally tomato
Carolina Reaper pepperjoe
Cherry Bomb mine
Corno Di Toro Red totally tomato
Red Rocoto mine (totally tomato)
Trinidad Scotch Bonnet Red pepperlover
Trinidad Scotch Bonnet Yellow pepperlover
7 pod Congo SR Gigantic pepperlover
7 pot Jonah aji joe
7 Pot Yellow mine
Aji Lemon Peru pepperlover
Bahamian Goat (cappy) pic1
Bahamian Goat aji joe
Burkina Yellow aji joe
Chocolate Cherry Sweet mine (aji joe)
Cili Goronong aji joe
Douglah (w/stinger) mine (aji joe)
Fatalii pepperlover
Giant Mexican Rocoto pepperlover
Golden Treasure Totally Tomato
Harold St. Bart's Habanero aji joe
Jalapeno pepperjoe
Naga Morich pepperlover
Nagabon (THSC) pic1
Orange 7 Pod pepperlover
Orange Manzano stc3248
Orange Thai aji joe
Peach Australian Lantern Hab aji joe
Peach Bhut Jolokia aji joe
Peach Bhut Jolokia mine (aji joe)
Peach Habanero aji joe
Peach Lightning Hab aji joe
Poblano pepperjoe
Purple Bhut Jolokia pepperlover
Saint Barts Marche Market 2012 pic1
Scotch Bonnet (Anguilla Farmer's Mkt Red 2012) pic1
Scotch Bonnet (Belize City 2011) pic1
Scotch Bonnet (FDA Red) (AJ) pic1
Scotch Bonnet (FDA Yellow) (peppermania) pic1
Scotch Bonnet (Jamaican 2007) pic1
Scotch Bonnet (Jamaican Montego Bay 2012) pic1
Scotch Bonnet (P. Dreddie) (cmpman) pic1
Scotch Bonnet (Papa Joe's Mkt) (cmpman) pic1
Scotch Bonnet (St. Marteen, Marigot Mkt, yellow 2012) pic1
Scotch Bonnet (TFM) (peppermania) pic1
Serrano pepperjoe
Tobago Scotch Bonnet pepperlover
Trinidad 7 Pod Brain Strain Red pepperlover
Trinidad 7 Pod Brain Strain Yellow pepperlover
Trinidad 7 Pod Brown pepperlover
Trinidad 7 Pod Primo pepperlover
Trinidad Morovas pepperlover
Trinidad Scorpion - Original Strain pepperlover
Yellow 7 Pot x Fatalii F2 Spicegeist
Yellow Cardi Scorpion romy6
Yellow Manzano hooda
Chinese 5 Color aji joe
Peach Lantern Hab (small) aji joe


Alright, I'll add more info as I go, thanks for checking this out!
 
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Glad to see your back! I was wondering if you would start a glog this year and surprised not to see you here sooner. The new grow box looks great! Love the hot sauces. Very clean professional looking labels and great colors. Great luck to you this year!
 
Well, it's about time! I was wondering what happened to you. Glad to know that you are still around, and look forward to watching your grow this season.
 
Dang Andy, you's be all business! Your sauce/powder/jelly stockpile is impressive. I dig it man! Glad to see you getting things underway, I'll be watching all of your shenanigans as the year progresses. Can't wait to see some of the mixed in permaculture that you have planned.
 
It looks like you've got a good start on things.I'm looking forward to seeing what this permaculture is about. Good luck with your grow.
 
Hey Andy, I was surfing yesterday and in a search result I saw a person reviewing one of your pods. Very cool to see you back the following day. I have been holding off starting up myself. Good luck! I'll be following again this year.
 
Hey Andy,

I knew you'd be firing up the glog soon......cool !

Nice selection of "pepper processing" goods. That was a smart move to use Staples toner for the labels.

For those who think it's never too early to start seeds...it can be, especially for us in the Zones we live in (Z5-ish) Midwest. Running out of room can be a problem, the seedlings are slow to start but once they get potted up...watch out !
Smart move on the delay, you can always the pedal to the metal with longer light cycles and a supply of N.P.K

Quite a list of seeds, but you do have the outdoor space for the crop.

Your avatar reminds me of "The Little Shop of Horrors"...the org with "Nicholson"
"Feed Me Seymore !"............haha

Good luck on your season, keep the photos flowing, plants, pods and food prep...appreciated!

Greg
 
Great list this year Andy. I know what you mean about trying to cut back, it's difficult to stop ourselves from the well meybe one of these :)

Can't wait to see those babies pushing up their hooks. Prayers and blessings for a great grow. Hold it, is that how you achieved such a great grow last year? Did you do a blessing of the garden, oops, sorry didn't mean to give out a secret.

Take care Brother
 
Hey thanks everyone! It's like getting the old gang back together, plus new friends :surprised: . I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this forum. Now I've got to find some time to catch up on all your glogs. Thanks for all the encouragement though.

PIC 1 said:
Hey Andy,

I knew you'd be firing up the glog soon......cool !

Nice selection of "pepper processing" goods. That was a smart move to use Staples toner for the labels.

For those who think it's never too early to start seeds...it can be, especially for us in the Zones we live in (Z5-ish) Midwest. Running out of room can be a problem, the seedlings are slow to start but once they get potted up...watch out !
Smart move on the delay, you can always the pedal to the metal with longer light cycles and a supply of N.P.K

Quite a list of seeds, but you do have the outdoor space for the crop.

Your avatar reminds me of "The Little Shop of Horrors"...the org with "Nicholson"
"Feed Me Seymore !"............haha

Good luck on your season, keep the photos flowing, plants, pods and food prep...appreciated!

Greg
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Loved that movie. In fact I need to watch it again. And Steve Martin's rendition of the dentist was top notch.

You know Greg, you're partly to blame for my inability to cut back on peppers this year. You sent me so many awesome seeds. I'm really excited to see how they turn out. I'll grow a few extra because I'm already planning on having a pepper draft party again this year, and I think the plants from your seeds will be high on people's lists.

RocketMan said:
Great list this year Andy. I know what you mean about trying to cut back, it's difficult to stop ourselves from the well meybe one of these :)

Can't wait to see those babies pushing up their hooks. Prayers and blessings for a great grow. Hold it, is that how you achieved such a great grow last year? Did you do a blessing of the garden, oops, sorry didn't mean to give out a secret.

Take care Brother
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Yep, holy water, anointing oil, liturgical dances, and a top secret prayer I cannot share. Don't worry about spoiling the secret, unless you do it in the right sequence it doesn't work. ;)
 
Looking forward to watching this year's grow. You sure do have a long grow list! Good luck to you.
 
Oh good, a glog that's not already 12 pages long. Great looking start. Good luck going forward.

Permaculture is great. I look forward to seeing what you have to say about it.

May I ask where you get your sauce and spice bottles? And how do you do the banding?
 
AZJ said:
Looking forward to watching this year's grow. You sure do have a long grow list! Good luck to you.
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Thanks!

Sawyer said:
Oh good, a glog that's not already 12 pages long. Great looking start. Good luck going forward.

Permaculture is great. I look forward to seeing what you have to say about it.

May I ask where you get your sauce and spice bottles? And how do you do the banding?
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I know, I've been working hard on my spare off times between family and work to catch up with some monster glogs. It's like I'm behind in my homework already!
I've just started learning about Permaculture, but I'm pretty excited about what I have found out. I'll be curious to hear your feedback.

I think it was sks bottles - http://www.sks-bottle.com/
They have good prices. It's the shipping that kills you. You can get the shrink wrap bands for the tops for a good price too. You just order them, then I used a hair dryer to shrink them on.


Justaguy said:
Impressive list. Will have to keep up on this one to see the permaculture.
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Glad to have you checking it out!

stc3248 said:
Woot! Gang's all here! Let's get this party started! Pass me a bottle of that reluctant sauce...and hold on your hats errybody!
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My party's so late compared to what you've got going on over there! But I'm glad to have you aboard!




Update:
Well, it's Sunday evening, or early Monday morning, depending on how you look at it. I've been working on getting things set up for the big plant tomorrow - dirt in the pots, soaking up the water from being bottom watered, seeds soaking. And here's the update:

First, here's a shot of my oldest planting a seed for his science presentation for his homeschool group. He's teaching them how to plant peppers. This one is a chocolate cherry sweet pepper - his favorite.

project.jpg


And here are the cups and dirt for everyone else. The whole group (about 8?) got to plant some seeds. Spreading the pepper love...

project2.jpg



Some of the water that I'm using comes from this fish - "Mr. Marbles"
He's my rain barrel fish that made it indoors because I felt bad, and when you find that 20 cent goldfish that lives, you kind of want to hang on to it.

marbles.jpg


Here's the permaculture part - just simple - he lives in my rain barrel. The top is open. Mosquitoes breed in it. Mr. Marbles eats them, then craps, so I get rain water that has been "enriched" and less mosquitoes. Inside, he has a jar he lives in, and I've been saving the water that he continues to enrich for me. I pour out about a quart 5 days a week. Not too bad.

I got some of my other water from my 90 gallon tank. This fish's name is Charlie, which we thought was a male at first, but it's a female. It's a Red Devil or Midas Cichlid. They are awesome fish, if you're ever interested in that sort of thing. Very aggressive. In fact, when the kids walk by the end of the tank, she'll fly into it chasing them. Makes it fun. She'll probably get 9 to 10 inches and very tall. The one I had before would bite me when I cleaned the tank. Fun personality for a fish.

charlie.jpg



On to the prep for the planting...
I purchased 4 bags of Happy Frog soil. Last year I mixed my own, which worked out fine, but this was easier and I really like this soil. A bit expensive, but I was able to find it for a buy one at $30 get a second free - so basically $15 per bag. Also here is my second child with her garden journal.

soil.jpg


The kids decided to help me get soil in the pots, and although it was a bit messy, they did a great job.

My oldest:
helper1.jpg


My second:
helper2.jpg


And my youngest joined in too:

helper3.jpg


Then she decided to eat the dirt

eatdirt.jpg


They are so much fun helping out, we thought we'd have another...
Due in May
ultrasound.jpg



Thanks for checking in. I'll keep working on catching up on the glogs, and I'll try to post tomorrow after the seeds are in the soil.
 
CONGRATULATIONS!!

I sure wish we could get our teenagers into the gardening. The boy helps me install water lines if I ask, and the daughter actually planted some lily bulbs the other day...that is about the extent of it...lol
 
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