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Devv's 2015 - 16, Life is good!

Well here we go again!
 
I just got finished planting seeds for 70 plants. Scaling back a bit this year; last year was a lot of work! That and I have to do more than garden this season ;)
 
My apologies as I can't remember shit where I got all the seeds from. Some were harvested from pods some I saved, and some were sent to me. I can say this 99% originated from the most generous THP members!
 
Without further ado, here's the 2015 list:
 
Red 7 Pot Lava: Mikey
Black Thai        : Mikey
Yellow Jonah  : Mikey
Jack’s Choc Superhot: Mikey
Red Bhutlah   : Mikey
Tepin x Lemmon drop
Pimenta Lisa : Stefan
Brazilian Starfish
Bell
Poblano
Billy Biker
Jalapeno
Jimmy Nardello
Bishops Crown
Sweet Hungarian Paprika
Bahamian Goat
Urfa Biber
Jelly Bean White Hab
Jigsaw
Nagabrain F4
Numex Jalamundo
Cream Fatalii
Isabella Island Hab: Jim
Cherry Bomb: Jim
Moa
Kurt’s
JA Habs
White Bhut
Anaheim
Jigsaw
Burgundy
Ma Wiri wiri: Jim
Pepperdew: Jim
Pimenta De Padron: Jim
Wild tepin: Jim
Jigsaw
Six secrets from Stefan
Orange Primo: Mikey
Choc Bhutlah
Scotch Bonnet x Indian Red
Red Lava: Mikey
White Hab
Naga King: Rick
BOC: Rick
 
I leaned more towards peppers my wife can eat. After all she helped me quite a bit, I might as well grow some for her ;)
 
Last season was a challenge regarding what was what. I eventually figured them out, but was not happy with the confusion. And yeah, I'm easily confused.
 
Here's a pic of the 70 starters:
 
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Trying something different, the Jiffy's are numbered and will be entered into a spreadsheet. As they pop, they will go into the solo cups with permanent marker to label them.
 
This year I'm starting things in the converted hunting room (man cave?). LB wanted the extra bedroom back ;)  The room is part of the shop; 24x8 and insulated. It's been rather nasty for the last 4 or 5 days, damp and temps below 52°, but it was 68° in there a few minutes ago. Also I'm trying a heating mat to help with germination, which was abysmal IMHO last year.
 
Anyone who knows how I fly, knows I like to grow in the dirt. I have a few in containers from last season, but they just don't do as well.
 
I put a ton (literally) of work into the soil since the start of last season.
 
I feel soil preparation is the key to success:
 
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I tilled in over 24 yards of RCW and 10 yards of shredded leaves after pulling the plants in the fall.
 
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I then planted Crimson Clover and Rye as a cover crop, this pic is from 2 weeks ago..
 
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The area I planted the cover crop in is 2,300 to 2,500 square feet. Half is framed for sunshade. A must in the 100% summer sun the garden gets. There's some Comfrey of the left ;)
 
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Dec. 6th I tilled in the whole shootin' match. I waited too long. But I do like it when it darkens up. This is what it looks like after 2 2" deep passes. If you wait too long the roots form a sod, this makes for a bad day of tilling. I got this far and decided to call it. Shiner time!

Once I'm sure most is dead and wont come back when I water crop 2 goes in.
 
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On 12-10

The grass on top has dried, and rain is forecast through Sunday (yeah right), so I tilled again. It brought up the grass from below and now the garden looks like last Sunday. I went a couple of notches deeper this time to break up more of the roots. I spread rye seed and watered for 45 minutes. It should come up quickly as the weather is warm for a week or more. 50's-70's.
 
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This is the garden today, the second cover crop is just coming up. And I have to prep an area for onions, which hit the dirt January 15th. The rest gets tilled in at the end of the month.
 
I fly out of here tomorrow afternoon, and won't be back until a week from now. So I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
 
 
Hi Scott! Glad to hear you're on the mend and making lifestyle changes necessary to keep on the upside of the daisies... ;)  Me too, so I hear ya brother. That said, you're certainly not gathering any moss either! New family, new pups, new wheels, and the garden looks great as usual. So what if you got off to a later start this year... better late than never. I'm glad you planted some Kurts again this year. They're a really sweet and meaty variety. Take care, and please give LB our best. Cheers!
 
Sawyer said:
Yes, and I have a theory about that.  I think our subjective experience of the duration of a unit of time, a day, for example, is determined by comparing it internally to the sum of all the previous units we've experienced.  As we get older, a single day is a much smaller fraction of our total experience, so it seems more fleeting. 
 
This is exactly how I believe time and the speed of time is perceived as well! Wow, never heard anyone mention this before.
 
Scott  
I am loving it watching your garden this year.  I have decided to let mine take a year off (except for the tomato's which are a must)  You seem to be recovering pretty darn well and I think that garden is the perfect therapy.  Exercise for body and mind as well as rewarding when things work (as planned or not)
 
Keep it up as I really do miss growing the peppers, but needed some sanity and time off this year.  I will be watching you Glog closely this year to get my fix!
 
Bill
 
Roguejim said:
Are you adding manure and mulch to the rcw? Why? I thought the rcw is supposed to supply all the nutes. Hedging your bets?
From what I understand the first year is a bust. Mill's hit on the head with the nutes being tied up. I did plant some extra Broccoli there this fall and wound up pulling them and moving them to more established dirt where they did fine.
 
 
millworkman said:
Better safe than sorry. New rcw can still tie up nitrogen.
 You nailed it!
 
I hoping that next season it will do as I hope it will ;)
 
OCD Chilehead said:
Great job Scott. Garden is looking great. Don't worry, the peppers will catch up. It won't be long and you'll be putting up the shade cloth. Still can't plant out here for at least another few weeks.

I have about 15 Goats Weed and around 12 Super's this year. Trying to keep it small this year. We both know that's not going to happen. LOL. Going to be growing more vegetables.

Anyways. Cool pic of the horned lizard. Haven't seen one of those since I as a kid. The garlic and onions look great.

As always, thanks for sharing. I'm glad you and the garden are on the rebound. Keep it up.
 Thanks Chuck!
 
Spring has been great so far, except for a rabbit I can't seem to catch. I don't know how it's getting through the fence but it is. So far 20 peppers have been eaten to the ground. 15 in the last 2 days!
 
jedisushi06 said:
Nice tomato plants
Thanks Mikey!
 
Hoping the peppers will step it up really soon! The weather is perfect, raining at just the right times....just like the 80's. Hope it keeps it up!
 
randyp said:
I never tire of stopping by to see your layout, Scott.Thank the Lord you are around this year and feeling good,2015 was not the same without your wisdom.Congrats on the Grandbaby.
Thanks Randy!
 
It's great to be back in the saddle! And 2015 was a rough one don't ever want to go back there again!
 
stickman said:
Hi Scott! Glad to hear you're on the mend and making lifestyle changes necessary to keep on the upside of the daisies... ;)  Me too, so I hear ya brother. That said, you're certainly not gathering any moss either! New family, new pups, new wheels, and the garden looks great as usual. So what if you got off to a later start this year... better late than never. I'm glad you planted some Kurts again this year. They're a really sweet and meaty variety. Take care, and please give LB our best. Cheers!
 Hi Rick!
 
Glad to hear you too are on the mend, dang life can get scary! I feel blessed to still be around after reading about all the folks who weren't so lucky with that freaky strain of pneumonia that was going around last year. Good luck with the garden this year!
 
FiresOfNil said:
 
This is exactly how I believe time and the speed of time is perceived as well! Wow, never heard anyone mention this before.
 
stickman said:
 
Have you ever talked about it with anybody over 50?... ;)
 LOL, once 50 it just screams by! 60 is comin
 
bpwilly said:
Scott  
I am loving it watching your garden this year.  I have decided to let mine take a year off (except for the tomato's which are a must)  You seem to be recovering pretty darn well and I think that garden is the perfect therapy.  Exercise for body and mind as well as rewarding when things work (as planned or not)
 
Keep it up as I really do miss growing the peppers, but needed some sanity and time off this year.  I will be watching you Glog closely this year to get my fix!
 
Bill
 Thanks Bill!
 
I was going to take the year off...but then I planted! And yes the garden is great therapy, I manage a school districts IT goodies. After a day at work physical work is really rewarding. I'm just thankful I can still work out there doing what I love to do!
g up way too soon!
 
capsidadburn said:
Your garden looks great Scott!  It must be a joy to look at each day!
 
There are plenty of the Texas Spiny lizards around here but not the horned lizards anymore.  They are supposed to be doing well in the panhandle and west Texas.  We were taught (Master Naturalists) that the influx of St. Augustine grass as well as under ground creeping Live oak was the most prominent factor in crowding out the Harvester ants native grass food supply.  I suspect out away from the cities here they could be found.  Apparently the Horned toad likes to set up along the Harvester ant trail and just pic them off as the march by.

That Spiny lizard shot is really nice! 
 
Mike
 Thanks Mike!
 
Same here with the spiny lizards, they're everywhere. We have plenty, I mean plenty of harvester ants here. Probably 10 or more "master" nests on the 20 acres. They seem to love anything we plant, tree wise. But they are not so destructive regarding the native growth. I'd love to have more Horned toads around. But seeing this one I know more are around!
 
pepperguy1 said:
Every time I see your Glog,It blows my mind.That's a nice Horny Toad you got there,we don't have much of them around here anymore neither. :mope:  :mope:  :mope:
 Thanks!
 
Gardening is just one of my passions, I can't wait until I retire and have the time to do everything I really want to do!
 
Garden is looking great Scott. That has to be the best looking garden soil I've ever seen in Texas. Your plants look to be loving all the hard work you've put in. :dance:
 
Jeff H said:
Garden is looking great Scott. That has to be the best looking garden soil I've ever seen in Texas. Your plants look to be loving all the hard work you've put in. :dance:
Thanks Jeff!
 
It's both rewarding and relaxing after work; IT work is a real brain suck.
 
I finally found out what ate all my OW's to 6"s in height, chopped up my young Crepe Myrtles, ate half a Peach tree, ate down the roses, a centrury plant, and ate 20 peppers to ground level the last few days. A dang Opossom, the dogs treed it yesterday while I was at work and it came down with lead poisoning in the afternoon. The dogs were like "look Dad, look what I found". A read on them stated they love young plants, fruit and will eat small pencil sized branches. Now I know where all my peaches went last year, 15 trees and we got like 4. I hope that's the only one around. Stupid (but stealthy) critter entering a fenced yard with 3 dogs.
 
Devv said:
I finally found out what ate all my OW's to 6"s in height, chopped up my young Crepe Myrtles, ate half a Peach tree, ate down the roses, a centrury plant, and ate 20 peppers to ground level the last few days. A dang Opossom, the dogs treed it yesterday while I was at work and it came down with lead poisoning in the afternoon. The dogs were like "look Dad, look what I found". A read on them stated they love young plants, fruit and will eat small pencil sized branches. Now I know where all my peaches went last year, 15 trees and we got like 4. I hope that's the only one around. Stupid (but stealthy) critter entering a fenced yard with 3 dogs.
 
I can just picture that... :)
After some IT work...
 
"
:flamethrower: Leave!
My .....fu**... plants alone!!!
"
 
Congrats on the successful intruder removal. And I hope the other opposoms around there saw that.
 
Looking great Devv. Also that is an awesome picture of that horny toad! I haven't seen one of those in this area since I was a kid although I saw a few out in West Texas near Ft. Stockton back around 2006 or so. We have those Texas spiny lizards all over the place around here though, I see em pretty often hanging out on the trees at work.
 
One got caught in the deer net at our community garden a few years back: http://imgur.com/a/Nszfg 
He was just playing dead though, I cut him loose and he took off running into the woods.
 
Good luck with your 2016 season, looks like it's off to a great start. 
 
Interesting info on the 'Possums... i didn't know they did that, but there's so much around here for them to eat that we mainly see them if a neighbor puts out kibble for feral cats or as roadkill. :think:
 
I hesitated to "like" the possum post because that's a lot of loss, but hopefully your problems are solved.  Like Rick, this is something I didn't know about possums.  It could explain some things I've previously ascribed to deer or rabbits.  I don't have any dogs to do the treeing, but possums are pretty easy to live trap, so I should get started on that.  Canned cat food and, surprisingly, chocolate cupcakes make good bait.
 
tsurrie said:
 
I can just picture that... :)
After some IT work...
 
"
:flamethrower: Leave!
My .....fu**... plants alone!!!
"
 
Congrats on the successful intruder removal. And I hope the other opposoms around there saw that.
Well it seems we have a second one. What we read said if you have one, watch for more. More Peaches missing, more peppers gone. I bought a live trap and have it baited, as well as snares set in the Peach tree. 2 out of 15 Peach trees are loaded, and this critter has ate half from one, let alone the pepper damage.
 
TXCG said:
Looking great Devv. Also that is an awesome picture of that horny toad! I haven't seen one of those in this area since I was a kid although I saw a few out in West Texas near Ft. Stockton back around 2006 or so. We have those Texas spiny lizards all over the place around here though, I see em pretty often hanging out on the trees at work.
 
One got caught in the deer net at our community garden a few years back: http://imgur.com/a/Nszfg 
He was just playing dead though, I cut him loose and he took off running into the woods.
 
Good luck with your 2016 season, looks like it's off to a great start. 
Thanks!
 
I'm doing my best to keep the peppers from being eaten! The remaining few have 5 gallon buckets with the bottoms cut out around them or tomato cages with a wrap so the dang thing can't see them. And people say they have deer issues. at least they're edible ;)
 
stickman said:
Interesting info on the 'Possums... i didn't know they did that, but there's so much around here for them to eat that we mainly see them if a neighbor puts out kibble for feral cats or as roadkill. :think:
Yeah I just read up on them, had to...LOL
 
I'm wondering if the compost pile which is in a critter proof wooden frame made from old pallets is an attractant? Before I boxed in the compost pile something ate all the new additions. I'll be relocating them soon.
Perhaps the critter has been around a while. I know it was here all winter eating every plant that had pencil sized or smaller branches. They just decimated my OW's and several other plants, like 40 now..I WILL persevere! Now I have a live trap, so I can deliver them to a new place, I just hate to kill something because it's just trying to exist.
 
 
FreeportBum said:
Your garden is really nice, love the horned toad! 
 Thanks for stopping by!
 
 
Sawyer said:
I hesitated to "like" the possum post because that's a lot of loss, but hopefully your problems are solved.  Like Rick, this is something I didn't know about possums.  It could explain some things I've previously ascribed to deer or rabbits.  I don't have any dogs to do the treeing, but possums are pretty easy to live trap, so I should get started on that.  Canned cat food and, surprisingly, chocolate cupcakes make good bait.
 
I bought a live trap Sunday on the way out to Eagle Pass, it's in the garden now with a bad tomato, bad strawberries and young peaches I picked to lighten the branch load on another tree. I did learn not to prune and drop under the tree. This is what made me look at the tree. I dropped like 25-30 young peaches on the ground, under the tree, and they were all gone. As well as half the future harvest.
 
Thanks for the info on the cat food and cupcakes. They will into the bait mix if I don't see a critter in there in the morning. I also have the peach tree rigged with 2 snares, but that's an iffy chance of catching one.
 
bpiela said:
Something to do with the possum's I guess.
 
http://www.redneckpossum.com/Recipe_Stew.htm
 LOL, don't think I could go there! Ever see a dead Possum? Kinda rat like :snooty:
 
Well LB and I have been in the garden a lot this weekend. I feel the good Lord gave us just so many squats before the knees say no. I like to save them for when I REALLY need them. LB still has good knees so she weeds and does stuff down low, she trimmed all the tomatoes so we can see under the plants. We've had rattle snakes in the garden before, and we want to be able to see them.
 
I'm finished with the mulch spreading, the garden has been on auto-pilot with nice rains this spring. Although if we don't get rain tonight, I'll hit them with some water tomorrow.
 
I started the sunshade application along with bird netting. One thing we have is birds, they hit anything close to red. So they ruin Tomatoes, Peaches and Peppers.
 
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Just low end stuff to see how it works.
 
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Garden shots, notice all the open slots in the pepper row. The red coffee containers are replacements. 22 peppers ate by the dead animal walking so far.
Yeah the Tom's are going crazy!
 
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Shot of the additional pepper plants, in protection mode, yep, many open spaces there too :crazy:
 
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First peppers from OW Growdown from last season. Yep, trimmed courtesy of the "I'm gonna git you soon" bastage.
 
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One of my favorites, MoA!
 
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Justa Hab :rolleyes:
 
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They love the bee station.
 
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LB is stoked! She has three Pineapples set. If you ever have the chance to grow one, they taste ten times better than the store bought, as they are picked immature. Let them turn gold on the plant and they are 2-3 times sweeter.
 
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With "normal" (for the rest of the world) rain this spring most everything is just going nuts. Garlic harvest is 60 days out and I've never seen trunks like this, ever! My brother sent me some hardnecks from Georgia (not US Georgia) and Romania. I have 3 8' rows. I'd be willing to share. Large cloves!
 
I expect to work on the sunshade and bird netting all week if I can stand the heat. I getting to be such a wuss here lately..LOL. And hopefully it will deter Mr. pepper eater. If not it will leave a hole where I can use to trap it. Gonna get some fur traps manana...
 
Looking good, Scott.  Great photos, as always.  No possum in the trap(s) yet?  I haven't baited my box trap yet, but there's a road kill carcass out by the mailbox.  I'm afraid I waited too long to bury it and it's turned stinky and juicy now.  Guess I'll let nature take its course.
 
What are you going to do with all the tomatoes those plants will produce?
 
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