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glog 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.
 
 
 

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The garden is now officially prepped for laying fallow/cooking until next spring. I paved the row areas with cardboard and covered it with mulch. The squash area is covered with mulch with old tarps on top. I'm storing all my pulled posts, cages, row fencing and misc crap on top for the duration. Anything green showing itself between the cracks will be summarily nuked on a regular basis. Due to lack of hours in a day, I blew off planting beans on the rows to fix nitrogen.

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The first ripe winter squash from the compost bin squash pile. I think this is my earliest fully matured butternut ever. Not too big but it will make some good eats.

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DWB said:
The garden is now officially prepped for laying fallow/cooking until next spring. I paved the row areas with cardboard and covered it with mulch. The squash area is covered with mulch with old tarps on top. I'm storing all my pulled posts, cages, row fencing and misc crap on top for the duration. Anything green showing itself between the cracks will be summarily nuked on a regular basis. Due to lack of hours in a day, I blew off planting beans on the rows to fix nitrogen.

b0iBOYm.jpg


The first ripe winter squash from the compost bin squash pile. I think this is my earliest fully matured butternut ever. Not too big but it will make some good eats.

myFS8JO.jpg
Click to expand...

I used to grow squash on a compost heap. Gluttonous weeds... but very productive.
 
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The vet was here last Tuesday. He did the stain/micro exam and dug out the implant. He said Cadi's eye is good and eyes damaged like his was are rarely saved outside of a hospital like Auburn or LSU. I finish weaning him off the medications tomorrow. So glad it's over but knocking on some wood right now.

This is a picture from last Friday. He's still a little squinty from the SPL removal. That was kinda brutal because granulated tissue had grown over the part inside his head. Poor kid. I felt so badly for him but at least he was sound asleep of his feet for that. And for an hour after it was over.

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My Yellow Scorpions are all happy in their new home. The two other groups are staying by the house.

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Sounds like things are working out for ol' Cadillac! Great news, DW!
 
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Radio silence from here for a while. I've been taking some pictures, moving some to the computer, mostly not. It's a nice rainy day today so I decided to start over.

Here's the red cardi group.

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The two reapers, a douglah and the yellow naga brainstrains.

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The yellow cardi group. Out there all by themselves.

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Nothing is doing well yet, neither plants of pods, but I'm sure that's a function of not repotting with new mix until the end of May. Oh well, they'll do what I need them to do regardless. I'll have to bag a few pretty soon for isolation.

Here's some of the red cardi peppers and some of my yellows. I'm still very pleased with my yellow cardi mutants.

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Plants look good to me, DW! What's your thoughts on those solar-powered watering systems, now that you've used them for a while?
 
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Thanks DR.

I like those gizmos pretty well. One thing I've learned this year is the bottom of the tank, end of the draw pipe filters can load up inside with green slime and cut off the draw. I guess it takes a while because I never noticed it last year. I have extras so I substitute a clean one and soak the funky one in some bleach for a while to clear it out.

One thing I learned very quickly last year is a white draw tank needs to be wrapped to keep light out or it gets really green inside and it doesn't take long. I just bought me a new 32 gallon garbage can from Wally on Thursday for less refilling. I'll repurpose my white 13 gallon bucket wrapped with a piece of panda vapor barrier to store some compost.

One type I have is more programmable but it's a PITA. Another kind has adequate programming but it's a lot more user friendly.
 
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