• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

2010 charlesNYC's Grow Log AKA My Ugly Little Fire Escape

So here it goes. I'm a bit late to post and I don't have as many good pictures as I wish I did. On top of that, my garden is nothing compared to what many of you guys are working with. I don't have a backyard, or even a balcony. I've planned out a Fire Escape Garden for this season, while hoping that next year, I'll be at an apartment with a backyard (not as hard as it sounds, noting I live in Brooklyn).

I'm also very late to the seed-starting party. I sowed my seeds at the beginning of the month; but took care to choose varieties known for setting fruit out early (Tomato's are Early Wonder and New Big Dwarf, and the basils should be ready by the end of next month.).

My super long list of varieties being grown in my Fire Escape (planned and in progress):
2 x Habanero Orange. (bought as 4 for 2 dollars as transplants from a local flower shop).
3 x Ring of Fire Cayenne.


So I'm being a cheap hipster and recycling a lot of the random trash I produce (I drink far too much coke zero).

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The first habanero transplant. (circa May 20th).

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A few seedlings by the Window. (South-facing).
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Starting up a second post now.
 
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Forgive me THP for I have sinned. I have picked a green habanero.
I just couldn't help myself. The pepper had stopped growing about 2 weeks back.

It was a unique experience cutting into it. I had never actually smelled a freshly picked habanero and it put every single one of my supermarket congos to shame.

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I actually used it as a test run for drying using my gas oven. It actually worked. 200 degrees for about 4 and a half hours yielded a crunchy pepper with a bittersweet yet fruity aroma.
I then proceeded to crush it using a mortar and pestle, and it yielded enough crushed pepper to season two and a half PG-rated ground meat taco servings for me and the girlfriend; I'll give it a whirl on friday when she's here.
 
Hi Clarles,
Beautiful girls you got there man, when I planted here in my house, I had these buckets as pots and I had good crops, I believe with you will no be different.
The only advice I give, do not plant in cans because it is very difficult to replant the seedlings :)
Good luck my friend and take care :) :cool:
 
You're Forgiven....and in fact....encouraged to sin some more!


Fresh Peppers! :woohoo: It's all so exciting! First the seeds pop up, then they're potted up, eventually they bud up and soon they're podded up so you can EAT UP!


Don't worry about skipping that one little step of "Ripen Up"~ I think that's optional! :lol:

SL
 
32 days after flowers started to set, here it is:

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my first ripe habanero. my first ripe pepper from a homegrown plant.
there's two more that should be ready by tomorrow, then i can actually try to decide what i'll do with those :-)
 
I can't take any more "looking over my garden"-type pictures. The ring of fires have taken over the fire escape.

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And I've yet to see a single flower drop from this plant. At all.

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Oh yeah, and here's a Chocolate Hab (left), and a Brain Strain (right):

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Here goes an update. It's been a while, so off we go:


These are all from two habanero plants. About a week and a half worth of pods.

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A few still ripening:

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Basically a second wave of flowers are setting now, so, come october, I'll end up with craploads of green habaneros which should be acceptably tasty for making green curry.

Here's a Ring of Fire ripening too. They ripen really really slow compared to Habaneros.

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(continued.)
 
Chocolate Habanero #1 (Overwintering Project)
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Chocolate Habanero #2 (Overwintering Project)
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7 Pod (Brain Strain) (Overwintering Project)
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The Habs have gotten so big they're almost falling over the side of the fire escape:
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New York you're looking like a professional pepper grower dude, congrats! That fire escape is turning into it's own jungle isn't it? Too cool.
 
Good luck with your peppers, I use 16oz. Styrofoam cups to start mine off in. Can you use the roof that would give you more growing space and you could do pretty much a whole roof top garden. I used my own mix that I transfer my plants into, which is a mix of composted wood chips and good old composted cow manure, rotted cattle feed, sand and two or three good handfuls of earth worms and I use inexpensive white 5 gal. buckets for a lot of my peppers, since I'm the only one that grows them, although my brother and his son consumes most of what I grow. Do you plan to over winter any of your plants?
George W.
 
While the roof is accessible, the only way to get there is through a super steep ladder positioned 5 inches from a 25' high atrium-like space. i am so not risking carrying 25 pounds of promix up that unstable thing :-P

but yeah, next year i should have a yard. we'll see.
 
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