A Learning Curve - Physics' 2014 Glog

So, gardening has become a new obssession of mine.  Wife and I did our first last year which consisted of Tomatos, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Squach, and Peppers.  I started researching about gardenting (mostly youtube) and stumbled across videos of chili heads testing these rare varieties of peppers.  I already liked a bit of spice in my food and had made some hot sauces of sorts, so this year I wanted to try some of these "rare" varieties.  So here I am starting my garden for 2014 and am adding a large variety of peppers to my grow. 
 
My last garden mostly consisted of getting plants from lowes and transferring them into some garden beds that I had made.  This year I'm getting an early start and starting from seed.  I'm quite new to gardening and I figure the best way to get critisism about my process is to start a Glog and let everyone watch & comment on what I'm doing. 
 
I'll start with the new garden beds that I made.
 

 
The large one is going to be peppers only.  It's 10' x 5' and I plan to plant 15 plants in it.  The soil that I've loaded into it might not be optimal, but it worked really well last year.  My parents have a horse farm, and I loaded up a bunch of decomposed manuer and dumped it in.  The manuer is a combination of shavings, horse poop/pee, and straw.  I'm not sure the advantages/disadvantages of using this as the base of my soil, so If anyone has advice, I'm all ears.  I will sprinkle a few bags of garden soil on top too, and have entertained the idea of mixing in sand.  I also didn't use any fertilizers last year, and plan to change that.  I'm pretty sure this "soil" is pretty dense in some types of nutrients, so not sure what would best compliment it.
 
P.S.  I'm really digging this website by the way.  Seems like a good site and I'm looking forward to being a part of this community.

 

[Runescape]

This reminds me of a ladybug larva, but im no expert lol. Indigo tomatoes look pretty neat, i wonder how they taste...

 

[kgetpeppers]

Holes look like that of what slugs did to a few of my jalepenos last year.

 

[Jeff H]

+1 on 42. Those holes are from slugs or snails. Some slug bait will take care of them.

 

[Physics202]

Holes look like that of what slugs did to a few of my jalepenos last year.

 
 

+1 on 42. Those holes are from slugs or snails. Some slug bait will take care of them.

 
I'm planning to get some epsom salt and sprinkle it around the plants on top of the soil, but I suppose that's not really a long term solution for slugs.  Last year we put a bowl of beer level with the soil and the slugs gravitated to it and drowned themselves.  I won't lie, if I was a slug and I had to be terminated, this would be my option of choice   I'll look into some slug bait cause we really do have a ton of them. 
 

Bump for another Virgininian.

 
Thank you kind sir.  That's one hell of a "little" garden you have.  I assume everything survived the monsoon?

 

[Seacowboy]

Bury a small tupperware or cup up to the rim and pour some cheapy, shitty beer in. Slugs will dive in and drown. Dump and refresh every few days.

Plants are looking real good. Hope your not in an area their calling for 4-6" of rain today and tomorrow. I am. Glad I left the trenches between rows, next year will have raised rows.

edit. Sorry I did read all the way down to the bottom that you got it figured out on the slug and beer combo.

And thanks you, they did survive so far, see how they do after this next round.

 

[Physics202]

Been a while since I updated.  My wife had our baby just 3 weeks ago, so you can imagine I've been quite occupied.
 
The garden has been thriving!  Just about every plant is absolutely loaded with peppers.  There's only one that doesn't have any fruit, but everything else is going crazy with pods.  Pics!
 
First Cayenne Reddening
IMG_1058 by physics202, on Flickr
 
Choc Hab but a couple pods have had this brown spot on them, assuming a bug of sorts?
IMG_1055 by physics202, on Flickr
 
Some really nice looking MoA's courtesy of King Denniz
IMG_1054 by physics202, on Flickr
 
Some reapers, looks like the right phoenotype
IMG_1053 by physics202, on Flickr
 
Bananna Peppers everywhere!  I've already eaten a few of these
IMG_1052 by physics202, on Flickr
 
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion is one hell of a healthy plant.  These pods are everywhere.
IMG_1051 by physics202, on Flickr
 
First Fresno Ripening
IMG_1059 by physics202, on Flickr
 
Garden Shots
IMG_1057 by physics202, on Flickr
IMG_1056 by physics202, on Flickr
 
Thanks for checking out my glog

 

[Physics202]

First harvest that is not me just picking a pepper or two off. 
In here I have white hab, O. Hab X scotch bonnet, Jay's peach ghost scorpion, jaloro, and fresno
 
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
Anyone know how I can make changes to my GLOG title?
 
Thanks for viewing

 

[Physics202]

RIP my Reaper plant.  Aparently the storms last night tore it apart.  Found this, this morning.
 
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
The plant was looking sooo good too.  there is still one branch that is in tact with peppers, but still fairly sad.  I was looking forward to these peppers.  A lot of my plants have 3 or 4 branches that originate from the base.  I'm assuming this has to do with some of my pruning.  But it makes for some weak branches.  I'll have to do some adjustments next year.  After all there is a learning curve to all this...

 

[Slizarus]

Oh no, you couldn't tie it together again?

 

[Physics202]

Oh no, you couldn't tie it together again?

 
The branches were completely snapped off.  I'm sure there's ways to mend the branches back onto the plant, but it's not something that i'm very familiar with.
 
 
On a positive note; Harvests are getting a little bigger.  I have a hard time letting ripe peppers sit on the plants.
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
I froze the green reapers and might make something out of them.  We'll see. 
 
A couple foodie pics. 
I made my first round of stuffed peppers.  In the past I just dumped in ingredients that I liked and made it happen.  This time I followed a recipe and it turned out awesome!  I actually wasn't a big fan of the peppers themselves.  I don't think I cooked them quite long enough, and they were extremely thick walled.  They came from my chinese giant plant.  Still delicious though.
Recipe:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRjYfgy5WGw&list=UUnJm8wC-ABOvOn2piAt2WYg
 
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
 
Last night we had some ribeyes and mashed potatoes.  I decided on chedder sour cream and chive potatoes and had a fire roasted fresno with my steak.  Standard salt pepper garlic onion rub on the steak.
 
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr

 

[Slizarus]

Yum

 

[Physics202]

Pod harvests are in full effect.  Here's some pics of my most recent 3 pulls.  Only phone camera pics this time.
 
#1
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
 
#2
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
My first choc fatalii, savanah 7 pot, and choc hab although I had to throw away the hab.  I think BER from over watering.
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
#3
This was after I gave out 20 or so peppers to some coworkers.  Biggest harvest to date!
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
Choc Fatalii
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
Choc Habs
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
MoAs (KingDenniz)
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion.  Not like what I've seen from other peoples GLOGs.  Not sure if it was bad seeds or good seeds that just had a variation.
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
Filling up freezerbags to make lots of sauces, and also going to dry some and make powders.  Thanks for checking out my GLOG

 

[Runescape]

Whoa, awesome pod pics, dude...

 

[Physics202]

Got some garden pics this time
 
Here's the reaper plant that got snapped earlier.  Seems to be recovering quite nicely.
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
Even have a couple ripening, although I'm a little scared to dive into some of these supers...
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
 
Choc Habs and fataliis are coming in
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
 
MoAs are ripening in decent batches
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
 
Delicious Biker Billy's
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
 
Savanah 7 pots are moving slow, but I have a few
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
 
This reg fatalii is freaking loaded, although not a single ripe pod yet.
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
 
My harvest Dumped on the counter
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
 
And finally assorted
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
 
I counted 48 of the Jay's peach ghost scorpion pods with this pull.  I already have two 1-gallon freezer bags filled... This plant has just been going crazy!  Super happy with my garden so far.  Only plants that haven't put out any ripe pods yet are the reg fatalii and the reg scotch bonnet.  Everything else is kicking in high gear.

 

[Physics202]

Food Entry for today!  Made my first poppers of the season(long overdue, but it's hard to handle spicy things when there's a newborn)
 
The stuffing: Cream cheese, shredded cheddar, and some BBQ pulled pork
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
Slathered into a couple nice ripe jalapenos, later topped with some more cheddar and bacon, then thrown in the oven.
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
While cooking I sliced up a choc fatalii and heated up some bbq for a sandwich.  Good amount of placenta on that fatalii.  This was the first one I've tasted.
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
Choc fatalii mixed in with the BBQ and topped with coleslaw on a potato roll.  Poppers on the side.
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
Not exactly the healthiest lunch, but damn good!
 
Thanks for checking out my glog

 

[AlabamaJack]

have you had any issue with pods that have gone bad and that have tiny holes up near the calyx

 

[Physics202]

have you had any issue with pods that have gone bad and that have tiny holes up near the calyx

I've definitely had my share that have had some tiny holes, assuming bugs.  And also a few with some BER.

 

[Koreansoul]

I see a lot of people post food to thier Glogs, so I'm joining on that badwagon too.  This is something you call a fattie in the world of BBQ.
 
Start out with a bacon weave

 
Then take a tube of breakfast sausage and flatten it out

 
Add any ingredients you like.  In this one there's mozorella, jalapenos, and black olives

 
Roll it up and dose it with your favorite dry rub or pepper powder.

 
Wrap the bacon weave around it

 
Fire up the smoker with your favorite wood.  Today I used pecan and white oak.

 
And smoke it for about 2 hours at 250ish.  No need to worry about overcooking it too as there's plenty of fat to keep this thing moist.

 
One thing I do not recommend is putting this over direct heat without anything to catch the drippings, else fire will ensue quite quick... Also, use wax paper to lay out your bacon and sausage, and use to paper to roll it,  don't try to roll it by hand.
 

 
Sweet Korean Baby Jebus. 

 

[Physics202]

Fataliis are finally coming in.  The choc fatalii is my favorite of my peppers so far, so I'm pretty excited about trying these out. 
 
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
This one looks like its glowing radioactively....
Untitled by physics202, on Flickr
 
This plant easily has 125+ pods.  It's currently about 5 feet tall and super wide.
 
 
Thanks for checking out my glog