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

Bike808 getting Dirty in Jersey

Well, it's that time of year where old fashioned folks are making resolutions, and I want to resolve to work on my GLOG consistently in 2019. 2018 was a great year, despite some considerable setbacks. I managed to grow far more chiles than I could ever hope to eat, so I gave tons away. In the end, a few disappointments aside, it was an overall successful season.

The same cannot be said for my GLOG. I neglected the fark out of my 2018 GLOG. This year, I want to post at least once a week, no matter what.

At this point, I don't want to post lists or anything because I have a herculean season ahead of me. See, I intend to overhaul my yard, build some beds, order up some topsoil and compost to fill then, amend the soil with all kinds of other Bullshit, and have all that done before it's time to plant out. Of course, before then, I'll need to have started all my plants and I'll need to know what I'm looking at in terms of density and (dis)organization. Hmmmph.

But, long story short, I'm learning from past mistakes. Only using the right kind seed starting soil. Going to be more diligent with my seeds as I sow them, to avoid leggy-azz seedlings. Harden off early but slowly, and methodically. Try to figure out fertilizers, and maybe develop and enact a strategy as far as that goes, rather than randomly dumping Alaska Fish Ferts on my plants whenever the whim hits me. In summary, take another step towards becoming a real gardener.

So, yeah, I plan on planting less densely this year, so I need to figure some shit out, but a GLOG ain't a GLOG if the first post doesn't include some name-dropping as far as intended varieties. This year will be my usual: far too many Yella Bonnets, a bit too many red, orange, and chocolate Bonnets, various Superhots of the Seven Pot and Ghost/Naga groups, some low heat Habs, many Jalapeños (strictly Zapotec this year), mild to mid Mexican kitchen staples, random other shit, and I have some baccatums to try out this year. (I bought a Bishop's Crown plant from CCN in 2018 and I'm stoked to try others now...)

Oh, and Fataliis. Plenty of those little yellow treasures. The best.

Thanks for reading. Oh, and if anyone wants to be my accountabili-buddy on this one, i'd appreciate it. Just making reminders in case I neglect my GLOG again, LOL...

-rob
 
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Wow.

I guess I inadvertently abandoned this thing. I've had since heartache and some headaches. I had issues with the weather, what turned out to be an incomplete hardening off period, et cetera. So my plants looked awful and I guess shame pushed me away from my own GLOG.

Fast forward to now, and my beds are looking better, and my Shame has become stale. It's still there, but it has lost its pungency. Click on the links to see updated pics of my gardens, from today. Yeah, the strong winds, constant rain, and hot sun have taken their toll on my plants, but they are creating new growth like crazy, plus pods. Please, take a look:

Community Gardens:
http://imgur.com/gallery/tzHR6ES

My stuff at home:
http://imgur.com/a/K8hKK0O

There some info in the captions.

Thanks for reading,
Rob
 
Haha, right now, my wife is in a Summer League where they score 9s as strikes if you roll a 9 on the first toss per frame. Not my style, plus i work on Thursday nights and that's when the games are. So yeah, right now, she's the bowler. I haven't exactly retired, but for me, this is my off-season.

Yeah, the Bonnet Bed at the Community Garden is pretty sanitary. Many of the "weeds" in the other beds are volunteers, but yeah, there's some grass and stuff too. This is only year two for the Bonnet Bed; I built it and filled it at the beginning of 2018's season, so i guess I don't have a lot of bioflora built up in there yet. Plus, being that Yella Bonnets are my main event, my true passion, I probably weed that bed more diligently than the others...
 
Good to be able to catch up on your progress bikeman.  I notice you brought in a chair beside your community garden plots - are you paying your uncle e his royalties on that?
 
Things look really good and it's great to see you getting into ripe pods. Looks like the flow will really be picking up soon and you should have plenty of "extras" to throw at pedestrians and try to convince ol' Cat Stevens to eat.
 
There's something I really like about that one bed you have out in front of your place. Not sure what exactly it is, but it just looks really cool.
 
Anyhow, cheers man. Keep up the good.
 
Haha, the chair has been with the garden longer than I have. They got a few up there. I just been kickin back on that one for the past three years... Does uncle E have a similar habit?
****Edit...NOW I get it. http://thehotpepper.com/topic/70555-next-to-my-chair/page-1# ***

Ol Yusuf won't ever eat a pepper. We have enough trouble getting his finicky old ass to eat the turkey-flavored cat food; he only likes the chicken. He's such a burning disappointment.

I'm not sure if you're mentioning that front bed bc of the "legal issues" thread, or if you just actually like it, lol. That little bed has already given me three router SuperHot Pods so I'm head-over-held in love with it... Even if it is an eyesore. The way ask if those plants are sprouting new branches, though, it's going to look rad before long. I had envisioned the whole thing just crammed full of bushy Chinense plants, and I think I'll get there by the end of July.

The neighbors have been very supportive, with just a hint of humor about it.
 
Nah man. No special significance; I just look at your little bed out front in the picture and there's something about it I like.  Can't really explain.  I always have a few peppers out front, usually rocotos or something that doesn't need a full day of sun.  But they're just kinda tucked around as an afterthought.  I will say I was cracking up though reading your list of what to do with extra peppers.  
 
CaneDog said:
Good to be able to catch up on your progress bikeman.  I notice you brought in a chair beside your community garden plots - are you paying your uncle e his royalties on that?
Click to expand...
 
LOL  All the chairs next to the peppers are really cool. 
 
 
Bicycle808 said:
The neighbors have been very supportive, with just a hint of humor about it.
Click to expand...
 
A bad neighbor is a misfortune, as much as a good one is a great blessing. 
 
Glad to see you are alive and well, Rob.
Your garden beds look great - I really like
your signs. Very creative and puts a nice
finishing touch on the community garden
beds.

Your plants have made great progress -
do not stay away from your own grow
log any more
 
PaulG said:
Glad to see you are alive and well, Rob.
Your garden beds look great - I really like
your signs. Very creative and puts a nice
finishing touch on the community garden
beds.

Your plants have made great progress -
do not stay away from your own grow
log any more
Click to expand...
Thanks, Paul. I made the signs to comply with a Community Garden rule that all the growers, including myself, had been flouting for years. But I actually ended up having fun making those. Then, some of the other growers liked them enough that I was commissioned to make a couple more for other ppl's beds. It's the kind of project I don't normally do, and I enjoyed it more than I expected.

But I appreciate the kind words about my plants. I had really burned some of them out. Especially the Bonnets at the Community Garden; some of those were fried down to almost nothing, bit they definitely recovered. Lots of lush new foliage and many of them are setting pods.

So, yes, I'll be adding to my GLOG more often in the future. Sucks how I'm linking the pictures now, but I can't seem to post pictures properly from my phone. I'll have to work on that...
 
Holy crap, I surely did abandon my GLog again. I'm feeling so ashamed.

But I haven't abandoned my gardens. I have been absolutely overrun with these pods. I've been sending out some boxes, making gallons of sauce, smoking pods, eating tons of food, bartering with local eateries for modelos and brisket, all my usual shit. I'm disappointed in myself for not buying a dehydrator yet, but I'm pretty weird about getting the "right" appliance, and they were sold out of the one I wanted.

Overall, though, I'm stoked to say that I have only lost one plant. I have two plants (same type) that are producing very late. Just now setting tiny pods, even though they have had the same timeline as all my other SuperHots. These are JPGS x Primos. Plants look fine, not as big and strong as some others, but definitely near mid-pack in terms of growth and vigor... They just didn't even bloom until quite recently. And I've got one oddball that I posted about in the "growing" forum that just has all its flowers wither and die without dropping. But, otherwise, the other 169 plants are mostly doing very well, and producing nicely.

What I learned this year is that I don't really need to grow so many different types. Really, I just need to grow my favorites/classics, maybe a super in each color, including both a lightweight red and a heavy-hitting red, very few red, orange, and chocolate Hab-level things plus as many Yella Scotch Bonnets as I have room for, some low-heat Chinense (Aji Jobito has been great), and a bunch of Jalapeños.

I want to grow other annuums, but I just never get psyched about them and, to be honest, I have these two little 8x2' beds along the side of my house. One has Serranos, Mulattos, and de Arboles--6 plants total. The other has Nagas, Ghosts, and Shabu²--6 plants total. The one bed looks like a lush jungle, and the other looks like the most meager, puny garden ever. It's just the growing habits of annuums vs chinense. I'd have to plant 12 annuums in the same space to make it look as verdant and impressive as the chinense bed.

So, maybe I'll just do that...

But I cannot help but feel like both the plants and the pods are just so much more awe-inspiring from the chinense. For me, anyways.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I feel bad about ghosting my GLog, but posting from my phone, the pics are just tough to upload here, and so danged easy on other sites. I guess it comes down to convenience...

I'll log on thru a computer and dump some highlights soon, I guess.
 
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