DesertChris' High Desert Extreme Gardening Glog

highalt · Apr 12, 2013

I feel your pain on the plant losses! Mine was a stealthy cat instead of a rambunctious puppy, but either way it's hard to see something you've babied for a couple of months get taken out in an instant.

I agree about the hedge planting for windy areas. The winds here aren't quite as bad as where you are, though 30 - 50 mph are pretty normal in the spring here. Last year, I went with the Florida weave concept that's typically used for tomatoes. I planted them not much more than 12" apart, with T-posts every 4', and ran twine back and forth between each T-post, so that the plants were supported on either side. The rows were maybe 3' apart. It was the best my peppers had ever done. They were able to support each other during the winds, and provide a little shade for each other. May use that method on the tomatoes too this year ...

DesertChris · Apr 12, 2013

Exactly!! It's the pets we have to watch out for the most....lol !!! I read your cat scenario too...my condolences....

I figured out the puppy was innocent, it was his Dad, my stud dog. I caught him trying to do it again.
Dang Bird dog thought there was a mouse up there.....dang mouse hunting obsessed bird dog!!
Ever since I put the puppy pen fencing around the table, he has left it alone

Also exactly what I think on the close planting. They work together to stand up to the wind, make shade etc.

Maybe we should call it "Borg Planting"...hahahaha

Shoot, last year, I just let the tomatoes sprawl on the ground....it was a crazy pile, but dang there was a lot of fruit produced, and lower down, there is less wind, and less brwaking off in the wind.
I haven't decided if I am going to let the sprawl, or do the stakes and twine trick...I better decide soon though, planting out time is a coming

During the insane 70+ mph wind, I went out to garden spot #4, and it was nicely sheltered by barn walls on 2 sides...
The wind was insane, but in thatplanned future garden area it was not bad at all

That is where I plan on having the "Bhut Army" planted....they will be quite happy there I think...all 10 gazillion of them...lol

DesertChris · Apr 12, 2013

OK.... A few current photos

A Bonchi Project

3 serranos in a braid

These were kicked out from under the lights to make room for fresh seedlings out of the germ trays this morning

I am SUPER EXCITED about these! Ramon's Jamaican Habaneros!!!!!! I will get them into a germ tray today. THANK YOU RAMON!!
(I know, I said no more seeds, but dangit, these are awesome!! There are a couple more things I am going to have to sow too, so I officially rescind my no more seeds declaration....BWAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahha)

Here we go.... There are cups of seedlings everywhere!! LOL....I am running out of places to put them

So, after the dog pepper stomping scenario, I lost a few, a few more are looking doomed, but most of the victims bounced back.....

I haven't recounted, but I am subtracting an over-estimated # of victims, then adding the new seedlings.... I think I am probably around 1125-1150 plants/seedlings/hooks....

So the Insane overreaching extreme conditions garden project is still going strong...LOL

highalt · Apr 12, 2013

I think someone needs an intervention! :rofl:

Probably won't find anyone willing to do that around here though ...

That is an insane # of plants there!!!

DesertChris · Apr 12, 2013

HAHAHAHHAHA!!!

My gal would probably pay someone to do an intervention..... but I think she has secretly accepted all this nonsense I am doing around here.
I guess she figures it makes me happy

I was done.... I swear....but the germ trays are still loaded with seeds

And then Ramon offered me some of his super awesome strain!

And then Fatalii.net in Finland just released the Fatalii's Gourmet Jigsaw seeds..... So I just had to be one of the first in the USA to obtain them

10 seeds for $20 Euros.....Yikes the little buggers were crazy expensive....
In my pepper obsessed mind, I justified it with the doggie pepper stomping incident...

I ordered them monday, so hopefully they get here soon

I am just hoping that a variety grown in greenhouses in Finland can adapt to the desert....LOL

Devv · Apr 12, 2013

LOL Peppers Anonymous is scheduled to come to your house!

Bet you didn't know they make house calls but...we have an exception here..

Your plants look great Chris!

Really like the braiding :dance:

Hmmm meatballs, we add Parmesan cheese to the mix also.

Scott

DesertChris · Apr 12, 2013

Devv said:
LOL Peppers Anonymous is scheduled to come to your house!

Bet you didn't know they make house calls but...we have an exception here..

Your plants look great Chris!

Really like the braiding
Hmmm meatballs, we add Parmesan cheese to the mix also.

Scott

Thanks Scott

I was totally distraught after the stomping, but spent the time to "repot" the damaged cups etc.....And fter all was said and done, it wasn't as bad as it looked.
At first it truly resembled Shane's Porter Video....

HAHAHA, I will have to load some shot shells with rock salt for those peppers anonymous folk's backsides...LOL

I like the idea of Parmesan in the meataballas

I think I'll try that next time

WalkGood · Apr 13, 2013

Everything looks great! I love the look of the Serrano braid and all dem babies … awesome mon! You won’t hear any intervention talk from me, I’m an enabler … did you need more seed? ROFL … this way I can live vicariously thru those that are in the one thousand plus club! I too will be sowing some additional peppers soon but my crop always stays under 100. I just gave away the balance of all my Datils to make some room, lol.

PS Have you ever tried mixing in minced peppers & onions to your meatballs? This is the bomb … Always great to read your glog, keep up dat great work mon!

Pulpiteer · Apr 13, 2013

Wow, that was a lot to catch up with. I've been super busy. Loved the dog pics and the nicknames. Sounds like a gangster lineup, like the dog version of the Usual Suspects. So it's not surprise that they may behave like outlaws.
Unbelievable wind, wow. If you were living there longer term it would be worth it to do some serious earthworks - berms and what not. Wind is tough to deal with. At least you've got over 1,000 peppers and counting to buffer loss. And I wish I had a dime for each time I've read, "and these will be the last seeds..."

Dot Com · Apr 15, 2013

You look after all those plants by youself?!!! :shocked:

i have around 20 going & can't pot-them-up fast enough. In your defense, you have plenty of space.

DesertChris · Apr 15, 2013

WalkGood said:
Everything looks great! I love the look of the Serrano braid and all dem babies … awesome mon! You won’t hear any intervention talk from me, I’m an enabler … did you need more seed? ROFL … this way I can live vicariously thru those that are in the one thousand plus club! I too will be sowing some additional peppers soon but my crop always stays under 100. I just gave away the balance of all my Datils to make some room, lol.

PS Have you ever tried mixing in minced peppers & onions to your meatballs? This is the bomb … Always great to read your glog, keep up dat great work mon!

HAhAHahaha.... you are an enabler! I sowed all those Jamaicans you sent me, and now am waiting for them to pop

If they all sprout (which they might) I'll have a field of your favorite super special peppers!!!

Pulpiteer said:
Wow, that was a lot to catch up with. I've been super busy. Loved the dog pics and the nicknames. Sounds like a gangster lineup, like the dog version of the Usual Suspects. So it's not surprise that they may behave like outlaws.
Unbelievable wind, wow. If you were living there longer term it would be worth it to do some serious earthworks - berms and what not. Wind is tough to deal with. At least you've got over 1,000 peppers and counting to buffer loss. And I wish I had a dime for each time I've read, "and these will be the last seeds..."

LOL, those dogs are like a band of outlaws! The funny names are their AKC names too

Luckily we have 3 of the 4 garden spots with some form of wind protection already....the area I will be planting sprawling crops like squashes, still needs figuring out though.

Shoot, if I had a dime for every tumbleweed I cleared off the fencelines this weekend, I would never have to work again...LOL!!

Dot Com said:
You look after all those plants by youself?!!! i have around 20 going & can't pot-them-up fast enough. In your defense, you have plenty of space.

Thanks! Yep, right now it is just me....but my gal will get in the swing of things when I get the other types of food plants going.... and when it warms up more....and when the wind goes away...hahaha
Being outside, with the cooler nights, they are growing fairly slowly.....but when it warms up during the nights, I'll need to get them into the ground fast!

Also, we share the gardens with the family next door....and their kids love harvesting peppers!! So when the insane harvest time happens, I will have an army to help out

Our kids are useless when it comes to the garden though...teenagers have other things on their minds...lol

OK, so with all the freaky wind comes tons of sand/dirt flying around in the air......but what is worse is the tumbleweeds!
Danged tumbleweeds!
Tumbleweeds piling high on every fenceline.

I spent most of the weekend clearing stupid tumbleweeds, and not tending pepper plants much at all

And there is still some of those danged things to clear.....

Wind and Sand and Tumbleweeds Oh My....

Yep, there is my update for the weekend...lol

koskorgul · Apr 15, 2013

I will only have 50 or so plants and like you am tending to them myself. Kids have other things they want to do. Come harvest time I am sure they will be out there picking em though.

I still have to figure out where i am gunna put all of em. Got part of the garden ready, did a rough estimate count and figure I am going to be about 20-30 spots short. Have a bunch of 5 gal buckets that I will be using but that still leaves 10-20 spots short. I had figured that I would be able to get about 18-20 plants in an area that is 3x20, recalculated and figure I will get about 9 or 10. One other area will hold 12 or so and then a 3rd will hold 5-7. Have no clue what i would do with over 1100 plants

Vegas_Chili · Apr 15, 2013

Looking good Chris! Dang that wind has to ease now.

Looks like you're gona have a "pepper storm" once those settle in the ground.

, Vegas

WalkGood · Apr 15, 2013

DesertChris said:
HAhAHahaha.... you are an enabler! I sowed all those Jamaicans you sent me, and now am waiting for them to pop If they all sprout (which they might) I'll have a field of your favorite super special peppers!!!

LOL, those dogs are like a band of outlaws! … … …

That’s awesome, are you sure there’s enough to fill dat space, I can always enable more

Don't get me wrong, if I had more time and space, well I do have the space but too many big trees (I'll have to post pics one day but you can get the idea from my chain saw picture on the first page of mi glog). I'd be growing 500 to 1,000+++ and +++++, hehe, so I suffer the same affliction, there can never be too many peppers or stuff to grow, hahahaha!

Band of outlaws, now that pack name is super cool mone so you need to be “Givin dem a Bone.” Hehe!
»» Foobar2k ::: AC/DC - AC/DC Back In Black - 04 - Givin The Dog A Bone (Album Version) ::: 2:17/3:32 (•••••••••&bull

::: 432 kbps ««

Dot Com · Apr 15, 2013

DesertChris said:
I dislike pulling weeds......

can I put that in my signature?

DesertChris said:
And then Fatalii.net in Finland just released the Fatalii's Gourmet Jigsaw seeds..... So I just had to be one of the first in the USA to obtain them
10 seeds for $20 Euros.....Yikes the little buggers were crazy expensive....
In my pepper obsessed mind, I justified it with the doggie pepper stomping incident...
I ordered them monday, so hopefully they get here soon
I am just hoping that a variety grown in greenhouses in Finland can adapt to the desert....LOL

that one sounds quite interesting Chris.

WalkGood · Apr 15, 2013

Yea David is right, I forgot to mention the Gourmet Jigsaw, that sounds awesome mon! Please take plenty of pics to show the progress with that, any pepper that expensive deserves the spotlight

DesertChris · Apr 15, 2013

koskorgul said:
I will only have 50 or so plants and like you am tending to them myself. Kids have other things they want to do. Come harvest time I am sure they will be out there picking em though.

I still have to figure out where i am gunna put all of em. Got part of the garden ready, did a rough estimate count and figure I am going to be about 20-30 spots short. Have a bunch of 5 gal buckets that I will be using but that still leaves 10-20 spots short. I had figured that I would be able to get about 18-20 plants in an area that is 3x20, recalculated and figure I will get about 9 or 10. One other area will hold 12 or so and then a 3rd will hold 5-7. Have no clue what i would do with over 1100 plants

Pack them in there like sardines!! That's what I'm going to do...lol
However, with the wind and intense sun, that's actually what I have to do.
They survive as a "Collective"

Vegas_Chili said:
Looking good Chris! Dang that wind has to ease now.

Looks like you're gona have a "pepper storm" once those settle in the ground.

, Vegas

hahahaha....best kind of storm....EVER!!

WalkGood said:
That’s awesome, are you sure there’s enough to fill dat space, I can always enable more Don't get me wrong, if I had more time and space, well I do have the space but too many big trees (I'll have to post pics one day but you can get the idea from my chain saw picture on the first page of mi glog). I'd be growing 500 to 1,000+++ and +++++, hehe, so I suffer the same affliction, there can never be too many peppers or stuff to grow, hahahaha!

Band of outlaws, now that pack name is super cool mone so you need to be “Givin dem a Bone.” Hehe!
»» Foobar2k ::: AC/DC - AC/DC Back In Black - 04 - Givin The Dog A Bone (Album Version) ::: 2:17/3:32 (•••••••••&bull ::: 432 kbps ««

Ummm.... maybe you just need to grow those Tepin's, Pequins etc.... They apparently like a nice tree to hang out underneath
Then you could have an undergrowth of deliciousness

Believe me, I am eyeballing the whole empty acre in the far back....LOL
If I had enough windblocking stuff, manure and water supply out there, it would be on like donkey kong....

However....I have no idea what I will be doing with all of the harvest this year...Dry as much as possible, fill the freezers, and make sauce etc.... but there will be sooo much (hopefully) that I may have to sit out front and have a pepper selling booth in the driveway just to get rid of them....LOL

Dot Com said:
can I put that in my signature?

that one sounds quite interesting Chris.

HAHAHA...you betcha.... use it if you want.. I should have "I hate Tumbleweeds....and Wind... in my sig

Yep, I was waiting for Fatalli.net to release those seeds, I figured it would be next year, but they done did it

They were waaaaay too expensive, but I figure if they grow nicely here, I will have plenty of seeds to share/trade every etc, so worth "Dollar converted into Euros"
And the photos of the pods look insane...just oozing with the good stuff

WalkGood said:
Yea David is right, I forgot to mention the Gourmet Jigsaw, that sounds awesome mon! Please take plenty of pics to show the progress with that, any pepper that expensive deserves the spotlight

I just hope they germinate!!

I was considering babying them/it on the porch.

I am definately very excited about it. They are pretty crazy looking.
I read he started with Morugas and bred them with other stuff to get what he came up with

I think I have way too many Superhots in my grow....probably burn my poor face right off in harvest season....hahahahha

RocketMan · Apr 15, 2013

Great glog going here Chris. Your area reminds me a lot of when I lived in Abilene, TX. The elevation is different but the Sun, amount of rain and that dang wind are the same I'll bet. Good luck with the grow.

RM

DesertChris · Apr 15, 2013

RocketMan said:
Great glog going here Chris. Your area reminds me a lot of when I lived in Abilene, TX. The elevation is different but the Sun, amount of rain and that dang wind are the same I'll bet. Good luck with the grow.

RM

I would gladly move to where you are now!! Yep, Hot, Sand and Wind....No Rain....etc....

highalt · Apr 15, 2013

I feel your pain on the tumbleweeds! Never saw one before, except in movies, until I moved here, and had no idea those things were covered in thorns!!!