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Devv's 2014- Stick a fork in me, I'm done....

Time for the 2014 start...
 
Many of these plants were made possible by the generous people of the THP sending me seeds and pods Thanks!
 
I'm looking forward to warmer weather and dirt day!
 
I have a bunch of seeds started, and plants at all the stages.
 
Here's the grow bench, a T8 x4 on top and T5 x4 on the bottom, as you can see it's loaded.
 
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Top rack:
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Bottom rack:
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I like starting the seeds in Jiffy Pellets, as soon as they stand up I trim the mesh off and plant them 1/2" proud in a pot, or in this case a cup.
 
Red Rocotto the lonely Pube..
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A few plants living under the T5, I'm super impressed with this light!
 
Choc Hab
 
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Bhut x Y7 x Choc Bhut Douglah-Spicegeist
 
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Bhut x Y7 F2-Spicegeist
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Yellow Cardi- Jamie
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Choc Scorp-Ramon
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Peach Bhut- Annie
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Going to do some tilling will post more later
 
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maximumcapsicum said:
Mulch pile is gonna burst into flames... You'll probably have a November bumper crop in your compost.
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 Hah!
 
I was spreading that first pile of ground up stuff, while the ditches were flooding. Trying to stay away from breathing any dust because it burned, it also burned my eyes, and like I said I was avoiding it!
 
cone9 said:
Scott, you don't gear down even when you gear down!  With the size of your garden that shredder will be so useful for you.
 
Congratulations on 2000 posts and...

...101 pages!
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Thanks Dave,
 
The plants are about done. Going to let them run for another 11 days. It's been really hot and some that have pods are getting sunburned because the leaves are drying in the afternoon. They always look OK in the AM but they are exposing the pods to direct sunlight.
 
I have three large trees to process that died from weather. So me the chipper and log splitter will be busy this winter..One was lightning struck and kind of exploded, one fell over in a storm. It rained a few days in a row and then we had high winds, it was in a place where it couldn't set deep roots either due to rock terrain. The last one just died, dunno why. So I'll use it for that. Then there's the garden waste and mulch pile, it's too dry here to really have things break down. SO I can grind it up and till it in. The third and probably major thing for it will be to regrind the RCW I get from the county. They must use a monster sized chipper because it's extremely course.

capsidadburn said:
Great looking poddage and harvest Scott! Looks like small chance of rain today coming from your direction. Hope you got some.

Truly amazing grow Scott!
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Thanks Mike,
 
We didn't get any rain, but it came close! At least what hit the ground was in the recharge zone, but I don't think it amounted to very much. But rain in August? That's a really good sign!
 
I'll give you a few weeks and then I'll send you a box of pepper varieties you aren't growing.  I have some nice mild hots and my Charapita and C chacoense should be producing by then as well.
 
Things are looking pretty rough in the garden, the plants are drying out daily in the triple digit heat, which is forecast for at least the next 10 days. It's just that time of the year. Many of the pods are getting sun scald as the plants are dropping leaves which leaves them exposed.
 
So I spread out the material I chipped and tilled it in yesterday. The ground was so hard I ran a sprinkler for and hour and tilled it again today as I was watering. I was only out there an hour as it was hot, hot! The second tilling got the material deep enough to satisfy me. As I was checking the bubbler's I noticed broken branches on some of the plants. It's been pretty windy, and I thought OK, we had some strong gusts today. Then I saw the cowpie, and next the 13 month old Heifer eating the squash plants. What the hell?
 
She trashed the fence on the Northeast side of the garden. So now I'm waiting for her and her mom to move out of the "kitchen pasture" so I can close the gate. Shes a prime animal I want to keep, I had to get rid of the last heifer born here because she crashed fences to hang with the neighbors herd. Hope she behaves.
 
Back to the dirt prep. The area I tilled has just beautiful dark soil, I still have to shred and spread more of the semi composted leaf-manure pile and till it in. Then it will be ready for the cover crop to be planted by 9-15.
 
Friday eve.!
 
Sounds like your staying busy with ground prep. I've seen the chipper they use here at the county land fill. it's a huge machine the pull with a semi truck. It will grind up 3ft whole trees and then some. I could only imagine what that machine costs. Sorry to hear about the broken branches and squash.

Have a great Friday. Don't get to overheated.
 
Too bad about the cow; they can cause huge amounts of damage.  During my first attempt at commercial tomato production, 40+ years ago, the neighbor's cows escaped their pasture and walked through and across my tomato field.  I was using a variation of the Florida weave (don't think it was called that back then), so they would take down whole sections of rows when they walked across them. 
 
randyp said:
      Once them cows go thru the fence the first time you are screwed with that SOB.I still help my sis collect her highway bound cattle. :P
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I'm hoping this one doesn't get the wanderlust, so far she just knocked down the rabbit fence. Once they move out of the pasture I'll lock them out until it cools.
 
OCD Chilehead said:
Sounds like your staying busy with ground prep. I've seen the chipper they use here at the county land fill. it's a huge machine the pull with a semi truck. It will grind up 3ft whole trees and then some. I could only imagine what that machine costs. Sorry to hear about the broken branches and squash.

Have a great Friday. Don't get to overheated.
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I haven't seen the one they use in our county, but the mulch pile they have is just a mountain!
 
Thanks, I've been here a long time and know how to stay hydrated and not over do. I can say this I'm ready for the cooler weather!
 
stickman said:
That's cows for ya... just be glad they're not goats... they wouldn't have stopped at squash.
 
Good on ya for doing your soil prep before sowing the cover crop. It's not time for that here yet, but probably in October. Cheers!
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Cows, they can ruin anything. Fences are just a deterrent, if they really want to go somewhere, they do so. But they save me over $500 a year based on 1990 taxes and I get to sell one every so often ;)
 
Yes sir!  I want the goodies in now so they have all winter to marinate. Once the cover crop gets around 6 to 9"s high it creates it's own weather and water is no longer needed in most cases. Then it just breaks down wonderfully.
 
PeriPeri said:
Chilli beef on the cards I reckon ;)
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LOL!
 
 
Sawyer said:
Too bad about the cow; they can cause huge amounts of damage.  During my first attempt at commercial tomato production, 40+ years ago, the neighbor's cows escaped their pasture and walked through and across my tomato field.  I was using a variation of the Florida weave (don't think it was called that back then), so they would take down whole sections of rows when they walked across them. 
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Now that sucks! Do you have wild hogs? They rototilled my back yard 3 times in one winter a few years ago. Made 1 foot deep trenches and hills, glad I have the tractor.
 
So I went out to take a pic of the portion I'm working on, and the herd (all 2) was headed to water so I was able to close the gate. So that's that for now.
 
Here's where I'm at:
 
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The soil I tilled has a really nice color, plenty of RCW tilled in, now adding the shredded leaf manure mix, the piles are kind of hard to see. I just fill up 5 gallon buckets and space them equally. Then I'll spread it out and till it in. I'm hoping to finish this section Sunday. I should be getting more leaves soon, and they will get ground up and added too. I'm hoping to be able to get 2 cover crops in before spring.
 
I'll also start scarfing RCW from the county after I'm done with all the materials in the garden. The area I'm working on is going to be my RCW experiment, I'll also setup a frame system for the sun shades over the winter. Yeah ambitious plans ;)
 
The overall goal is to do a better job rotating the crops.
 
It's Friday! Yeah baby!
 
Nice job with soil prep Scott! With all the humus you're putting into the soil and two cover crops of green manure I can tell next year is gonna be even bigger than this one... keep up the good great work!
 
HillBilly Jeff said:
That section is looking nice.  Looks like it will grow some nice vegges 
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Thanks Jeff,
 
I'm hoping the Crimson Clover offsets the nitrogen the RCW uses.
 
capsidadburn said:
Sorry about the minor setbacks Scott!  Your hardwork looks great.  Good luck with the RCW!  I look forward to when I can spread some of that in a new place.
 
Later
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Thanks Mike,
 
I ran some of the RCW I gathered last winter through the chipper and it came out really nice and fine. I should break down quickly, or at least I'm hoping ;)
 
PIC 1 said:
The dirt prep looks well worked. ......I can see how your garden swings full cycle, 2 cover crops before spring ......nice !
Amazing....you've always got it going.
Enjoy your weekend..
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Thanks Greg,
 
 That center section will get tilled in the morning, I added between 2-3"s of material. Cover crop starts September 15th.
 
stickman said:
Nice job with soil prep Scott! With all the humus you're putting into the soil and two cover crops of green manure I can tell next year is gonna be even bigger than this one... keep up the good great work!
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Thanks Rick,
 
I know I  made the right decision with next weekend as the pull the pug date. Just that one pic of the part that didn't get the rehab last year is enough to convince me.
 
 
maximumcapsicum said:
Cow! Everyone likes a nutritious garden!

Work is looking good Scott. You'll be in ship shape soon. It's good that you're taking care of the soil.
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Thanks Adam,
 
I have so much more to do, but a little at a time ;)
 
OCD Chilehead said:
Looking good Scott. I hope to someday have soil like yours. We have lots of leaves here in the Fall. I'm going to take your advice and start there.

Have a great weekend.
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Thanks Chuck,
 
You have the chipper, the tiller, and the leaves will be there soon. I say you're ready to rock!
 
You too enjoy the weekend!
 
So we had all these Pears, given to us by a coworkers Father. He's a Chilihead, funny thing he's a retired auto technician too.
 
So we made a Pear-Jalapeno Chutney today. we used a recipe from here:
 
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/jalapeno-pear-chutney
 
Pretty much made it to their specs except I added a MoA to the recipe. it's still simmering and we'll put it in the fridge to mingle before canning tomorrow.
 
Initial tastes are good!
 
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Tonight's dinner:
 
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Marinated chicken cooked with onions and sweet peppers.
 
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Plate shot, with Greg's Sweet Dragon on my plate.
 
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