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

Devv · Jan 20, 2014

stc3248 said:
Yup Scott concur with Rick on the fused coty...that plus the seed hat will have it moving slow. Give it a spot with PLENTY of good light and once (if) it shoots out some true leaves it'll be fine. Luckily its a Jal...and no biggie either way.

The way it looks, I'm wondering where it would put the new growth. I'm gonna let it hang, may turn into the most productive plant..

Your photo skills are moving to the next level too! Very nice...the colors look perfect which are really hard to capture in most lighting conditions. Loving the look of your plot too, it looks set to explode in another month or two. Seems like just yesterday you were asking if growing in your area was even possible...now you're teaching the class! Gonna be one of my favorite spots to check in on this season! Give a shout if you need anything brother!

Thanks Shane!

I appreciate the positive vibes! I put a lot of elbow greese into the plot, I think it's gonna do well. Praying for more rain this year

stickman said:
I'll say it's a good sign! There was good nitrogen for it to scavenge up in the first place, and now you know it'll be fixed in place for the veggies. I'll prep for spring planting as I always have since it's too late to put in cover crops now, but I like a mix of spring and fall veggies, so I'll plant early cover crops in the plots where I'll be planting things for fall harvest and over the whole garden when I clean up after final harvest. I want to see if I can limit my expenditures on amendments to the occasional bag of rock phosphate, green sand or agricultural lime and do all my fertilizing with green manure and compost made from our kitchen waste and the occasional bucket of chicken s#!&...

Low row covers are very cheap... I use 10 foot lengths of half inch PVC every 2 feet for the frame and cover them with 4 mil sheet poly. I set the ends of the pipe sections a foot deep and five feet apart, and the top of the arch ends up about waist high. If it's cheaper for you, you could use electrical conduit instead of the PVC. Both come in 10 foot lengths. The sheet poly isn't UV stabilized, so it only lasts a season or two (if you remove it when it's no longer needed and store it out of the sun), but it's cheap and effective.

I think I have $55 invested in the OW part of the garden, $20 for the clover seed and $35 for 1 yd of compost. I had 8 yds of my own from cleaning horse pens and ran out. I also added the ashes from the fireplace...

I have a 4 day weekend, coming up, and will be in San Antonio. So I'll visit Lowe's and see what the cost is..

The stock show means so much around here they close school, days off? OK by me!

maximumcapsicum said:
Is this the first year you've done a cover crop?

Adam,

I've been planting cover crops for quite some time, this is my first year adding nitrogen fixing plants with the rye. The cover crops help with erosion, weeds during off season, fixing nitrogen in the upper layers so it doesn't leach, and provides green manure when tilled.

Jeff H said:
I agree with Rick. Seriously thinking about doing the same next year. I just don't think the beans I'm growing in the corner of the garden will provide enough nitrogen. The challenge that Rick and I have is that it gets a whole lot colder up here than Texas. Need something that grows fast and in real low temperatures. I haven't figured out exactly what to grow yet.

Any cover crop is a win-win, I'd be interested to know what works in your area. Perhaps Hairy Vetch and Rye?

I did notice the clover I started early did really well, but the peppers didn't get pulled until Dec. and that got planted late, and just hung there..

stickman said:
This may help Jeff... good to know the extension service in your area is already working on it. I like their tract on the subject because it takes a hard look at the pluses and minuses ... http://ohioline.osu.edu/anr-fact/pdf/Using_Cover_crops.pdf

Getting ready to head out, I want to read up on the potential dissadvantages. So far I haven't notice any, except extra work

jedisushi06 said:
When do you put your plants in the ground? Do you grow any okra too?

I plant most things the first weekend in March, Peppers around the 15th, and then we have 3 weeks of risk

Edit: I was interrupted from my break...and could not finish. We have never grown Okra here yet..

Devv · Jan 20, 2014

In the discussion above about the soil, I want to mention something I did about 4 years ago to the soil. I was making charcoal, sitting on the porch reading National Geographic and they had an article about Terra Preta. This is worth Googling! In the Amazon they found plots of land where the Indians had buried burning trees, bones and garden food wastes. This soil has been planted by farmers for over 40 years, and they use no ferts. The charcoal stops the leaching and traps the nutrients along with providing a healthy place for the underground good guys to thrive. So being I'm nuts, insane or whatever...I made enough charcoal to cover 2,500sq feet of the garden 3"s deep and tilled it in. I soaked it in 5 gal buckets and then put it in old pillow cases and ran it over with the truck to crush it...yeah, I said I was crazy.

But I attribute this to holding in the nutes. I did a grow of corn that year, half in the treated half in the the regular soil. It grew much better with less water and ferts in the charcoal area...'nuff said about my insanity.

Today was rather warm:

Friday morning slated at 28° with a high of 35° The ladies have to come in, high winds expected...

Got some more seeds in the mail today from Scarecrw:

Thanks man!

Tonights dinner...LB cooks the garden grown tomatoes 16 hours using my Grandfathers old recipe, it's meat sauce made with homemade chopped meat 50%venison, 50%beef brisket, garlic and onions from the garden.. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1917 from Italy, and we used to go eat his red sauce on Sundays.

This is Chicken Parmesan, one of my favorite dishes. No peppers in it, it's perfection as is!

maximumcapsicum · Jan 20, 2014

Chicken Parm looks great! When you going to get those new monzanos in the dirt! Nice score from the scarecrw!

HillBilly Jeff · Jan 20, 2014

Great looking parm!!! Making me hungry and I just ate!!!!

Devv · Jan 20, 2014

maximumcapsicum said:
Chicken Parm looks great! When you going to get those new monzanos in the dirt! Nice score from the scarecrw!

Thanks Adam!

Being of Italian decent I'm a red sauce fiend! Manzano's were put in the dirt soon as I got home.

HillBilly Jeff said:
Great looking parm!!! Making me hungry and I just ate!!!!

Thanks Jeff!

I can eat that until I explode!

WalkGood · Jan 20, 2014

Strange to read it's warmer there than here, lol. we've been in the 50s and lower the last 5 days with a high today of 69 to 75 but dropping again the rest of this week. Great to see the growth in your plants, they're looking awesome, bigger than my babies ... great job!!! No peppers in the chicken pararmesan ... bite your tongue, lol = D

Hab an awesome week brethren = )

Jeff H · Jan 20, 2014

Devv said:
Any cover crop is a win-win, I'd be interested to know what works in your area. Perhaps Hairy Vetch and Rye?

I did some research today when work was slow and it seems that Hairy vetch is about the best cover crop for southern Ohio. I don't care for Rye I don't think. I was really just looking for something to replenish the nitrogen.

Chicken Parmesan looks great. I made some recently but I'm sure it wasn't as good as your grandfather's recipe. plz share some time.

maximumcapsicum · Jan 20, 2014

You make the sauce yourself Scott? If so, how? I have some trouble processing tomatoes for sauce.

Devv · Jan 20, 2014

WalkGood said:
Strange to read it's warmer there than here, lol. we've been in the 50s and lower the last 5 days with a high today of 69 to 75 but dropping again the rest of this week. Great to see the growth in your plants, they're looking awesome, bigger than my babies ... great job!!! No peppers in the chicken pararmesan ... bite your tongue, lol = D

Hab an awesome week brethren = )

Tejas weather=crazy. The saying is true, about just wait a while it will change.

Thanks for the kudo's! Dang it's a lot of work..LOL. This is the one and only BIG grow, I should be able to sort out the fav's from here...

I almost put powder on the chicken cutlets tonight, came this -><- close...

Good to see you again!

Jeff H said:
I did some research today when work was slow and it seems that Hairy vetch is about the best cover crop for southern Ohio. I don't care for Rye I don't think. I was really just looking for something to replenish the nitrogen.

Chicken Parmesan looks great. I made some recently but I'm sure it wasn't as good as your grandfather's recipe. plz share some time.

The rye just adds some green manure, and will help keep the nitrogen up top.

I have the sauce recipe here along with a few others I like:

http://www.devtex.net/recipe.html

LB cuts the boneless chicken cutlets in half or thirds thickness wise so they are nice and thin less than 1/2". She then dips them in egg and Italian bread crumbs, and fries them to golden brown. Another key ingredient is whole milk Mozzarella gotta go with that!

maximumcapsicum said:
You make the sauce yourself Scott? If so, how? I have some trouble processing tomatoes for sauce.

Hi Adam,

Read above, it's all there. it's a really basic recipe where cooking it forever is the key. I have shared this recipe with many people, a few that made it said it didn't come out right. I then brought them a sample...after that they followed the directions and have been hooked. it's not about getting crazy with the seasonings, it's cooking it for a long time. And the meatballs add to the flavor.

I was allowed to cut furniture grade Mesquite from a ranch about 8 years ago. We brought the owners a 16qt. pot of sauce with the meatballs and a wedge of Romano cheese. They said we should open a restaurant, the sauce is that good if the directions are followed.

Good luck, you have the keys!

stc3248 · Jan 20, 2014

Looking great! Been ~~warm~~ hot here to...up into the 90s a couple days! :crazy:

Today was a bit cooler...low 80s. That foodie looks fantastic, but nothing a nice Numex Green Chile couldn't help out! :rofl:

Haha...I have very few dishes that I don't add some peppers to.

Keep 'em green Scott!!!
Shane

maximumcapsicum · Jan 20, 2014

Haven't found it yet. Gonna do an advanced googling... Scott's Grampa's Sauce! Will do a runthrough.

My wife made some bacon cheeseburger bites tonight. Forgot to take a pic, but she uses a nice blend of powders in them. Very nice. Sorry for the detail.

I must assemble your chicken parm.

Devv · Jan 21, 2014

stc3248 said:
Looking great! Been ~~warm~~ hot here to...up into the 90s a couple days! Today was a bit cooler...low 80s. That foodie looks fantastic, but nothing a nice Numex Green Chile couldn't help out! Haha...I have very few dishes that I don't add some peppers to.

Keep 'em green Scott!!!
Shane

Thanks Shane!

I'm actually growing the Numex this season. Jamie sent me his list and I picked the milder seeds to encourage LB to eat more peppers...

maximumcapsicum said:
Haven't found it yet. Gonna do an advanced googling... Scott's Grampa's Sauce! Will do a runthrough.

My wife made some bacon cheeseburger bites tonight. Forgot to take a pic, but she uses a nice blend of powders in them. Very nice. Sorry for the detail.

I must assemble your chicken parm.

Adam,

I guess I wasn't clear enough. The link was "above" meaning I posted it when I answered Jeff..

Here you go:

http://www.devtex.net/recipe.html

maximumcapsicum · Jan 21, 2014

Lol! No worries. Thanks Scott!

Devv · Jan 21, 2014

maximumcapsicum said:
Lol! No worries. Thanks Scott!

Have fun making it Adam, it's the best I've had. I may be a bit biased though, I grew up on it

I got some more seeds in the mail today, Jamison too saw I was having Manzano issues..

Thanks!

So it's do or die here, I have 3 sets of Manzano's germing...

Tonight was leftovers. LB made some chicken quesadilla. Starting with a flour totilla and Provolone cheese.

Leftover chicken and a JA Hab, fresh from one of the OW's and some Onion.

Butter the outside of the tortilla (this should have been done already) Cook slowly until brown.

Plate shot with Greg's Scotch Bonnet sauce AND Salsa.

Hmmmm..good!

JJJessee · Jan 21, 2014

I know what we're having for supper tomorrow

Looks delicious, Scott.

Capsicum Select · Jan 21, 2014

looking good. I like your plans for your plant out area and that you are using the cover crop method. I just have some raised beds so I haven't ever bother. You will be super busy with all those spicy girls come February!

Sawyer · Jan 21, 2014

Dang, i just have to scroll fast over those food pics. Otherwise I'll be scrounging in the kitchen again.

Once again, I see I've missed a lot of good stuff going on here. I'm glad you mentioned the terra preta. I've got (possibly literally) tons of golden bamboo to do something with, and an old hot water heater I'm trying to turn into a charcoal maker. My main garden space has been garden for a hundred years or more, but I'm eyeing another spot that will need some serious soil building.

The rye I planted before the first big snow here never did germinate, and there have been plenty of warm days since. I'm going to get some more tomorrow and do an indoors germination test. It's supposed to be organic, but if it doesn't germinate, I have to question that.

Jeff H said:
I did some research today when work was slow and it seems that Hairy vetch is about the best cover crop for southern Ohio. I don't care for Rye I don't think. I was really just looking for something to replenish the nitrogen.

The rye works well for providing support to the vetch when it hits its early spring growth spurt, plus rye is one of the best for cool temperature germination. On the other hand, there does seem to be some evidence for an allopathic effect on some crops. If you don't like rye, you could try winter oats or wheat. Barley does well in winter, too, but is prone to lodge under the weight of the vetch. I don't have any direct experience with vetch in oats or wheat, but it does better when it has something to grow on.

Devv said:
I'm actually growing the Numex this season. Jamie sent me his list and I picked the milder seeds to encourage LB to eat more peppers...

Numex is a "Hatch" type pepper, right? I'm thinking of growing some of those for a local grocer. Is Numex what I should look at?

Jeff H · Jan 21, 2014

Devv, that quesadlla pic looks great. I just made something very similar for my 13 year old "I'm always hungry" son.

Sawyer said:
Numex is a "Hatch" type pepper, right? I'm thinking of growing some of those for a local grocer. Is Numex what I should look at?

Numex is the University of New Mexico. They have tons of annuums. http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/cart/seeds/nmsu_varieties/

I have a few types growing this year.

JJJessee · Jan 21, 2014

I switched from rye/vetch to oats/winter peas this year. I was some concerned about he allopahtics of rye.
I just use a rototiller and I think that will work better with the oats and peas.
The oats have been bit hard with some sub 10°, But that's OK. I'm anxious to see how the peas do in starting in late March.

Sawyer · Jan 21, 2014

I should have been more specific in my question. I was wondering about the Numex variety Scott is growing that he mentioned in response to Shane's comment about Numex Green Chile. One variety, not a Numex, I was considering as a green chile candidate is the Jimmy Nardello. But that's just based on a comment I read somewhere.