Devv's 2015 - 16, Life is good!

Well here we go again!
 
I just got finished planting seeds for 70 plants. Scaling back a bit this year; last year was a lot of work! That and I have to do more than garden this season
 
My apologies as I can't remember shit where I got all the seeds from. Some were harvested from pods some I saved, and some were sent to me. I can say this 99% originated from the most generous THP members!
 
Without further ado, here's the 2015 list:
 
Red 7 Pot Lava: Mikey
Black Thai        : Mikey
Yellow Jonah  : Mikey
Jack’s Choc Superhot: Mikey
Red Bhutlah   : Mikey
Tepin x Lemmon drop
Pimenta Lisa : Stefan
Brazilian Starfish
Bell
Poblano
Billy Biker
Jalapeno
Jimmy Nardello
Bishops Crown
Sweet Hungarian Paprika
Bahamian Goat
Urfa Biber
Jelly Bean White Hab
Jigsaw
Nagabrain F4
Numex Jalamundo
Cream Fatalii
Isabella Island Hab: Jim
Cherry Bomb: Jim
Moa
Kurt’s
JA Habs
White Bhut
Anaheim
Jigsaw
Burgundy
Ma Wiri wiri: Jim
Pepperdew: Jim
Pimenta De Padron: Jim
Wild tepin: Jim
Jigsaw
Six secrets from Stefan
Orange Primo: Mikey
Choc Bhutlah
Scotch Bonnet x Indian Red
Red Lava: Mikey
White Hab
Naga King: Rick
BOC: Rick
 
I leaned more towards peppers my wife can eat. After all she helped me quite a bit, I might as well grow some for her
 
Last season was a challenge regarding what was what. I eventually figured them out, but was not happy with the confusion. And yeah, I'm easily confused.
 
Here's a pic of the 70 starters:
 

 
Trying something different, the Jiffy's are numbered and will be entered into a spreadsheet. As they pop, they will go into the solo cups with permanent marker to label them.
 
This year I'm starting things in the converted hunting room (man cave?). LB wanted the extra bedroom back   The room is part of the shop; 24x8 and insulated. It's been rather nasty for the last 4 or 5 days, damp and temps below 52°, but it was 68° in there a few minutes ago. Also I'm trying a heating mat to help with germination, which was abysmal IMHO last year.
 
Anyone who knows how I fly, knows I like to grow in the dirt. I have a few in containers from last season, but they just don't do as well.
 
I put a ton (literally) of work into the soil since the start of last season.
 
I feel soil preparation is the key to success:
 

 

 
I tilled in over 24 yards of RCW and 10 yards of shredded leaves after pulling the plants in the fall.
 

 
I then planted Crimson Clover and Rye as a cover crop, this pic is from 2 weeks ago..
 

 
The area I planted the cover crop in is 2,300 to 2,500 square feet. Half is framed for sunshade. A must in the 100% summer sun the garden gets. There's some Comfrey of the left
 

 

 
Dec. 6th I tilled in the whole shootin' match. I waited too long. But I do like it when it darkens up. This is what it looks like after 2 2" deep passes. If you wait too long the roots form a sod, this makes for a bad day of tilling. I got this far and decided to call it. Shiner time!

Once I'm sure most is dead and wont come back when I water crop 2 goes in.
 

 
On 12-10

The grass on top has dried, and rain is forecast through Sunday (yeah right), so I tilled again. It brought up the grass from below and now the garden looks like last Sunday. I went a couple of notches deeper this time to break up more of the roots. I spread rye seed and watered for 45 minutes. It should come up quickly as the weather is warm for a week or more. 50's-70's.
 

 
This is the garden today, the second cover crop is just coming up. And I have to prep an area for onions, which hit the dirt January 15th. The rest gets tilled in at the end of the month.
 
I fly out of here tomorrow afternoon, and won't be back until a week from now. So I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
 

 

[Sawyer]

Aw, man, that's some nasty wind damage there.  Do I see hail damage in there, too?  Hopefully things will recover.

 

[Plantguy76]

That looks like it was a bad storm I have faith that things will bounce back & be stronger for it .
Hope it jumps back recall quick for you scott

 

[Jeff H]

Storm looks like it was nasty, but I don't see any damage that looks permanent. That's a good thing.

 

[Roguejim]

My gosh!  My jaw about hit the floor when I saw the first photo.  I didn't want to see anymore after that...Did you get any sleep through all that?

 

[Peter S]

Dang, that was a rough storm. Hope they come back for you okay.

 

[wahlee76]

damn, that was a bad one. Hope it will recover.

 

[bpwilly]

Wow Scott, that wind and rain made a real mess of your beautiful garden.  I really hope the plants bounce back after some sun and dry weather.  You have had one of the nicest looking gardens.  Here is hoping that because your plants were so healthy, that they recover quickly.
 
Hoping for the best.

 

[Devv]

Thank for all the well wishes.
 
We were woke up in the middle of the night first with thunder, then the hail pounding the roof. Dang it was loud. It lasted about 30 minutes. We have a metal roof and I checked on it today; the marks were golf ball sized. Both of our vehicles have hail damage and we have one broken shed window. So straight line winds from the north and the hail are what did the damage. Surprisingly the peppers did the best. Probably because they still have a small foot print.
 
Tomorrow I have to buy some rebar and try and stake the tomatoes back up. The corn, onions and potatoes are on their own...

 

[stickman]

Y'know Scott, I seem to remember Balasz saying he had a problem with a period of hail in his garden last year and he countered it by putting shade netting up over his peppers. Think it'd do any good?

 

[thirdcoasttx]

Glad to hear you are doing better Scott, weather has been crazy lately, we had a storm the other day that dumped between 1.5 and 3 inches in like 20 minutes. No hail here thank God. Hope everything bounces back for you.

 

[randyp]

   Wow Scott that's a knockdown you had.Them Toms are not the strongest legged plants as it is.Soon enough you will be sending me that weather and yours will settle down buddy.

 

[beerbreath81]

Sounds like one heluva storm ya had. Sure hope the skys clear up for a while and give everything a chance to recover.

 

[Pulpiteer]

Wow, I hope stuff recovers. I think wind like that would blow away my greenhouse right now... Ugh...

 

[capsidadburn]

Hope you get a good bounce back Scott!

 

[Trident chilli]

Scott awesome Mother Nature ... wishing your plants a speedy recovery

 

[bpwilly]

Thank for all the well wishes.
 
We were woke up in the middle of the night first with thunder, then the hail pounding the roof. Dang it was loud. It lasted about 30 minutes. We have a metal roof and I checked on it today; the marks were golf ball sized. Both of our vehicles have hail damage and we have one broken shed window. So straight line winds from the north and the hail are what did the damage. Surprisingly the peppers did the best. Probably because they still have a small foot print.
 
Tomorrow I have to buy some rebar and try and stake the tomatoes back up. The corn, onions and potatoes are on their own...

Scott,
 
You know you have healthy and hardy plants, when you have to stake them up with Rebar!!    LOL
 
Bill

 

[gnslngr]

Hey Scott-
Lovin the irrigation ditches-round 1 for me had doing like last year(digging out the old holes, using new mix), as usual my plans for this year did not survive first contact with battle- rain,,rain,rain....but there are a few rows yet to be planted, so there's still hope for a "partial", we'll see. I have followed your spacing example this year for the first round....almost....26" between plants instead of 18".
 
"I had some weather last night"...........understater. I'm thinking that'll be outgrown in short order, I had to skip the "like" there.
 
Poddage already? wow.

 

[Plantguy76]

Scot hope your recovering well & the garden is bouncing back.

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Hey Scott. Haven't heard from you in a week. Getting worried. Hope all is well buddy.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Hope all is well Scott!