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!
 

 

[Pulpiteer]

 I heard that my parents are in their 80's, now that's old...LOL. LB's Dad will be 86 in a few days....and he's still full of it
 
Have you noticed how the "time curve" has gotten crazy as you get older? Days and years  go faster and faster, not like when we were kids, they seemed to drag on forever.
 
Tomorrow is another colder than average morning, after that we should be finished. I'll be planting a few more of the larger peppers. I just hope I get pods set before the heat comes.
 
So when I have extra peppers I share them with the blue collar workers at the district. All the goodies always go to the admin offices and the maintenance, transportation, and custodial people get nothing, so I keep them in produce when I have extra. One of the custodians, Wendy, has been with us for many years and is a very nice lady. She brought me some Red Manzano seeds from Mexico; I was touched, and of course I planted them.
 
So far 2 have come up. Here's a shot of one of the babies:
 

 
Sorry for a weak effort this season, my timing was way off....

 
That is awesome! Should be good seed stock - I love getting seed with a story and connection to someone - very cool! Should be interesting to see how it grows for you.
 
By the way, still loving how your garden looks with all the mulching and everything.

 

[Devv]

Scott, The words "weak effort" do not apply to anything you do in my opinion!  Your grow and driving effort are tops!  Very cool about Wendy and the manzanos.
 
We all watch the show
 
Mike

 Thanks Mike,
 
I meant that pepper wise, after all the meds my heat tolerance is completely gone, just Hab heat this year to roll back into things.
 

what pepper plants are you growing this year? 

 
Just a few and a bit milder this year to reasons mentioned above:
 
MOA
JA Habs
Urfa's
Kurts
Nardello's
Billy Biker's
Jal's
Numex Jalamundo
Anaheim

 

[Devv]

 
That is awesome! Should be good seed stock - I love getting seed with a story and connection to someone - very cool! Should be interesting to see how it grows for you.
 
By the way, still loving how your garden looks with all the mulching and everything.

Thanks Andy!
 
It's really doing well, all the work is paying off this year! The garlic and onions on the bottom (downhill) are looking really good without any ferts. I guess the goodies ran downhill as well as the last 2-3 years of amendments. I've only planted once down there, potatoes last season. The goal was to split the garden and plant 1/2 every year, oh well
 
I did plant some more peppers, and ground and added more mulch this weekend. Wore me out, my stamina isn't where I want it to be, But I'm grateful it's improving. Hoping to be finished by next weekend AND get some peppers set before the heat kicks in. I don't expect much with as late a start as I got this year. I would like to know why when I start early everything germs and I have trouble with large plants, and then when I plant when things would time out perfectly they just sit there. I think next year I'll go back to early and deal with it

 

[Sawyer]

Nice list.  Which Jals are you growing?  And is there any particular reason you picked Anaheim as opposed to some other NM variety?
 

Have you noticed how the "time curve" has gotten crazy as you get older? Days and years go faster and faster, not like when we were kids, they seemed to drag on forever.

Yes, and I have a theory about that.  I think our subjective experience of the duration of a unit of time, a day, for example, is determined by comparing it internally to the sum of all the previous units we've experienced.  As we get older, a single day is a much smaller fraction of our total experience, so it seems more fleeting. 
 

I would like to know why when I start early everything germs and I have trouble with large plants, and then when I plant when things would time out perfectly they just sit there. I think next year I'll go back to early and deal with it

I've noticed this, too.  We just need more staging space between germination and planting out.

 

[Devv]

Nice list.  Which Jals are you growing?  And is there any particular reason you picked Anaheim as opposed to some other NM variety?
 

Yes, and I have a theory about that.  I think our subjective experience of the duration of a unit of time, a day, for example, is determined by comparing it internally to the sum of all the previous units we've experienced.  As we get older, a single day is a much smaller fraction of our total experience, so it seems more fleeting. 
 

I've noticed this, too.  We just need more staging space between germination and planting out.

I chose the Anaheim when the first round of 90 some odd seeds didn't germ, well one MOA did. They were 2014 seeds, I set them on a heat mat set to 80°. I bought the Anaheim plants.
 
I have "regular" store bought Jals and the Numex Jalamundo. The second round I just dumped about 30 seeds of each variety in those 6 plant store bought flats and set them on the kitchen table. They grew like crazy. Go figure.

 

[Plantguy76]

Weak effort no not you Scott pepper wise or anything else.
I am behind after starting off good & just sowed the rest of the tomato flats on April 1 along with lemon Drop & Golden Ghost a paprika hybrid
So the only things that are on track are my Red Moas & 2014 seed stock Arkansas Peach all the rest is fairly small
Form what I've seen your doing just fine an a scotch bonnet is still pretty hot was really not long ago that habs & bonnets was considered the hottest
Your garden looks great looks like your gonna have a awesome year.

 

[Devv]

Weak effort no not you Scott pepper wise or anything else.
I am behind after starting off good & just sowed the rest of the tomato flats on April 1 along with lemon Drop & Golden Ghost a paprika hybrid
So the only things that are on track are my Red Moas & 2014 seed stock Arkansas Peach all the rest is fairly small
Form what I've seen your doing just fine an a scotch bonnet is still pretty hot was really not long ago that habs & bonnets was considered the hottest
Your garden looks great looks like your gonna have a awesome year.

Thanks!
 
But the peppers are WAY behind this year for sure.
 
A few pics...
 

 
Peppers are tiny!
 

 
Almost all are in the dirt, note the bee watering station, in the mo-back. I put some old honey in there in an old pot that floats for them to feed on. They're loving it.
 

 
Garlic and onions we have!
 
I started spreading the manure ground mulch mix, and used the heavier grade mulch for areas we don't plant in.
 

 
Justa hab
 

 

 
Two OW growdown's from last year. I didn't trim them, some critter took care of that for me
 

 
He's been hanging around helping the last few days..
 

 
Anyone know what this is? They are getting extremely rare. This is the first one I've seen in 20-25 years. It was outside the garden next to the compost bins.
 
All in all things are doing well in my south Tejas garden. I just wish the peppers grew as fast as the maters...

 

[tctenten]

Looks great. I love stopping by to see how a real garden plot should look. I can't wait to see everything overgrown in a month or two.

 

[Sawyer]

Everything's looking great, Scott. 
 

But the peppers are WAY behind this year for sure.
 
Peppers are tiny!

 
Okay, now you're just rubbing it in!
 

Anyone know what this is? They are getting extremely rare. This is the first one I've seen in 20-25 years. It was outside the garden next to the compost bins.

 
Horned lizard, aka horny toad?  My older brother had one of those as a pet many, many years ago.  Weird critters, squirt blood from their eyeballs.  According to wiki, loss of native ant populations is partly responsible for their decline.  So, let your ants be.  (except for the aphid farmers)
 

All in all things are doing well in my south Tejas garden. I just wish the peppers grew as fast as the maters...

Yes, they are.  I'm counting on fast tomato growth to get me caught up when I get back home next weekend.

 

[FiresOfNil]

You have a beautiful garden Devv, really cool, makes me really want to have some land.

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Looks like a Texas horned lizard and by being behind, you are light years ahead of me this season! 

 

[Devv]

Looks great. I love stopping by to see how a real garden plot should look. I can't wait to see everything overgrown in a month or two.

Thanks Terry!
 
I have high hopes this year after the disaster last season, I just hope I get some peppers set before the heat kicks in!
 
 

Everything's looking great, Scott. 
 
 
Okay, now you're just rubbing it in!
 
 
Horned lizard, aka horny toad?  My older brother had one of those as a pet many, many years ago.  Weird critters, squirt blood from their eyeballs.  According to wiki, loss of native ant populations is partly responsible for their decline.  So, let your ants be.  (except for the aphid farmers)
 
Yes, they are.  I'm counting on fast tomato growth to get me caught up when I get back home next weekend.

Thanks John!
 
So far the rains have been great, not too much, and not too little, just like in the 80's. Hope that stands!
Yes Horny Toad as the locals call it, and they eat the Harvester Ants that love to strip our fruit trees. In fact those ants kill the trees, if I don't keep them at bay they just keep stripping all the leaves and I only treat for them to protect the orchard. Another thing that harms them is heavy tractor use, so I'm making sure I don't do that. Local word is if you see them on your place don't tell anyone, as they're worried the gov't will stop their farming/ranching activities.
 
 

You have a beautiful garden Devv, really cool, makes me really want to have some land.

 Thanks Nil!
 
We bought this place 27 years ago, when the land around here was cheap! Not so anymore, values have risen 10x since the late 80's, which is good for us
 

Looks like a Texas horned lizard and by being behind, you are light years ahead of me this season! 

Correct on the lizard!
 
And thanks!, but the peppers are way too small, I'm worried they won't produce much before the heat gets here..I'm doing my best to push them forward!

 

[Roguejim]

Are you adding manure and mulch to the rcw? Why? I thought the rcw is supposed to supply all the nutes. Hedging your bets?

 

[millworkman]

Are you adding manure and mulch to the rcw? Why? I thought the rcw is supposed to supply all the nutes. Hedging your bets?

Better safe than sorry. New rcw can still tie up nitrogen.

 

[capsidadburn]

Your garden looks great Scott!  It must be a joy to look at each day!
 
There are plenty of the Texas Spiny lizards around here but not the horned lizards anymore.  They are supposed to be doing well in the panhandle and west Texas.  We were taught (Master Naturalists) that the influx of St. Augustine grass as well as under ground creeping Live oak was the most prominent factor in crowding out the Harvester ants native grass food supply.  I suspect out away from the cities here they could be found.  Apparently the Horned toad likes to set up along the Harvester ant trail and just pic them off as the march by.

That Spiny lizard shot is really nice! 
 
Mike

 

[pepperguy1]

Every time I see your Glog,It blows my mind.That's a nice Horny Toad you got there,we don't have much of them around here anymore neither.    

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Great job Scott. Garden is looking great. Don't worry, the peppers will catch up. It won't be long and you'll be putting up the shade cloth. Still can't plant out here for at least another few weeks.

I have about 15 Goats Weed and around 12 Super's this year. Trying to keep it small this year. We both know that's not going to happen. LOL. Going to be growing more vegetables.

Anyways. Cool pic of the horned lizard. Haven't seen one of those since I as a kid. The garlic and onions look great.

As always, thanks for sharing. I'm glad you and the garden are on the rebound. Keep it up.

 

[Roguejim]

Better safe than sorry. New rcw can still tie up nitrogen.

Yeah, I know. I didn't think the rcw was new, though.

 

[jedisushi06]

Nice tomato plants

 

[randyp]

I never tire of stopping by to see your layout, Scott.Thank the Lord you are around this year and feeling good,2015 was not the same without your wisdom.Congrats on the Grandbaby.