Devv's 2015 - 16, Life is good!

stickman · Jul 3, 2016

Nice score with the wood chips Scott. That'll go a ways next season. Enjoy your time with your peeps in LI... maybe you'll be able to stop by here someday when you're in this neck of the woods. Have a happy 4th! :dance:

Peter S · Jul 3, 2016

Scott,
Nice to hear you're getting a breather between tomatoes and peppers. Those scotch bonnets look huge! Hope you have a good trip in NY.

Devv · Jul 7, 2016

jcw10tc said:
Good to see your getting some pods. Still love that garden setup with the posts and shade cloth. Saw you have 20 acres, do you own some of that beyond the mulch piles. I wish I had that much space, could do everything I would like and more with that and still have a lot of unused space left over. I will never be able to afford 20 usable acres up here, most of the time if that much land is offered and is tillable, goes for a fortune to the farmers.

Thanks!

It's great to finally get some pods, the sweets are in overdrive. Not many hots there. For some reason the rats liked them better. BUT! I have a new crop in the wings. I put them in semi sun while we were traveling, so they would survive. I'll be hardening them the next few days and by next weekend most should be in the dirt, well maybe not most. the rule is 12" height for a mid summer planting for a fall harvest.

The property ends at the first treeline in the pic above, which is to the North, about 100 yards from the garden. Had we not made the purchase in 1989, we would never be able to afford to buy it now. Land has gone through the roof, which is good if you already own it! I can say this, an acre is all we really use, and not even all of it for personal use. If you can score that, it will surely keep you busy!

Thanks for stopping by

randyp said:
Happy 4rth to you and your Scott.You have any problems in New York let me know.My cousin is on the NYPD in internal affairs.

Thanks Randy!

I hope you had a blast this last weekend!

Thanks for the info on your cousin. If I've learned one thing in my life, it's to misbehave at the place where I lay my head down for the night. Way too many family members have gotten into trouble partying, not me :party:

And I intend on keeping it that way

Devv · Jul 7, 2016

stickman said:
Nice score with the wood chips Scott. That'll go a ways next season. Enjoy your time with your peeps in LI... maybe you'll be able to stop by here someday when you're in this neck of the woods. Have a happy 4th!

Thanks Rick!

One of these days I'll get up there

Our problem is we're only allowed a week at a time off. Probably illegal, but that's the policy they have at this time. So we do a 5 day and have a few days to get back down to Earth and get the place back in working order before work again. Good thing we got home when we did. The peppers in the garden were really in pain. Several were one day from no return, and I had peeps taking care of them. The pool is a mess. No one takes care of your stuff like you would...sad but true..I think I'm hearing Mettalica right now... :shh:

Peter S said:
Scott,
Nice to hear you're getting a breather between tomatoes and peppers. Those scotch bonnets look huge! Hope you have a good trip in NY.

Thanks Peter!

The breather is great!

the NY trip was a blast!

So we land in NY on Saturday, the weather, just crazy. The first time in many, many years it's cooler than here in Tejas, just bad luck in prior years. When the sun went down the first 2 nights we moved to long pants..LOL. Now fireworks are illegal in NY, but it was insane. We figured one guy blew 6k plus in mortars in one night, a 3 plus hour show, from a residence. And he wasn't the Lone Ranger, they were all around us. This went on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
So we had fun visiting and watching the shows.

We came back yesterday, and we're playing catch-up. The garden is too rough looking to shoot a pic, sad to say the least. But the newbies are looking good. I'm hoping by morning that they will recover. LB said "no more vacations during the summer, as no one cares as much as we do about the garden". I'm in total agreement.

tctenten · Jul 7, 2016

Glad to hear that you had a nice trip up. The weather has turned quickly and we are have 90's and what feels like 100% humidity. You picked a good few days to be here.

stickman · Jul 7, 2016

Channeling Lars there Scott?

I hear ya 'bout nobody else taking care of your garden like you would... especially when you've gone to such extraordinary lengths to build it up. Glad you had a good time despite the racket.

I've gotta thank you for putting me onto the biochar. Seeing how the greens I planted in the compost/biochar mix are growing, I'm sold!

Devv · Jul 8, 2016

tctenten said:
Glad to hear that you had a nice trip up. The weather has turned quickly and we are have 90's and what feels like 100% humidity. You picked a good few days to be here.

Thanks Terry!

We hit the nice window perfect! We actually had to put long pants on the first two nights. The sudden change from way hot to cooler was nice though!

stickman said:
Channeling Lars there Scott? I hear ya 'bout nobody else taking care of your garden like you would... especially when you've gone to such extraordinary lengths to build it up. Glad you had a good time despite the racket.

I've gotta thank you for putting me onto the biochar. Seeing how the greens I planted in the compost/biochar mix are growing, I'm sold!

Sadly I have 4 or 5 plants that have not recovered. The next time I'll have my guy at work take care of things. He really kept the garden in shape a few years back, I spotted him a C-note for his efforts. The pool is almost back to normal..LOL

Glad the Biochar is working out for you! I know it's helped my overall garden experience. One thing I have noticed is that regarding the peppers, almost everyone out there seems to have more robust plants the I do. I'm guessing it's the heat. They get going and bam! It's high 90's to 100's. 7 weeks more of the heat and we're in the gentle cool down.

Despite the heat we have a few pods:

The MoA turned into a cross, the pods started out yellow and ripened to an orange color. Never the less they are tasty! I cooked all of these down into a puree, it turned out rather nice. Not extremely hot, so LB will use it

I was bottom watering the young plants and noticed this guy or gal hanging out on a Lime tree. I love the color, it was nice enough to hang out long enough for me to snap a few pics.

Nothing like an 1 1/4" prime cut ribeye steak!

It went down nicely

I'm hoping the plants recover enough for some shots tomorrow. Enjoy the weekend!

OCD Chilehead · Jul 8, 2016

Sorry to here about the garden. I wish, I was your neighbor.

That is a really cool pic of the dragon.

Glad you got some pod's. What's your recipe for purée? Just cook down, blend and ad salt or something?

Had me steak just like that yesterday. Don't get it that often. I'm back to creative Ramen today. LoL!

What's wrapped in the bacon? Stuffed pod?

Devv · Jul 8, 2016

OCD Chilehead said:
Sorry to here about the garden. I wish, I was your neighbor.

That is a really cool pic of the dragon.

Glad you got some pod's. What's your recipe for purée? Just cook down, blend and ad salt or something?

Had me steak just like that yesterday. Don't get it that often. I'm back to creative Ramen today. LoL!

What's wrapped in the bacon? Stuffed pod?

I use a recipe that Rick posted some time ago. I "think" Alabamajack was the creator:

###for every hundred grams of seeded pods I used a quarter tsp of salt, a tsp of agave nectar and 60 milileters of 5% white vinegar. I find that when you cook it down, each hundred grams will pretty much exactly fill a 4oz Ball jar. ###

And yes, those high dollar steaks are a rare deal here, way too much $$$. But every so often, I say WTH and buy a few. We work so hard for the money. We might as well enjoy so goodness

Yes sir, LB makes a killer "popper". I'm so happy I can once again eat hotter foods. And the fall garden will have some nice heat!

stickman · Jul 9, 2016

Devv said:
I use a recipe that Rick posted some time ago. I "think" Alabamajack was the creator:

###for every hundred grams of seeded pods I used a quarter tsp of salt, a tsp of agave nectar and 60 milileters of 5% white vinegar. I find that when you cook it down, each hundred grams will pretty much exactly fill a 4oz Ball jar. ###

And yes, those high dollar steaks are a rare deal here, way too much $$$. But every so often, I say WTH and buy a few. We work so hard for the money. We might as well enjoy so goodness

Yes sir, LB makes a killer "popper". I'm so happy I can once again eat hotter foods. And the fall garden will have some nice heat!

Cool pics Scott, and a verra nice meal. :drooling:

Looking back at AJ's puree thread, he gives credit for the recipe to BillyBoy... an Aussie member from some time ago. Now that I look... AJ hasn't been around here since last spring either. I was so happy to find a way to store pods compactly in a way that didn't require constant energy input, and pressure canning gives them a great shelf life, so props to both of them! http://thehotpepper.com/topic/32602-making-some-puree-todaywill-post-pics-of-the-processits-easy/#entry661489

OCD Chilehead · Jul 9, 2016

stickman said:
Cool pics Scott, and a verra nice meal. Looking back at AJ's puree thread, he gives credit for the recipe to BillyBoy... an Aussie member from some time ago. Now that I look... AJ hasn't been around here since last spring either. I was so happy to find a way to store pods compactly in a way that didn't require constant energy input, and pressure canning gives them a great shelf life, so props to both of them! http://thehotpepper.com/topic/32602-making-some-puree-todaywill-post-pics-of-the-processits-easy/#entry661489

Thanks for the thread Rick. I've got a ton of powder. I think Im going to use my frozen pod's and make this.

Thank you both.

PeriPeri · Jul 9, 2016

Hey Scott buddy,
It's been a while... I see you are doing your magic again! Looking great buddy, but just one thing I couldn't help pick up

You have one hell of a mole problem there buddy. I can send you some Meerkats from Africa if you like?

megahot · Jul 9, 2016

Thats quite the garden you have Scott! Everything looks to be coming along nicely, great stuff! I look forward to following!

Devv · Jul 9, 2016

stickman said:
Cool pics Scott, and a verra nice meal. Looking back at AJ's puree thread, he gives credit for the recipe to BillyBoy... an Aussie member from some time ago. Now that I look... AJ hasn't been around here since last spring either. I was so happy to find a way to store pods compactly in a way that didn't require constant energy input, and pressure canning gives them a great shelf life, so props to both of them! http://thehotpepper.com/topic/32602-making-some-puree-todaywill-post-pics-of-the-processits-easy/#entry661489

Thanks Rick!

I really had to do some digging yesterday to find that recipe, my laptop got hit by lightning a while back and I had the recipe from the recovered hard drive buried in all the old files. But I found it!

PeriPeri said:
Hey Scott buddy,
It's been a while... I see you are doing your magic again! Looking great buddy, but just one thing I couldn't help pick up

You have one hell of a mole problem there buddy. I can send you some Meerkats from Africa if you like?

Hey there Lourens!

LOL, not sure what a Meerkat is, but I just read up on them. I sure could have used a few this spring!

Thanks for stopping by!

megahot said:
Thats quite the garden you have Scott! Everything looks to be coming along nicely, great stuff! I look forward to following!

Thanks!

This year so far has had it's ups and downs. But it's all good!

Took a few pics today:

Round three planting is coming along nicely. Round one did nothing, round two was devoured. I want to see the Chinense get 12"s tall.

Red Manzano, I know I need to trim one :shh:

F4 NagaBrain. Seeds from Gary. A prolific, robust pepper plant. I grew these last year, but last year went south....and I almost did too!

White Bhut, original seeds from Walkgood. This one is from pods I harvested in 2014. I seems like it's going to be true. Leaves are lighter than most plants, a bit shy of the sun, and a fast grower. A very nice pepper!

The D-fly came back

MoA, I just love the growth habit of this plant, and of course the rewards

Original seeds from Walkgood, this one is from seeds I collected from my 2014 harvest. Hope it's true

Giant White Hab, seeds from Paul. I grew it last year, but it was on the southbound train..

Tiny, little Reaper. Planted the same time as the rest. Two out of 9 seeds popped and quickly damped off. This one came up about 3 weeks later and struggled with a helmet head. It wants to live! We'll see just how bad it wants to live, because just prior to the pic I dropped the pot :confused:

Good or bad, garden pics mañana. Or should I say the good, the bad, the ugly....

cone9 · Jul 9, 2016

Every problem has a solution Scott, but you'll need to bone up on your .22 marksmanship. Head shots won't consistently be easy.

http://www.free-gourmet-recipes.com/rats-recipes.html

randyp · Jul 13, 2016

Glad you had a good trip. Scott.Also having a few ripe peppers is a plus.A buddy went on vacation 2 weeks ago and wanted me to water his 10 Toms and 3 peppers.I had extra dripline parts laying around,so i bought a timer (that I made him pay for

)and hooked his garden spot up.

Devv · Jul 13, 2016

cone9 said:
Every problem has a solution Scott, but you'll need to bone up on your .22 marksmanship. Head shots won't consistently be easy.

http://www.free-gourmet-recipes.com/rats-recipes.html

LOL, head shots are not the issue, if I'm awake to see them

EWWWW! on the rata link! I wonder if I can send them some?

randyp said:
Glad you had a good trip. Scott.Also having a few ripe peppers is a plus.A buddy went on vacation 2 weeks ago and wanted me to water his 10 Toms and 3 peppers.I had extra dripline parts laying around,so i bought a timer (that I made him pay for )and hooked his garden spot up.

Thanks Randy!

We had a blast! I wish I had, had someone like you watching my garden.

So here's a few pics, albeit a bit later than promised.

I moved the newbies into the garden where they get some afternoon shade. We're close to two weeks now of 98-100°+ temps.

These gals are hangin' quite well, they get a drink every 4-5 days as the pots start to get light. We have 4 to 6 weeks of "murder weather" left. And this year has been that way. I suspect a cold winter to follow, that's just how it rolls here.

This short row, coming back from the "trim" is looking the best. It's also not getting as much sun as the next few shots.

So that was the good, now the bad...

In full sun, but under the shade cloth, they are really hurting. I was told we had 105° and 103° while we were away, and that started the process I imagine.

The ugly:

A few weeks ago I showed this specimen and said it was my best looking plant. This is how it looked when I returned and still is suffering. I guess they reach that point and there's no turning back, unless the weather gives us a break. As for a weather break, it's not in the cards for the next 10 days.

So I guess my wanna-be glog is on hold until I have something worthy to show. I can't see posting any more pics of struggling plants, and will just enjoy the fantastic pics I'm seeing in all of your glogs!

Keep it green!

OCD Chilehead · Jul 14, 2016

The newbies are looking good in shelter.

Sorry to here about the plants. I would provide more shade to them and see if the rebound. I'm almost certain the bad's would rebound with a little more shade.

I put my Chinese in almost full shade and they are looking much better. I almost pulled them. They get a little morning sun and a little evening at that's it. I'm hoping they start to grow.

Good luck Scott.

randyp · Jul 14, 2016

Don't give up Scott,My peppers are your peppers.You will be getting the pick of the litter. :shh:

Spicegeist · Jul 14, 2016

That's some intense heat and stress for the plants... I hope some pull through.