Devv's Dirt Grow-Almost done..

Weekend March 2-3:
I’ve been working on the garden for years; it was dormant for a few years (like 10) while I changed careers. The base soil if you want to call it that is sand. I added heavy black dirt to the upper 2/3 years ago; I’ve since added heavy red dirt (clay ) to half of the lower 1/3. For two years straight I’ve added 4”s of compost to the upper 2/3 and this year 4”s to the bottom 1/3. I clean horse pens for the free manure; kitchen waste is added to the compost. Our property is on a slope and heavy rains cause erosion problems. Above the garden the land is heavily terraced to divert water runoff.
Finished concreting the base of the fence, used 22 80lb bags, the Waskily Wabbits should be done, until they find another way in. They have been a real menace! I tried a hot wire system, it was not too effective and killed birds and squirrels; I didn’t like that.

Planted the Onions January 15th, Garlic was planted September 15th. They took a beating with the 30mph winds, 55 mph gusts last Monday.

Tilled and my wife planted corn, cukes, watermelons, bush beans and cantelope.

Bush Beans above

Cukes, and Melons behind the Rosemary above.

Corn below.

I started these the first week of January; I think I got carried away.

The Potatoes, planted February 15th are coming up. I planted then 8”s deep and I keep covering them up, and will do so until the ground is level where planted.

Never ending mulch pile.

Hmmm.. too many images...

 

[Chewi]

Just got caught up over here Scott. Damn fine grow you have goin on!!! Looks like you are running about 6 or 7 degrees cooler down there right now. Hope that lets you get another few weeks of fruit setting! I think your plot is closer to a farm than an alley btw hahaha!

 

[Devv]

Your pepper patch is looking lush! Don't sweat them bug bastages...they won't eat the pods anyway! Hope your homemade mix kick their butts! Keep us posted on how it works! I may be shopping for some Rosemary plants!

 
Thanks Shane!
 
This year the weather has been good to us. I'll keep posting on the progress, really interested to see which works better. Thursday evening late they get another dose.

You and me both, I already started looking around now I just need to know how long it takes for one to get big and if there are any bugs that mess with one. Aside from that, I'll go for year round grow with Ms rosemary, I love how the oil has worked so far. But the last thing I need is another bug magnet, lolz.

 
It takes a season before they kick, and nothing bothers them. The lizards like to hang out under them because they bush out low. Watering, you'll never have to water them where you are, in fact once established I don't either. If anything you have free Rosemary to dry and process for seasonings.

Just got caught up over here Scott. Damn fine grow you have goin on!!! Looks like you are running about 6 or 7 degrees cooler down there right now. Hope that lets you get another few weeks of fruit setting! I think your plot is closer to a farm than an alley btw hahaha!

 
Thanks!
 
It's been a long year, I'm currently pulling up the tomatoes, we're at 60qts. canned now. This has been the coolest spring in like 25 years here, it was more than welcome! This is my first year growing pepper from seed, I started rather late but they seem to be catching up...
 
Thanks for the visits and comments!
 
Happy growing to all!

 

[Devv]

Almost missed these two posts...whoops
 

Great looking plants Scott... you're gonna have to lose some weight to get between them soon! Nice pull of Annuums. I like growing a mix of capsicum varieties because then it's a more or less continuous harvest, and the hottest peppers are at the end of the season. I guess you could say the sting is in the tail! Cheers...

 
Thanks Rick!
 
The Annuum's have been providing well, I started those seeds around the first of the year, the Chinense all throughout Feb. can't wait for some color from them. At this point I have a few hundred pods in the wings!
 

hehe great reply.
 
In my case here I’m sure I killed them but dem gotz more, for all I know they’re up high in the live oaks and paratroop down to the peppers. They have not returned to the JA MoAs yet, so they're good for now and all I hit them with is neem. They only seem to come back quick after the heavy rains, if I spray and it’s dry they stay away for weeks. There’s just too much vegetation in our yard to spray everything so I’m sure they’re alive and well on other stuff.
 
That sounds good, I believe it’s working on the JA Hab but it’s hard to tell cause it’s possible they could have been washed away from the rain. That said, I’m happy with the death by rosemary so far, great job brethren!
 
The red Bhut Jolokia started podding last week, I haven’t taken pics yet cause they’re only around ½” long so far but if I can keep the mites and hornworms away it’s looking like she’ll be full up, there’s lot of the flowers and most are setting. The Choco Scorp is also filling up with a lot of pods, the new pods look more scorpish but are still small. This is the plant I’ve found the most hornworm eggs on. It really sucks ... just when you get rid of one pest another comes along. Wish dat death by rosemary would kill dem eggs, I’d spray the tar out of it, lolz.

Have a great week Scott!

 
Glad the Red Bhut is podding, my two are just flowering, soon if the weather holds. So far I'm surprised by the pollination I'm getting in the heat we're having. I read the mites live in weeds....plenty of them around here!
 
Watch them dang hornworms! They do lot's of damage in a short while. We have been having the cut ants get into the garden, stripped two trees but so far haven't bothered the peppers.

 

[Stefan_W]

The plants all look great! I hope your hornworm solution works. I've never had to deal with those particular critters, but I understand they are nasty. 
 
Rosemary is one of my all time favourite herbs. I love plants that actually do better if you completely ignore them and let them do their own thing.

 

[Dshlogg]

Lookin good brotha. I can't wait to see how your rosemary concentrate performs. That stuff looks amazing.

Atleast you have one good Reaper. It looks like many seeds were only f4 or f5 generation at best. Glad they're not just Primos though.

Your plants are getting big. You'll be swimming in pods soon!

 

[Devv]

The plants all look great! I hope your hornworm solution works. I've never had to deal with those particular critters, but I understand they are nasty. 
 
Rosemary is one of my all time favourite herbs. I love plants that actually do better if you completely ignore them and let them do their own thing.

 
Thanks!
 
Too true on the Rosemary, get them running and forget about them. They grow so well here I'd farm them if I could find a decent market for them...5 years until I retire....hahaha will look into it!
 
Thanks for stopping by.
 
 

Lookin good brotha. I can't wait to see how your rosemary concentrate performs. That stuff looks amazing.

Atleast you have one good Reaper. It looks like many seeds were only f4 or f5 generation at best. Glad they're not just Primos though.

Your plants are getting big. You'll be swimming in pods soon!

 
Thanks! Been working hard on them, my first year growing the Chinense, definitely a different animal. Such a beautiful and elegant plant and fun to watch grow!
Tomorrow early I test the second dose. It would be fantastic if the Rosemary is a solution for the mites. My issue, or question is about re infestation. How do I really know if I kill them all or they just come back from the fields around us? I'll probably never know...
 
Starting to see some more true pods....am waiting for them to get larger so I can take some good photos.
 
I took some pics yesterday, they look like more of the same....so I didn't post them. I've been yanking the tomato plants, about 12 every day this week and tilling in the weeds at a 3" setting just to kill them. LB is so ready for me to bring in the last tomato harvest. After they are gone it's just peppers and the red onions which are taking forever!
 
I have a 4 day weekend, had some use it or lose it days......ain't gonna lose em! So I can get caught up with the garden and yard....can't remember the last time I fired up the weedeater....don't want to as it's gonna be a half day thang!
 
Thanks for coming by!

 

[WalkGood]

I need a fix ... ... ... where da new pics mon, hehe.
 
On my 3rd spray of "death by rosemary," from what I can tell it works great at a stronger mix rate than I started with. I'll cut some leaves tomorrow and check with mag lens to see it I'm right.

 

[Sanarda]

Caught up on the update. Plants look fantastic. You have a nice forest brewing.

 

[Devv]

I need a fix ... ... ... where da new pics mon, hehe.
 
On my 3rd spray of "death by rosemary," from what I can tell it works great at a stronger mix rate than I started with. I'll cut some leaves tomorrow and check with mag lens to see it I'm right.

 
I'll post some later, still too dark. I just came in from ant patrol. I'm afraid they will hit the peppers. So far they have stripped 3 trees. The Moruga is is looking rough, I'm afraid to spray it. The leaves look burned. Are you rinsing the plant after spray? I didn't, maybe I should have. I have off today but promised a friend I'd replace his AC compressor clutch coil this AM, want to do it while it's cooler.
 
 

Caught up on the update. Plants look fantastic. You have a nice forest brewing.

 
Thanks Pia!
 
Most of the Chinense have pods everywhere, the rest are trying. No color yet... It's getting way to crowded in there to get good pics, I think I'm going to have to belly crawl alter...LOL.
 
Thanks for coming by!

 

[stickman]

Sorry to hear about the ant worries... those bastiges are more relentless than aphids! A home remedy I always use when we get them in the house is to put out sugar and borax mixed 50/50 where they can get at it. They taste the sugar and think food... then carry it back to the nest and feed it to the queen and brood. Wipes out the whole colony in a week or so.

 

[Devv]

Rick, does this work for the Harvester ants, AKA cut ants?
 
Here's what they do to our fruit trees:
 

 
They have a main nest that's usually about 10 feet around with many hills, they then satellite out up to 300yds. and mount an attack from there. This hill I found about 150' from the garden, can't see the core nest cuz the grass is too high in the fields.
 
Here's the Moruga:
 

 
It looked a lot worse at dawn, so I'm going to spray it again when it cools down.
 
I want to take more pics but will have to lie in the dirt...LOL. will do that later when it drys. We had a shower yesterday evening...

 

[Dot Com]

the color of the morouga looks kind of healthy. I'm trying to grow one of those for the first time as well.

 

[Devv]

the color of the morouga looks kind of healthy. I'm trying to grow one of those for the first time as well.

 
It looked really nice two weeks ago, and once again mite invasion. Walkgood and I are testing a homemade Rosemary oil concoction, the first treatment roughed it up a bit.
 
I just got the living crap scared out of me. I was in the garden pulling up tomato plants, a small cell east of us is doing some rumbling. The sky is rather clear and boom! lightning struck in the neighbor's field. Guess a storm is forming right over us...
 
I'm 54 and ran like I'm still 20!

 

[stickman]

I just got the living crap scared out of me. I was in the garden pulling up tomato plants, a small cell east of us is doing some rumbling. The sky is rather clear and boom! lightning struck in the neighbor's field. Guess a storm is forming right over us...
 
I'm 54 and ran like I'm still 20!

 
I hear ya brother!... My Dad and I used to like to sit out on our screened-in porch and just relax and enjoy the show when electrical storms came through... we didn't talk, just enjoyed the cool breeze and the sounds and smells. One time, a bolt of lightning hit a tall Maple tree about 30 feet away on the other side of the road and we discovered levitation! Lol! We'd been sitting back in our chairs before the strike, no memory of getting to our feet... just the flash and the roar coming together and finding ourselves on our feet...
 
Bummer about the Leaf-Cutting Ants... reading up on them, I see that traditional sugar or oil-based baits don't work on them because they eat the fungus they grow on the leaf cuttings they bring back to the nest. The Texas A&M extension service has this to say about them... http://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/landscape/ants/ENT-1002/
and  they recommend a product called Amdrol Ant Block. Good luck with them brother!

 

[Devv]

 
I hear ya brother!... My Dad and I used to like to sit out on our screened-in porch and just relax and enjoy the show when electrical storms came through... we didn't talk, just enjoyed the cool breeze and the sounds and smells. One time, a bolt of lightning hit a tall Maple tree about 30 feet away on the other side of the road and we discovered levitation! Lol! We'd been sitting back in our chairs before the strike, no memory of getting to our feet... just the flash and the roar coming together and finding ourselves on our feet...
 
Bummer about the Leaf-Cutting Ants... reading up on them, I see that traditional sugar or oil-based baits don't work on them because they eat the fungus they grow on the leaf cuttings they bring back to the nest. The Texas A&M extension service has this to say about them... http://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/landscape/ants/ENT-1002/
and  they recommend a product called Amdrol Ant Block. Good luck with them brother!

 
What you said about you and your Dad on the porch; around 2PM I was on the phone...a day off and a work call...normal. Anyway a second bolt hit a Live Oak tree about 15' up and it's just 70-80 feet from the house, that was # two. Haven't been out since LOL...I though I was going to need a diaper change!
 
Yeah those ants are tough. I could write a long story about them...25 year battle..

 

[WalkGood]

Scott,
Love the pics brethren, sorry to read about the ants and see the Moruga’s struggle but I’d think if you can fully shade it for a few days and go to town on it with death by rosemary you could bring her back.
 
Now da ants … is there anyway you can take the war to them? I know this will sound crazy but here’s a few off the wall thoughts from me:

• 
  Sacrifice some plants further away in the opposite direction of your grow and house
  
• Some bait that they take back to their nest which would kill the colony
• Controlled fire burn
• Water moat around the plants, probably not practical cause it would be too much work and constant filling of water would be expensive
• Flamethrower
• Call Matt ... I love the smell of napalm in the morning

 

 

[romy6]

 How about poor boiling water on the mounds? Works for ants in my parts. But we don't have your kinda ants here to my limited amount of knowledge.

 

[Devv]

Scott,
Love the pics brethren, sorry to read about the ants and see the Moruga’s struggle but I’d think if you can fully shade it for a few days and go to town on it with death by rosemary you could bring her back.
 
Now da ants … is there anyway you can take the war to them? I know this will sound crazy but here’s a few off the wall thoughts from me:

• 
  Sacrifice some plants further away in the opposite direction of your grow and house
  
• Some bait that they take back to their nest which would kill the colony
• Controlled fire burn
• Water moat around the plants, probably not practical cause it would be too much work and constant filling of water would be expensive
• Flamethrower
• Call Matt ... I love the smell of napalm in the morning

 

 
LOL!
 
I've been taking war to them for 25 years!
 
I used to use Orthene, can't find it locally anymore (cuz it works). May have to order it via the net. About 5 years ago I drug the hose to all the major nests, 4 close to the house (within 100yds.) 2 TBLS of Orthene to a 5 gal bucket. 50 gals per nest. Like pouring into a bottomless pit. That kept them at bay until this year. A few months after doing that it rained, I was on the tractor and the left wheel sunk down about 18"s into an old dead nest. That nest continued to collapse, the hole was almost 3' deep and about 5x8'.
 
So yesterday I started pulling up the tomatoes, and the lightning ran me inside. I did pull all of the toms
 

 
This is the last of them, wife's canned 63qts. and was happy to see the last batch come in the house.
 
Being I was rained out yesterday and the wife came home from shopping with a coffee grinder....
 

 
Made some Jal and Cayenne powder. We did this in the house because of the rain...uh mistake! Something about powder in plastic bags makes me nervous...looking over my shoulder...LOL
 
So we're stuck in the house, LB started cooking some sauce for stuffed peppers, more on that later.
 

 
Here's some peanut brittle with LB made with Jal powder added to the recipe, good stuff! Someone gifted us some a while back and we're addicted..
 

 
Breakfast, Omelete, swiss cheese, Velveeta cheese, Jals, bacon, fried potato
 

 
Top that with some of Docs super powder...
 

 
Plate shot...was most excellent.
 
Hope I'm not stuck in the house all day.
 
Have a good one...Friday!

 How about poor boiling water on the mounds? Works for ants in my parts. But we don't have your kinda ants here to my limited amount of knowledge.

 
They travel in tunnels and don't have a typical mound like the fire ants and black ants. I'm thinking you posted while I was typing my post above. See the 50 gals part....

 

[koskorgul]

Love the foodie pics Scott. Might ahve to make an omlette tomorrow morning, has been awhile since I had one.
sorry to hear about the ants. Have you ever tried what Stickman mentioned with the 50/50 borax and water? I will be using that one. Have started to se ants in the kitchen and the traps that I put out for them dont seem to be working. have seen about 4 swarms of ants inthe back yard so far this year. Time to get Midevil on their asses.
 
Love T- storms but when the lightning gets that close I head inside. One thing that I used to do with my kids was when a T-storm came through. I would turn off all the lights in the house, light a few candles, grab the flash lights. open all of the window blinds and watch it from one of the rooms. Didnt have a porch at the time so had to improvise. I lived in a mobile home at the time. It is one of the things that all of my kids bring up as one of their favorite things that they did with me, that and slim jim battles. HEHEHEHE

 

[WalkGood]

Holy cowabunga you have been busy!!! Awesome mater harvest \o/ Love the look of your powders, did you leave the seeds in on the Jals? Only asking cause I took mine out and it looks a little darker than yours but next time (very soon) I’ll be leaving them in, it’s way too much trouble, lol.
 
Got to tell you, I’m so glad that I missed your update till after lunch, foodie is great awesome brethren …. Great job on every ting!!!
 
I do my powdering in the garage, even the dehydrating cause it affects our oldest son and my wife, take a look how Shane used a fan ... he's got great ideas dat mon ... Have a great day amigo!