Highalt's 2012 Grow Log

highalt · May 20, 2012

Couldn't resist any longer. I put some peppers in the ground this afternoon!!!

I decided to grow the cucumbers down at the community garden instead of here at the house, so instead of fitting 13 into the bed, I was able to get 16 in there. It's the cush life in that bed, not too much sun, great soil, irrigation system in place, so I had a hard time decided which ones got the sweet spot, and who has to live the tough life down at the community garden where the sun is relentless, and the soil is a work in progress. Here's who made the cut:

Chimayo
Piment d' Espelette
Aci Sivri
Ancho San Luis
Rain Forest
Aji Yellow
Cachucha
Joe's Long (aka Whippet's Tail)
Big Jim
Black Hungarian
NuMex Espanola Improved
Chilhuacle Rojo
Pimenta Barro do Robiero
Japone
Aji Picante
Sandia

So here are a few pictures. Most of the close ups are on the blurry side. It was getting late and I was rushing things. I'll do better next time.

Overview of the entire bed

Left side (chicken wire is to keep the stray cats from digging up my carrot and radish seeds)

Right side - far right is garlic. Half of the peas along the back died after transplanting. Sowed some more and they are just starting to come up. There's also some more radishes sown in that back corner.

Pimenta Barro do Robeiro

Cachucha

Black Hungarian - this was my biggest plant, but it's not too happy at the moment. It was too tall for the wooden skewers, so I use a large stake, but I think I disturbed the roots a little in the process. Hopefully it'll bounce back.

Piment d' Espelette

Joe's Long (aka Whippet's Tail) Supposed to be one of my contenders for the longest chile competition, but it has a loooong way to go.

Japone

Here's what's left. Most of these will go down at the community garden, might keep a couple of back ups, and the rest will be given away to friends.

Thanks for checking out my grow!

PaulG · May 20, 2012

Bonnie, your grow is really progressing nicely. Reading up in your
log really gave a nice picture of the great care you give your plants
and the super results you are getting! The garden bed is primo; should
look awesome this summer! I can't believe you've planted out and I'm
still carting pots back and forth!

Hope your grow continues to be successful.

highalt · May 21, 2012

Thank you, Paul, for the kind words!

It's possible I may have jumped the gun a bit. Not so much temperature wise, as the lows for the next few days are supposed to be 40 and above, but there's a red flag warning out for tomorrow. Last year, shortly after planting out we had a windy spell, and I lost a couple of plants, and the ones that survived lost quite a few leaves. Everything eventually recovered, but it sure set things back a bit. I'm trying to think of some kind of wind break I can create for the bed in the front yard, that won't have the HOA knocking on my door asking me to dismantle it.

I'll be holding off on planting the ones at the community garden till after they lift the red flag warning.

PaulG · May 21, 2012

Good luck, Bonnie. Hope you dodge the bullet tomorrow.
Maybe you could park your car in front of the garden bed
in the front yard if there's room!

stickman · May 22, 2012

highalt said:
Thank you, Paul, for the kind words!

It's possible I may have jumped the gun a bit. Not so much temperature wise, as the lows for the next few days are supposed to be 40 and above, but there's a red flag warning out for tomorrow. Last year, shortly after planting out we had a windy spell, and I lost a couple of plants, and the ones that survived lost quite a few leaves. Everything eventually recovered, but it sure set things back a bit. I'm trying to think of some kind of wind break I can create for the bed in the front yard, that won't have the HOA knocking on my door asking me to dismantle it.

I'll be holding off on planting the ones at the community garden till after they lift the red flag warning.

Ouch! I feel for you. Didn't I see a wooden fence behind the garden in your pics? If not... I don't see why a temporary structure should set off the neighbors. After all it's temporary! A hoophouse is fairly cheap,quick and easy to put up, but if wind is the issue you'll need to put down sandbags like I did or stake down the edges with long stakes and reinforce the places where you put in the stakes so the wind can't worry them through the plastic. firmly holding down the edges is important in my experience because the structure has so little weight in relation to its surface area that it makes a GREAT sail. Especially when you open up the ends to let out excess hot air.
Good Luck!

stc3248 · May 22, 2012

Looking great Bonnie! Exciting stuff! Now if we can just get the folks in the northwest some dry warm weather I think we'll all be set! Good luck! Hope the weather stays good for you!

highalt · May 22, 2012

PaulG said:
Good luck, Bonnie. Hope you dodge the bullet tomorrow.
Maybe you could park your car in front of the garden bed
in the front yard if there's room!

Paul, I apologize for being so pessimistic about the forecast, and you are kind enough to offer suggestions, but I have to tell you it made me chuckle when I read it, because the car would have to be on my front porch to block the wind from that bed. The HOA really would have something to say about that! LOL!

stickman said:
Ouch! I feel for you. Didn't I see a wooden fence behind the garden in your pics? If not... I don't see why a temporary structure should set off the neighbors. After all it's temporary! A hoophouse is fairly cheap,quick and easy to put up, but if wind is the issue you'll need to put down sandbags like I did or stake down the edges with long stakes and reinforce the places where you put in the stakes so the wind can't worry them through the plastic. firmly holding down the edges is important in my experience because the structure has so little weight in relation to its surface area that it makes a GREAT sail. Especially when you open up the ends to let out excess hot air.
Good Luck!

Yep, the bed is in front of a fence that runs east to west, so it helps when the wind comes from the north, but typically our winds come out of the west here. I think I'll look around at Wally World tomorrow for a roll of window screen material. If I set up some sturdy metal posts around the bed, and attach the screen to it, it may diffuse the wind some, and might not be too noticeable from the street. The curved shape of that bed, and the 7' t-posts for the tomatoes, make the hoop house idea a little trickier than if I had a level rectangular area like yours, but I am thinking I may try it down at the community garden next season.

stc3248 said:
Looking great Bonnie! Exciting stuff! Now if we can just get the folks in the northwest some dry warm weather I think we'll all be set! Good luck! Hope the weather stays good for you!

Thanks, Shane! If it gets too bad today, I can at least bring the Earthboxes and pots into the garage, so the only plants that are on their own are the ones in the ground. I'm trying to be more optimistic today. Thanks for the encouragement!

highalt · May 22, 2012

Just a quick update for anyone following along.

Winds have been between 20 - 35 mph for the past 5 hours, and the gusts are predicted to reach 45 mph overnight. Tomorrow the winds should drop into a more reasonable 15 - 20 mph range. All of the babies have been brought inside for the duration of this wind event, and all of the container plants have been moved to the patio. Thought about bringing them into the garage, but the winds are coming out of the west/southwest, so the house itself, and backyard fence are doing a good job protecting everything on that east side of the house.

As far as the in ground stuff goes, I had some other responsibilities that had to take priority today (I know, crazy, right!), so no time to construct a wind break. The only thing I know to do is keep that area well watered. Even on a normal day here, the air is so dry that I can water the little 3 1/4" inch pots that hold the seedlings in the morning, and by afternoon the soil is completely dry and the plants are starting to wilt. This is at temperatures in the 70 - 80 degree range, not 90 -100! So you can imagine how much worse it would be with strong winds added to the mix. Anyway, I've been hand watering the vegetable bed every couple of hours, in hopes that it will decrease the amount of stress the plants are under.

I've got to be gone a good part of the day tomorrow, but I'll try and take my camera with me when I check on the plants. Hopefully, I won't have any carnage to report!

PaulG · May 23, 2012

Sounds like you are doing all the right things, Bonnie!
Looking forward to a positive report!

romy6 · May 23, 2012

Good too see you finally are able to get some plants in the ground Bonnie. Hopefully the wind will ease up and you can those other babies in the community garden sooner than later. Hope all is well with the family.

jsschrstrcks · May 23, 2012

Good luck... All three of my gardens are going to be screwed if we get hit by a hurricane =(

I read where people dug up half the roots and laid the plant over... they never posted back what happened, so I'm guessing it didn't go well (this was before a hurricane last year).

I think you are doing the best that you can, as much as we chili growers like to micromanage, and control every aspect of our grows, there are some things that are just out of our hands.

hopefully your peppers bounce back and are ever more vigorous as a result.

highalt · May 23, 2012

Everything survived the night! :dance:

Here are a few pics.

NuMex Espanola Improved

Aci Sivri (the picture above was right after watering last night. This one was this morning. Look how dry the ground is, and the sun hasn't even been out today!)

Cosa Arrugada

Okay, not pepper related, but check out the albino crab spider on my Dianthus!

This guy on my Showy Goldeneye is a thread waisted wasp. They actually hunt caterpillars, such as cutworms to feed their babies. I know that I have a whole lot less of them since these guys showed up.

Several kinds of basil, and wintersown tomatoes waiting to go in the ground.

There's another high wind warning for Friday, so the plants aren't out of the woods yet, but I am encouraged by how well everything held up yesterday.

I appreciate all of the encouragement from you guys as well!!!

stc3248 · May 23, 2012

Looking great! They're gonna be just fine! Always enjoy the pics of the out garden friends out there patrolling. Keep it up!

Shane

PaulG · May 24, 2012

Great news, Bonnie! Every day they grow between
events they are that much stronger! Your plants look
great; complete with arthropods!

stickman · May 24, 2012

I love a story with a happy ending! :dance:

Pepper-Guru · May 24, 2012

Lookng good! Something Ive always done during hail or high winds is put an upside down container overtop each fresh transplant. Add a brick or rock ontop to hold itstill. Works like a charm. Grow on!

highalt · May 24, 2012

Pepper-Guru said:
Lookng good! Something Ive always done during hail or high winds is put an upside down container overtop each fresh transplant. Add a brick or rock ontop to hold itstill. Works like a charm. Grow on!

Thanks for that suggestion, Guru! That idea would probably work better than a row cover, which can beat your plants up if it is not secured properly. I'm going to look through the garage to see how many I can come up with.

The roller coaster that is our weather here has taken another turn. Check out this ridiculous forecast!

http://forecast.weat...d2=-107.654&e=0

Did you notice the low on Sunday night? Sheesh!!! I love the way the special weather statement describes the storm system as "impressive".

I'm so glad that I didn't give in to the temptation to plant anything at the community garden yet!

PaulG · May 24, 2012

I am going to stop complaining about our weather for sure!

stc3248 · May 24, 2012

Wow...better cover those babies on Sunday night! Crazy swings you got going on there!

highalt · May 24, 2012

So I took Pepper-Guru's advice and covered those babies up ... well, all except three. They are too tall to fit under any of the pots I can find. So I guess it's sink or swim time for that crazy tall Black Hungarian and his buddies.

Peppers under pots. So will the drainage holes provide enough air circulation under there, or should I worry about them frying?

Here's the unlucky few

You know, I think I have a few Wall-O-Waters up in the attic somewhere. I'm going to rummage around and see if I can locate them. I bought them and never used them, because I had heard they were a lot of trouble to set up, but I'm thinking at this point, they are worth the effort.

Don't want my glog to be all gloom and doom, so here is a cheerful little bloomer, Linum flavum compactum (Golden Flax). Wintersowed it last year, and it's just now blooming for the first time.