Highalt's 2013 Grow - End of Season Wrap Up

I know some of you guys have already started seeds for next year's grow, and I should have started the Manzano's a month ago, but I am still working on finalizing the grow list.

Each year since I started growing peppers, the list has gotten bigger, and they have taken up a larger % of my vegetable growing space. I started working part-time 3 months ago, and I am a mother of three, so I am struggling with being realistic about how much time I can devote to pepper growing this coming season. Right now, I've got between 65 and 70 varieties on the list, and some of them I'd really like to have more than one plant. Last year, I ended up with about 50 varieties and a total of 75 plants. So you can see that I have some work to do before I start putting the seeds in the dirt!

I thought I would go ahead and put up my tentative list, and use the feedback I get from you guys to help me narrow things down a bit. Those of you that know me will notice that I still haven't gotten brave enough to add any supers yet ... maybe next year.

So here's what I got so far:

Annums
Alice's Favorite
Alma Paprika
Ancho Gigantia, and/or Ancho San Luis
Barker (NuMex)
Biker Billy Jalapeno
Black Hungarian
Cayenne Thick (Can't remember who it was that was raving about this one this past season, but I don't have seeds for this one yet.)
Chilhuacle Amarillo
Chocolate Cherry
Cochiti
Cosa Arrugada and/or Pepperoncini
Costeno Amarillo
Fish
Fresno
Georgia Flame
Goat's Weed
Golden Cayenne
Hungarian Hot Wax
Jaloro
Jamaican Hot Yellow (Anyone have a source for these? It's confusing to me that the Jamaican Hot Choc. is a Chinense, but this one is listed as an Anuum!)
Jimmy Nardello
Leutschauer Paprika
Lumbre
Mulato Isleno
NuMex Pinata
NuMex Vaquero
Patio Red Marconi
Pusztagold
Sandia
Sante Fe Grande
Serrano (Not sure which one. May try the purple one this year.)
Tangerine Pimento and/or Yummy
Tobasco (Need seeds for this one.)
Zapotec Jalapeno

Baccatums
Aji Chinchi Amarillo
Aji Yellow
Birgit's Locoto
Bishop's Crown (Don't actually have seeds for this one yet. If anyone has some, I'd be willing to trade for them.)
El Oro de Equador
Inca Red Drop
Lemon Drop (Maybe. Last time they were bitter. May try a difference source.)
Pimenta Barro do Robiero
Purple de Arbol and/or Negro de Arbol (Which one is better?)

Chinenses
Aji Dulce (type 1 or 2 ?) Is this the same as Rocotillo?
Aji Limo Rojo
Bonda ma Jacques (Don't have seeds for this one yet either. May just grow Gold Bullet or regular yellow habanero as a substitute?)
Cheiro Roxa
Habanero, Peach (and maybe the Pink as well)
Habanero, White (I have the regular white, and White Bullet. Is the Peruvian White better, or are they all about the same?)
Jamaican Hot Chocolate
Purple Bhut (Okay, I don't have seeds for this one either. Maybe I'll substitute Condor's Beak if I can't find any.)
Scotch Bonnet Yellow (Have some labeled True Jamaican Scotch Bonnet. Should those be yellow? Or red?)

Pubescens (Yeah, I know I'm really too late on these, and probably won't get any ripe fruit this coming season)
Orange Manzano
Red Manzano
Yellow Manzano


Well, I think that's about it. I'm sure the list will change a few more times before it's a done deal, but at least it's a start!

So tell me what you think about the ones I have questions on, or let me know where to find seeds for the ones I'm missing, or tell me what I should have on the list and don't. Just kidding on that last one!!!

 

[stc3248]

I liked that one for the awesome looking stuffed peppers...not the wasp! One thing I sure don't miss about south Texas. Has several acres and a riding mower...every week I would disturb a nest on a low hanging limb and get hit. Oh...and forget the Bumble Bees and their underground nests...mow over one of those and you're in for trouble...yup, been there done that! Luckily I don't react as severely as it sounds you do. You may talk to a doc about a more potent antihistamine. 

 

[stickman]

Hi Bonnie, Really nice looking pics of pods and food! I love me some of those stuffed Poblanos! Bummer about the Wasp sting though. If it's been more than a half hour since you got stung you'll just have to ice it and/or use antihistamines and/or tylenol/ibuprofin. If you catch it right away, this method is very effective... my Dad and I used to keep Bees when I was a teenager, and after removing the stinger, this worked 100% of the time. http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2005/10/18/meat-tenderizer-and-vinegar-fo/
The good news for you is that Wasps don't leave their stingers stuck in you like Bees do. The bad news is that if they get inside your clothing they can zap you more than once, and trying to crush them when they're in there makes them really mad... Paper Wasps are bad, Yellowjackets are worse... but the absolute worst is the White-Faced Hornets. Those suckers are Mean!
 
Good luck with your new full-time job. The necessity is a hard thing, but I'm sure you're up to the challenge. Cheers!

 

[Sawyer]

Sorry to hear about the wasp sting, Bonnie.  I hope it's feeling better today.
 
Those stuffed peppers look delicious.
 
The mutant Bishop's Crowns are a pod shape I've never seen the likes of before.  Are you going to try to propagate them?
 

I liked that one for the awesome looking stuffed peppers...not the wasp! One thing I sure don't miss about south Texas. Has several acres and a riding mower...every week I would disturb a nest on a low hanging limb and get hit. Oh...and forget the Bumble Bees and their underground nests...mow over one of those and you're in for trouble...yup, been there done that! Luckily I don't react as severely as it sounds you do. You may talk to a doc about a more potent antihistamine. 

Yeah, bumblebees can fly faster than a tractor can go.  And they get really upset when you make a second pass.  I had to take the rest of the day off that day.
 

Hi Bonnie, Really nice looking pics of pods and food! I love me some of those stuffed Poblanos! Bummer about the Wasp sting though. If it's been more than a half hour since you got stung you'll just have to ice it and/or use antihistamines and/or tylenol/ibuprofin. If you catch it right away, this method is very effective... my Dad and I used to keep Bees when I was a teenager, and after removing the stinger, this worked 100% of the time. http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2005/10/18/meat-tenderizer-and-vinegar-fo/
The good news for you is that Wasps don't leave their stingers stuck in you like Bees do. The bad news is that if they get inside your clothing they can zap you more than once, and trying to crush them when they're in there makes them really mad... Paper Wasps are bad, Yellowjackets are worse... but the absolute worst is the White-Faced Hornets. Those suckers are Mean!
 
Good luck with your new full-time job. The necessity is a hard thing, but I'm sure you're up to the challenge. Cheers!

Maybe this time I'll remember the meat tenderizer thing.  I keep hearing about it, but keep falling back to baking soda, or actually nothing at all lately (no bad stings recently).  Once when I was kid I was out swatting at red wasps with a piece of cane.  One got past my less-than-Jedi-like sword work and got tangled up in my bangs and stung me three times on my forehead before I shook it loose.  My friends got a big kick out of my swollen face.  I agree the hornets are the worst, but I'd rather get stung by a yellow jacket (once) than by a paper wasp (house, red, or wood, the guineas aren't too bad).  Problem with yellow jackets is they like to make a team sport of stinging.
 
Edit:  I know the local terms I grew up with aren't universal (or even common), so here's what I mean by house, red, wood, or guinea wasp.  In particular, the real wood wasp is a whole 'nother creature altogether.  As a kid, we called P. annularis a wood wasp, because they tended to nest in the woods on trees, as opposed to around the house.  Good thing, too, because they were even bigger and meaner than the red wasps.

 

[Sanarda]

I hope you didnt get stung too badly and recover quick.  Love Love Love the foodie shots.  Making me hungry.  Nice harvest.  The peppers in the last shot do look like the cartoon character.  I hope they taste good.   

 

[JJJessee]

Great looking stuffed Anchos.
Looks like a pablano x anaheim kinda.
 
The seed you sent me in the seed swap- Chapeau de Frade look nothing like your mutants. Did they come from the same batch you think?

 

[highalt]

Great looking stuffed Anchos.
Looks like a pablano x anaheim kinda.
 
The seed you sent me in the seed swap- Chapeau de Frade look nothing like your mutants. Did they come from the same batch you think?

 
Yeah, those poblanos are monsters.  Guess that's why they are called Ancho Grande.
 
The Chapeau de Frade you received were sent in for the swap.  The seed I used came from GA Growhead via DocNrock.
 

I hope you didnt get stung too badly and recover quick.  Love Love Love the foodie shots.  Making me hungry.  Nice harvest.  The peppers in the last shot do look like the cartoon character.  I hope they taste good.   

 
Haven't tasted one yet, but I'll let you know when I do.
 

Hi Bonnie, Really nice looking pics of pods and food! I love me some of those stuffed Poblanos! Bummer about the Wasp sting though. If it's been more than a half hour since you got stung you'll just have to ice it and/or use antihistamines and/or tylenol/ibuprofin. If you catch it right away, this method is very effective... my Dad and I used to keep Bees when I was a teenager, and after removing the stinger, this worked 100% of the time. http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2005/10/18/meat-tenderizer-and-vinegar-fo/
The good news for you is that Wasps don't leave their stingers stuck in you like Bees do. The bad news is that if they get inside your clothing they can zap you more than once, and trying to crush them when they're in there makes them really mad... Paper Wasps are bad, Yellowjackets are worse... but the absolute worst is the White-Faced Hornets. Those suckers are Mean!
 
Good luck with your new full-time job. The necessity is a hard thing, but I'm sure you're up to the challenge. Cheers!

 
Don't usually use meat tenderizer, but as much as I get stung, maybe I should pick some up.
 
Yeah, I hate to be gone that much, but since I have to, I am just happy I found something in my field.
 

I liked that one for the awesome looking stuffed peppers...not the wasp! One thing I sure don't miss about south Texas. Has several acres and a riding mower...every week I would disturb a nest on a low hanging limb and get hit. Oh...and forget the Bumble Bees and their underground nests...mow over one of those and you're in for trouble...yup, been there done that! Luckily I don't react as severely as it sounds you do. You may talk to a doc about a more potent antihistamine. 

 
It wasn't too bad this time.  Sometimes I finish whatever I'm doing before dealing with the sting, but this time I immediately put the baking soda paste on, and after that didn't help, I did the whole rest, ice, compression, elevation thing, and took the Benadryl within an hour, so the swelling was only in the foot.  When I've waited to treat it, the swelling has been much worse.
 
 
You guys are probably sick of my canning pictures by now, but here was today's project.  A mix of Lemon Drop, Aji Chinchi Amarillo, Lemon Drop, El Oro de Ecuador, and the first ripe Golden Cayenne, 
 
BTW, Doc, I love the flavor of that Golden Cayenne!  Much sweeter than I expected, and not as much heat as a regular cayenne pepper.  Wish I had more of them ripe for this batch of jelly.
 

 
After removing the stem and seeds, I blended them with a couple of cups of lemon juice.  Put it through the strainer, added sugar and pectin.
 

 
... and ended up with some Hot Lemon Jelly.  Not too hot though, maybe about the level of a jalapeno jelly.  Last year, some of my pepper jellies were WAY too hot for my family, so I am trying to make it more mainstream this go round.
 

 
Trying to get things done here at the house.  The kids go back to school on Monday, and I start my new job on Tuesday.

 

[Devv]

Sorry to hear about the bees, both LB and I swell like crazy just from one sting. Gonna try the meat tenderizer trick next time as there will be one for sure.
 
About three years ago I was on the tractor and the next thing I knew hundreds of honey bees were swarming, mostly around the engine (thank the Lord), I shut it off and bailed, sprinting to the house. Funny how fast a 50+ person can run when they need to! Had to exercise that right again this summer when lightning hit within 75 yds of me while in the garden. Some things just keep ya young!

 

[Pulpiteer]

You've had some wonderful things going on in the jelly realm Bonnie! My garden sucks this year, so I haven't had enough pods to do anything at all. I'm enjoying your wonderful cooking however!

 

[stickman]

Excellent looking jelly Bonnie... I'm sure it tastes as good as it looks! I've got three quarters of a peck of ripe peaches I need to make up into my peach-serrano jam this weekend.

 

[WalkGood]

Sorry to hear about the bees, both LB and I swell like crazy just from one sting. Gonna try the meat tenderizer trick next time as there will be one for sure.
 
About three years ago I was on the tractor and the next thing I knew hundreds of honey bees were swarming, mostly around the engine (thank the Lord), I shut it off and bailed, sprinting to the house. Funny how fast a 50+ person can run when they need to! Had to exercise that right again this summer when lightning hit within 75 yds of me while in the garden. Some things just keep ya young!

Interesting, never tried that but we use meat tenderizer for portuguese man of war stings after surfing ... works great, I'll have to give dat a try if I get any bee bites but it's been ages since I had one even though they're all around our grow.
 
Great job, updates and pics Bonnie ... have a great weekend \o/

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Very nice looking jelly

 

[highalt]

I was hoping to get a batch of salsa canned today, before I started working full-time, but just didn't have quite enough ripe tomatoes yet.  Will try and get that done this weekend.  Last year, I didn't have enough ripe tomatoes until October, after the first frost, so if I get a batch done before September, I'll be pretty pleased.
 
The zucchini has done very well this year.  I've grated and froze 8 quart freezer bags worth so far, and have made 3 batches of bread (2 loaves a piece), zucchini candy, zucchini fries, and zucchini cornbread casserole.  I even gave away a bag full at church yesterday. Tonight I made a Sausage Zucchini Bake, which is kind of like a lasagna, except instead of noodles, it's layers of sliced zucchini, and sliced tomatoes.  I liked it, but the kids said the zucchini texture was rubbery.
 

 
Harvested enough yellow Romano beans, and some Yard Long Asparagus beans the other day for one meal.  
 
Plenty of cherry and currant tomatoes coming in, but the beefsteaks are slower to ripen.  So as I was harvesting tomatoes yesterday, I reached through the tomato jungle and grabbed one that was ripe without really looking.  It was kind of deformed on the bottom, rather than smooth.  Earwigs tend to find those pockets and eat their way into the tomato.  So I was about to scrape one out to squish it, when I realized it was not an earwig.  It was a BLACK WIDOW!!!  I have seen plenty of black widows at home, under the smoker, or around the irrigation pump,  even in the garage, but I have never run across one in the garden before.  Totally freaked me out!   
 
Speaking of earwigs, those things have just about ruined most of the tomatillos.  The plants were loaded and looked healthy.  Now there is damage on a lot of the fruits, and a lot of leaf drop too.
 
The peppers have pretty much stalled out at this point.  Quite a bit of leaf drop going on right now.  Not sure if it is from the heat, since we have only been in the mid-90's, but not a lot of pod setting lately.  A couple of plants either had mites, or some sort of bacterial or fungal issue going on.  I gave them time to try and recover, but didn't really diagnose or treat them.  Finally ended up just ripping the plants out yesterday.  So no Aji Yellows this year ...  
The other plant was a Chilhuacle Negro.  I had two of them, but the other one looks to be a NOT.  The plant was tall and vigorous before it was struck by whatever it was. 
 
I'm not complaining though.  There are still plenty of pods that will be ripening soon, I'm just not sure about getting a second crop before the first frost.  There's probably anywhere from 4 - 7 weeks left to the growing season here.  Sometimes when the temps cool off, the plants will make a mad dash to try and produce pods, so you never know.
 

 

[JJJessee]

When you grabbed that tomato without looking, I knew what was coming. Usually those things hang out in very dry spots, but they sure do like a tomato sprawl around here for some reason.
Sure glad it didn't get you. That zuch-tomato-cheese dish looks AWESOME! 
 
About the same here on the frost thing, 9 weeks tops. The autumns have had some early cool snaps last couple of years and this summer has been just below or about normal temps  historically. A late Sept dip into the low 30s wouldn't surprise me a bit. 

 

[stc3248]

Damn...sucks about the plants. Black widows love the underside of my container lips...and Brown Widows make homes deep inside the pepper plants. Gotta watch out for webs! That Zucchini Bake looks fantastic...and damnit...I am hitting the diet hard again.  
 
Keep up the good work!  

 

[stickman]

Love the zucchini bake Bonnie... I do the same thing with eggplant. Slice it really thin on a mandolin and use it instead of the noodles. I also like to make eggplant rollatini once in a while, but it has so much cheese in the filling I can't have it often...

 

[romy6]

 Bonnie we never get tired of watching your canning and food pics. And I don't think the jelly was too spicy 
 
Glad you escaped the jaws of the widow. Would have made the wasp bite seem not so bad though. 
 
I know all about above 90 degrees and peppers . They hate it more than we do. 

 

[Pulpiteer]

Black widow... ugh... Glad it didn't get you.

 

[Sanarda]

loved the zucchini please send me the recipe if you dont mind.  skipped all that spider stuff.  My heart cant take it.  

 

[highalt]

So two weeks of working full time, plus the start of the football and soccer season, have taken their toll.  I finally went to the community garden yesterday, and had to throw out a couple dozen split and rotten tomatoes.  If I could have harvested them a week ago, they would have been perfect!  I managed to harvest most of what was ripe yesterday.
 
Was invited to play and sing a few songs at a church camp nearby, so didn't have time to process anything until today.
 
To give you a better idea of how many peppers and tomatoes are in the pics, the bowls are NOT pasta bowls, they're the large serving platters.
 

 

 

 
First ripe Beni Highlands
 

 
First ripe Goat Weeds
 

 
First batch of salsa of the season.  The two jars on the left are the leftover that wouldn't fit in the canner.  You can see I already dipped into one of them.  I feel bad though.  When I was chopping peppers, my sweet little 7 year old daughter says, "Mom, promise you won't make it too spicy this time!"  I tasted every pepper to try and gauge how much heat I was adding, and thought I was being conservative, but I knew as soon as I took a spoonful that it was too hot for the kids.     It is pretty yummy though ...
 

 
My oldest son's first ever high school football game is tomorrow.  Very excited for him.
 
Having a hard time adjusting to being away from home so much!  Just hope I can find the time to throw some peppers in the dehydrator and make some more jelly before they all go bad on me!

loved the zucchini please send me the recipe if you dont mind.  skipped all that spider stuff.  My heart cant take it.  

 
 
Here you go, Pia!
 
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/08/12/recipe-connection-sausage-zucchini-bake/

 

[Sanarda]

Your the best Bonnie.  and that harvest is killer.. Well done my friend

YUMMMM on that salsa.  I got a salsa request from a coworker that knows I am growing peppers.  I said I would make a hot sauce with lots of salt and vinegar as mine has lasted more than a year without making anyone sick