• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

JJJ 2013 Glog- C'est fini. -awmost.

So,I may as well grow them, eh?

I started back gardening last year, but I left it to my co-gardener mostly to come up with pepper plants. We had some Bells, and Cayenne, a Carrot pepper, a black Jap, Hungarian sweet, maybe a Bullnose, Then I bought a 4 pack each of Anaheims and Jimmy Nardellos. I set out a little Shoshito start in July and it had a lot of fruit considering. Nothing here to write home about. The Jimmy's did ok. 2 of the Anaheims weren't true (and a cow at half of one of them), one did ok. The last one I planted in a new asparagus bed and the first week some sucky bug drilled it right in forehead and wilted the top. I started to pull it out, but thought, "no harm to leave it to see what would happen". I pinched the wilt off. That pepper forked an by frost it had held its own with the asparagus which hit about 6 foot. I pulled the whole plant day before frost, and it had about 50 nice peppers on it. I blistered and smoked them all.
zvyniq.jpg
.

But this year I'm gonna be pepper pro-active. Thanks to Durham Bull, I have a treasure house of Capscium genes -Bhuts, Scorpions, and the likes -none of which I'd ever heard of a year ago. The generosity of this community seems to only be matched by it passion for peppers. I dig it. Plus I was in at another site with an online seed blind swap and ended up with some mildly hot goodies.

Well I've never grown a pepper from seed. Never. So yet another new door. Bought a heat mat, I've got onions about to come off it now. After Spicy Chicken's glog, I liked his grow station and thought I'd buy some shelves and put overhead fluorescent on them. I had a domestic conversation about where to put the shelves and lost amicably. So I guess I'll have to finally clean out my toolshed after only 4 years to make room.

27y1gmo.jpg


It has a skylight about, 30" x 96", but no heat, no electricity. But I think I can get by with an extension cord, and will have to pick up a little propane heater to knock the chill off. Peppers aren't safe outside here until mid-May.

Yesterday, I got my shelves assembled with one light installed - a 4x4' T8 fixture w/ 6500ks.

96ccnl.jpg


Plan is to wire them on to a gang of light switches, maybe a timer, cover it with Reflectrix movable curtains, some small fans.

I'd appreciate any advice, especially since I'm in the early build phase.

I'm shooting for about 100-150 plants if there's room -some to wind up in rows, some in beds, some into containers, some to share

A friend is sending me some more seeds today I believe, so I'll be closer to a final grow list when I see what that brings.

Thanks for reading and for any words of wisdom you can share.
 
Click to expand...
:rofl: Most of mine are in the shed too. A couple of trays begged me to sit to sit out on the table after it warmed a bit.
I'll warsh it 'fore I go ta choppin' the salet.
 
How old are your asparagus now Jessee? and what are you feeding them? ive read they are real hungry plants, mine are two years old now & from reading i should get a crop on the third year.

Mezo.
 
Mezo, I planted some really lush looking crowns I got online in April 2012. In brand new raised beds of at least 30% thoroughly composted wooded chips, 65% local clay, and 5% or less limestone grit.
I drip watered them as needed but we got pretty good rain last year.
They grew like crazy.



I cut all these stalks when they browned in November or December I believe and on one bed I gave it another inch or so of compost, but I never got round to the other bed. Both beds got a thick coat of straw for the winter. That extra compost really shows on this year's growth. This year I let the plants get going and now I'm in the middle of a 7-10 day harvest period. After that everything is left to mature. Next year I get a 2-3 week harvest and the subsequent years 4-6 weeks or so I've read. This is my first crop. It's delicious just to snap it and eat it raw.
 
JJJessee said:
… … I didn't take my thermometer, but I stuck my machete up to the hilt into the bed, left it a few minutes and it came up warm.
I think we're good.
Click to expand...
Funny I never used mine as a thermometer but that's a good idea, all I use my machete for now is to chop coconuts open and to cut down plantains after crop production. Man I miss chopping thru the jungles of the Blue Mountains :/

annie57 said:
You sure we ain't kin? :rofl:I damn-well KNOW ya kin to my cousin! Hell, slam a machete in there, if it comes back hot, ya good! …
Click to expand...
ROFLMAO
 
Dogwood winter. Got a light but healthy frost here.

My main outdoor garden space is about 20 miles from my house so I won't check the hot bed until tomorrow.
I garden a little across the hill on some friend's farm. He had been sick with cancer for several years and died a few weeks ago. Me and some others started helping with the garden fall before last which had been let go somewhat. I planted a rye crop for cover last fall and it took off like weeds. I didn't get it turned under before it got too tall, so were just gonna cut and thresh it in a coupla months.



In the mean time.

Yeah, Ramon, I heart my machete, she's a 12" Ontario brush blade (no saw back). Excellent for hardwoods, clearing trail, splitting kindling, heavy kitchen cutting, I've used it as a spatula to fry with in the woods. They're really, really handy. A longer blade is probably better for lush, tropical vegetation.
 
I love my machete too...I use it on trail maintenance runs along the National Forest trails. I wear it bandoleer style in a home-made rig and draw it like highlander when I come across anything begging to be cut! There can be only one! Too bad about the MG little ones...grow what you know wins again!
 
Except for a tomato plant everything made it though the weekend frost, except something crawled up out of the ground and gnawed a tomato plant half in two.
It was still alive but I had to put it down. A cutworm of some sort no doubt. I couldn't find him.

So I set out a Black Naga and a sweet pepper and 3 tomato plants.



The Goat's Weed has been out for 5 days now and has put a couple of leaves on.



The Birgit's is still getting it's bearings.


Machete test revealed the ground was not quiet as warm as Friday
Thanks for reading,
jjj
 
Wow death by cutworm :/ that sucks for your tomato. But on the plus side it’s great to read that what you planted made it through the cold and that you’re going to plant out more. Have you read what Rick does to ward off the cut worms, you might want to give that a go. Keep up the great grow ^_^
 
This is a representative of each (well almost all) of the varieties I'm growing.
Beauty queens there are not but, I think I have a shot at getting a ripe pepper out most of them.
The stripping I did to some of the plants just seemed to make them lanky, but if my soil have been up to snuff they may have fared better.
I topped several plants but not all of them branched, they just seemed confused, but soil again maybe.
The some of the yellowing is in my Droid's imagination, but when you see a nice dark green specimen it is in Miracle Grow instead of home-brew.
I came a little shower that's why everything is wet.

I have at least 2 more weeks to plant out. Some of the plants I re-potted in MG colored right up and started putting out big dark leaves.
Most of them are root bound no doubt. It's tempting to up-pot some of them up, but I have space considerations too. Decisions. decisions.
I have about 300' foot of row space tilled and some raised bed space too -mostly for peppers and tomatoes.

Thanks for reading, and especially thanks for all your advice that has gotten me this far, not to mention seeds.
There are 38 varieties shown and know there are a few that I missed.

JJJ

***************************************************



*****************************************************




******************************************************






******************************************************




*************************************************************



*************************************************************************



*****************************************************************************************



*****************************************************************************************************



*****************************************************************************************************************************





************************************************************************************************************************************************

 
I think you'll be fine once you get them outside in your real dirt and mama sunshine. Your picture layout is very nice, great update ^_^
 
Well, outside is getting closer. Actually the peppers have been outside for about a week just still in pots.
I've started to accumulate and stage some soil amending supplies to post-hole the plants into the rows.



This is the bean row to be sowed next week. I staked and sowed some onramental/ companions yesterday.
I have the rye and vetch cover tilled under for 4 -100' rows. Last year at this time, it was tilled out of fescue and weed sod and most of it got 3 crops of buckwheat tilled into it.
I'm ready to start digging holes, but need some more sand and Very Old Dressage Pooh to start the filling them. What kind of spacing do you think -24?, 30"? Zigzag a wide row?

The hot bed.


Things are not looking that hot. But they are not dying so I'm hoping they just shifting gears. I did plant some Dorset Nagas and Choc Bhuts directly in the bed about a week ago, but I may have let them get too dry and too hot it's a tightrope walk between fire and ice -we'll see.

The farmer's market
I'm going to see I can get space for a day at the market to sell some extra plants



2 mater trays, but one pepper tray, and some sweet woodruff and bee balm.

Thanks for reading,
Git out there and plant.
JJJ
 
Carl I love the look of everything and I'm betting your Dorset Naga and Choc Bhut will make a come back, keep dem happy with a little rum water ;)
Have a great day & weekend ... Good Great luck at the farmers market and make millions mon ^_^
 
Thanks, Ramon. If I could make a million people smile that would be a fortune.

Well I got a flower, so weather better be hurrying it up. It's a Jalapeno that has been up-potted.
A pretty little heptagon.



Also picked up a few buckets of dressage pooh (VODP). And the resident worms are just not like most other worms I've bumped into.

Worm Video


If they were much bigger, I wouldn't want to meet one in a dark alley.

I started mixing up the medicine aka Annie Amendment for tomato/pepper holes.
My first wheel barrow load is 3:1:1 aged mini-pine nuggets: VODP: course sand. some dolomite and organic 5-3-4.

I've got a lot to make between now and the end of May.
 
Plants, flowers, rows and poo all look good! I'm hoping the nightime temps will only go up from here. They can't get much lower (knock on wood). I've got about 75% of my big garden planted. Still have a lot of work to do though as I'm sure you do too. Good luck!
 
Think its a Jumper of some variety...they like compost piles, but shouldn't be native to your area. Nice flower shot on the Jal...won't be long now for sure!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top