JJJ Glog 2014.....in summary

Whew!
2013 Swirling down the Drain of Time.
 
Washing the 10x20s for a New Year.
 

 
 
By last October I was so peppered out  -40 some superhot plants and over twice that many mild and sweets. Didn't think I'd ever see the end of it. But, an early surprise freeze caught me off guard and I lost several mild and sweeties. I did get almost the entire superhot crop, dried, smoked, fermented, frozen or pickled. so I should have no dearth of heat to see me through to 2014 harvest.
 
I owe most of my pepper success in 2013 to YOU.
All the folks here at THP helped me from seed, to advice, to encouragement, to inspiration.  Couldn't have done it without y'all.
 
Some changes for 2014:
 

 
I'm moving my Cappy 1000 Pepper Incubator into my  basement utility room. Last year I had it in a minimally heated out building and the night times often dipped into the 50s or lower. And come to find out, baby peppers don't much care for that. They survived, they were just slow growers.
 
 
Dirt:
 
Fox Farms Ocean Forest will be my potting mix. It's organic and hopefully will be as good as the Miracle Grow Moisture Control and it can't be any worse than my home-brew last year which wasn't horrible but coulda been better.
 
Timing:
 
Instead of putting most of my seed in the ground in early February, I'm going to hold off until later on the Annums. The Chinensis at least some in early - mid January and some Manzano seeds earlier than that if I can find them.
 
How Many for Plant Out?:
 
Not 140.
I'm devoting 2 raised beds -a 4x30 and a 4x16 to Sweet Peppers -Jimmy Nardello, King of the North, Gaint Marconis, Aji Dulce. About 26 plants. 
100' in my row garden. Probably 40 plant's. Haven't decided on the balance, Bhuts, 7 pot, Habs, Bonnets, Jalas, the usual suspects and a few odd balls.
66 plants +/- total. I totally neglected my maters last year(which given the season didn't make much difference), but this year I vow to do better by tomatoes. I hope to do 50 or so -all heirlooms, mostly paste.
I'll start several more of both than needed for selling and give-aways.
 
 
 
In related news....
 
My buddy up in Richmond grew a lot of peppers last year. He has a geodesic dome greenhouse. At the end of season he just dug up several of his pepper plants and moved them in inside.
 

 
They're looking pretty good for late December.
 
My last "harvest" of 2013 was 12/22/13; some Thai Chilis that I'd pulled the whole plants in October and just laid up on a table outside. Most had dried leather-hard.
 
I pulled, cooked, seasoned, ground and strained them into a sauce for Pad Thai for this winter.
 

 
 
Everything subject to change without notice.
(But I'll keep you posted)
 
Thanks for reading,
JJJ
 
 

 

[annie57]

Trip J, Rose-Pimp: nice! They say "'onest' ya go TDye ya won't . . . " (nothing rhymes. Drats.) Wouldn't worry about the A MoAs as John's correct; I think some green babies got many lobes, be fine. Ramon had stingers on some of his MoAs last year. MoA taste is what counts!! YBWine is "bubbly cute"--excessive H20 helps, lol--and I got no comment aside from evil green envy on that manzano. Gorgeous. I hit NCSU Ag-Ext agent with another email, "What if I compost pigweed in separate pile: will you test it for allelopathy to subdue other plants? How much will it cost to test?" (Have absolutely worn this woman OUT.) She says, "For you, FREE. Send to ME!" She capped! She capped in an email! How unprofessional! Sent her John's pdfs on matter and she has yet to study them; so have persisted, insistently, leach x tick, that she should.

 

[stickman]

Your garden's looking stellar TJ... no surprise there! Love the pics of "Pepper Row and Tomatoville". Nice that you're starting to pick ripe Manzanos... I'll bet you've got the attention of every Dixie grower with that one.   We don't have Deer up on our hilltop because there isn't enough cover, so I can afford to lol at the "Garden Eating Club" pic. Drive on dude!

 

[JJJessee]

Great updates, JJJ.  The stingers on the MoAs are kind of weird, but I see some of the less ripe ones are pretty close to "A" pods.

Thanks, John.
My plants seem to make better shapes as they go along; fairly typical I guess. The stingers taste as good as any
I threw together a quick, simple sauce that came out "not bad at all".
 
25 MoAs

 
de-seeded, ran through a processor
put in a sauce pan
 

 
with the juice of 3 limes
~1/4 cup DJohn mustard(wife's recipe)
~1/4 cane vinegar
Salt
Allspice
fresh ground Coriander
Cumin
Onion powder
and little honey
 
slowly bring to a soft boil and reduce to simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
Processed with an immersion blender. Requires refrigeration
.

 
Begs to be smeared on a big roast beef sub with lettuce, tomato, onions, green pepper and cuke slices.
Or maybe painted on a split chicken, sprinkled with some more herbs, and grilled.
 
 
 

Trip J, Rose-Pimp: nice! They say "'onest' ya go TDye ya won't . . . " (nothing rhymes. Drats.) Wouldn't worry about the A MoAs as John's correct; I think some green babies got many lobes, be fine. Ramon had stingers on some of his MoAs last year. MoA taste is what counts!! YBWine is "bubbly cute"--excessive H20 helps, lol--and I got no comment aside from evil green envy on that manzano. Gorgeous. I hit NCSU Ag-Ext agent with another email, "What if I compost pigweed in separate pile: will you test it for allelopathy to subdue other plants? How much will it cost to test?" (Have absolutely worn this woman OUT.) She says, "For you, FREE. Send to ME!" She capped! She capped in an email! How unprofessional! Sent her John's pdfs on matter and she has yet to study them; so have persisted, insistently, leach x tick, that she should.

Thanks, Annie.
 
A Tie-Dye
Makes ya spry
You'll eat other maters
But wonder why.
 
Your EXT-agent will be an expert on pigweed by the time you're done with her. 
We'll somebody's gotta teach 'em.
 
 

Your garden's looking stellar TJ... no surprise there! Love the pics of "Pepper Row and Tomatoville". Nice that you're starting to pick ripe Manzanos... I'll bet you've got the attention of every Dixie grower with that one.   We don't have Deer up on our hilltop because there isn't enough cover, so I can afford to lol at the "Garden Eating Club" pic. Drive on dude!

Thanks, Rick. Those Manz are just one slow pepper, but I think the wait is going to be worth it. I've never bit a pepper that juicy.
 
 
I still lament the fact that the flowers aren't purple.
The bloom set seems to be slowing down - a little.
 

 
 
 
 
Off to the mater patch
 
The Amish Paste made a big first mater and it fell off the vine about a week ago just barely blushed.
It ripened fairly well though.
 

 

 
My main sauce crop, Jersey Devil,  is just starting to turn, with a few  San Marzanos  barely ahead of them.
For the time being, I'm canning juice with what ever is ripe -a lot of Black Krims though.
 
This second batch tasted better for straight drinking with just a little salt.
 

 
This brings me to 10 quarts with no end in sight.
 
Today's pull I've let hang a bit longer since the rain has held back.
 

 
This is gonna be a pro-ducer,
 

 
That's one plant with two leaders.
RichmondDave  gave me the one seedling.
He must have bought back the seeds from Sri Lanka last winter.
It's listed as a semi-determinate, and is hard-fruited. Could even be a hybrid, I don't know. Seed don't seem to be common in the USA.
 
Thanks for reading.

 

[Devv]

Wow JJJ!
 
Plants of all kinds are simply loaded with fruit! All that hard work you put into the soil is really paying off.
 
Gonna have to give that MoA sauce a try   Thanks for posting!

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Nice looking sauce. Sounds tasty. Looks like the tomatoes are keeping you busy.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[stickman]

Love the look of that MoA sauce... I sampled my first this morning, and can just about "picture" the flavor in my head... what does the aroma remind you of? I thought I got notes of vanilla in mine.
 
Nice pull of Tomatoes too! I wish I had the space to plant as many as you did... nothing says summer like a vine-ripened Tomato! Keep up the good work TJ!

 

[GA Growhead]

J³, just amazing production! Plants are loving what your doing to them!

 

[JJJessee]

Wow JJJ!
 
Plants of all kinds are simply loaded with fruit! All that hard work you put into the soil is really paying off.
 
Gonna have to give that MoA sauce a try   Thanks for posting!

Thanks, Scott.
That MoA is such a great pepper, I'm being patient and letting all my peppers hang as long as needed to get sweet and hot.(hoping things will slack a bit   really)
This last week has been dry and should help a few things
 
 

Nice looking sauce. Sounds tasty. Looks like the tomatoes are keeping you busy.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, OCD.
I'm up to my elbows in maters.
 

This many about every other day.
Still no end in sight     .
The MoA sauce is pretty good straight on a chip, better would be a pretzel.
But I'd really like to smear it on a chicken if I ever get time to cook one.
The wild blueberries look promising so I'll probably head for the mountains this weekend and to pick and camp.
 
 

Love the look of that MoA sauce... I sampled my first this morning, and can just about "picture" the flavor in my head... what does the aroma remind you of? I thought I got notes of vanilla in mine.
 
Nice pull of Tomatoes too! I wish I had the space to plant as many as you did... nothing says summer like a vine-ripened Tomato! Keep up the good work TJ!

Thanks, Rick.
In some ways the MoA reminds me of a  Fatalli-lite. More aromatic and even less heavy chinense.
 

J³, just amazing production! Plants are loving what your doing to them!

Thanks, GA.
I wish I could do more, like figure out a way to efficiently keep them propped up. I don't wanna count how many limbs I've lost. Lose a limb, and somebody else is gonna get sunburned. Next year, fewer, better managed peppers  :.
 
 
Was away last weekend and a day for MrsJ's birthday. She has moved in with my daughter getting ready for the early fall grand-baby fest . I will eventually move up there if all goes well for her -when I actually retire  . I'll always be back and forth. Can't leave my garden totally, 
 
 We stayed near Montecello and I got to visit his garden. TJ was a fascinating man from many, many angles. Wrote 19,000 letters in his life.
.
Only one real minor tragedy at the garden in my absence. My two eggplants in SIP buckets may have dried beyond repair. I love the SIP buckets, but you have to be there every other day to water unless you can attach them as a group to a float controlled reservoir.  No real biggy as the other 18 plants are doing fine.
 

 
Peppers are just starting to get serious in volume. I'm not picking until I have to or have time to process them. My few along with Scott's box has kept my heat monkey at bay.

 
 
 
Roxa has had a color break. not sow dark purple now
 

 
And the foliage is well above average.
 

 
 
 
Yellows are coming on
 

they are pretty pebble-y
 
 
 
 
Haven't tested this one yet, waiting on them to get ripe.    :
 

 
 
or these...
 

 
 
I need to go through the south asian patch a give you a run down, They have been very slow for annums.
Maybe it's culture shock.
 
additional non-sense....
 
I was afraid to look in the carrot bed after the dry weekend, so dry on so tender a plant, but...

They done good.
so far.
 
As has the lettuce
 

 
 
Thanks for reading

 

[maximumcapsicum]

MoA sauce, tomatoes, and a great looking crop of fataliis coming up! I need to swing by here more often! You really got this under control man, but I bet you're in the garden for hours. Nothing wrong with that. Keep the pics coming!

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Everything is looking good JJJ.  I didn't plant a lot of maters this year, so I am not feeling your pain on the maters.  Good luck with all your gardening.

 

[Peter S]

JJJ, your plants look awesome. I also like the sauce recipe you shared, looks good!

 

[Devv]

Everything is looking super JJJ, I would expect anything less
 
Really like the row covers to help those crops along.
 
Keep it green my friend!

 

[JJJessee]

MoA sauce, tomatoes, and a great looking crop of fataliis coming up! I need to swing by here more often! You really got this under control man, but I bet you're in the garden for hours. Nothing wrong with that. Keep the pics coming!

Thanks Adam. Gardening is a labor of love, unless you can pay the rent in carrots
Tomatoes have peaked, except for the saucy ones. I only have 2 dozen of them 
 

 
Speaking of saucy maters... my new favorite 
 

A real workhorse, just coming in
 
Blight/septoria is also coming in, but pruning it out seems to work pretty well so far at least.
 

Everything is looking good JJJ.  I didn't plant a lot of maters this year, so I am not feeling your pain on the maters.  Good luck with all your gardening.

Thanks, Jeff.
Tomatoes were beginning to effect my attitude negatively until I stopped canning them. Freezing them raw is sooo much easier. Wash, trim, and freeze on a cookie sheet and bag them the next day. 
A little, but not much more work, I've just started roasting, pre-seasoned with herbs, salt, and garlic, then freezing.
 

 
5-8 hrs @ 275° and your kitchen smells like heaven.
 

JJJ, your plants look awesome. I also like the sauce recipe you shared, looks good!

Thanks, Peter.
 
I've been delaying on peppers as much as possible. They are much more forgiving than maters and a lot of things.
But next week I've got to tear into my little row of JA Habs.
 

 
The gourd family next door has run rampant over them. Just a little extra shade.
Then by the time I get through Fatallis, Yellow 7P, Roxas, Barrackpores, Nagabons, Jigsaws, Yellow Bhuts, White Bhuts, sweet peppers, and this big bastard annum/chinense, that succumbed to our most recent nightly thundershower....
 

 
....I might have some BOCs.....
 

 
....and Red Bhuts
 

 
 
 

Everything is looking super JJJ, I would expect anything less
 
Really like the row covers to help those crops along.
 
Keep it green my friend!

Thanks, Scott
 
I've become a resistant but getting used to it user of Agribon. I bought a long 7' roll of light weight  two years ago it has been the make or break of a lot of things.
This year I finally figured out that a staple gun is a handy tool in the garden. Row cover stays put when you staple it to the wood rails of the raised bed and less chance of a ground hog sneaking in and eating all you fall brassicas. 
 
So I replanted my fall brassicas today, maybe because I forgot my stapler when I set out the first round.
Or it could have been some Dune-type worm that scouts constantly for all things brassica.
I found one nub out of 6-8 plants. And 3 broccoli in the next bed -uncovered were un-touched 
 

 
I had sneaked in a quick cover crop of buckwheat after the onions. I pulled and pushed it out of the way for some broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and wong bok. Aside from the ground hog and/or deer, cabbage worms/butterfly are vicious on them, hence the row cover. And I stapled it this time.
 
I took down my drying garlic. Planted 270 cloves of soft and hard-neck, and 30 of elephant. Elephant did squat. Maybe have enough for seed.
 
40-50 heads were worm damaged so I busted them and salvaged a pound or two of loose cloves.
I saved out 4 pounds for fall seed, and have about 8-10 pounds braided. Plus, this is my hard-neck called  French Rose,
 

 
Almost a 2 pound bouquet.
 
 
Thanks for reading

 

[ribbedturtleneck]

Just imagining the smell of those roasting tomatoes made my mouth start watering.

 

[Devv]

Ah, sharing with the locals. A part of organic growing, as long as you get your share
 
I had a heifer bust the fence this week, they all want a taste   I locked them out of the "kitchen pasture" this evening..
 
Keep it green my friend!

 

[PIC 1]

By far the best looking tomatoes in these glogs !
Your peppers all look true to type...and the Bhut plant is putting out globs of nasty pods.
Thaose are some nicely shaped full heads of Garlic.
JJJ, you've had a great run this year and I know your seasons far from over.

 

[Durham Bull]

Beautiful stuff there... great garden
 
never thought of freezing tomato, got to try it. Thanks for the idea.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Apparently my post never went through. This all looks really wonderful JJJ, especially the sauce. I need to get off my butt and get that done... I know they say the sauces from frozen are as good as the fresh, but I'm not so sure.
 
Keep up the great work bud!

 

[JJJessee]

You'll never beat fresh in my book. But, then there's winter 

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Wow!Looks like your up to your neck in everything. WoooHooo!!!! Great Glog. Congrats on the harvests so far.

Have a great weekend.