JJJ Glog 2022 Preview

State of the Garden -Late Fall 2021​

The whole of the fenced garden is 60x70 with 6" wove wire 8' tall
Starting last fall, we built the first beds inside the newly leveled and fenced garden area.
Garlic, shallots and a few fall greens were planted immediately.
This spring about 3/4 of the fenced area was put into typical garden vegetable production.
An additional 15x38' area was temporaily fenced and hand tilled for a crop of sweet corn and is currently in diakon radish for cover.

14 cuyd of mushroom compost were delivered last year, and 14 yd of Tru-leaf compost this year.
I had 4-8' beds made in spring 2020 or prior that were brought inside the fenced area -compost and all.
Only a few yards of the Tru-leaf remain unused.
The bed were filled with pure compost early on, but last winter I discovered the spot of an old feed lot (10-20 years old?) overgrown in poke, thistle, chicweed.
I cleared this by hand and grubbed out the poke roots.
I've hauled 5-10yd of the "bardyard dirt" and have been blending about 50/50 with the compost to fill beds.
Along with another smaller area of the same compostion I estimate almost 20 yards of very rich dark soil available for filling beds.

All my plantout beds are 42" wide
I'm in the process of building 4- 22', 8-10' and 8- 8' with 4' paths between them.
Some already have homemade concrete side panels 11.5" tall.
Some have 1.5" x 12" pine or fir sides
Some have been dug into the sandy clay subsoil 8-12" with the excavate mounded a few inches around the perimeter
Some beds have not been started except for a crop of Austrian Winter Peas being currently grown in the space currently planned for tomatoes
A 2' inner and 2' outer border for most of the 60x70 is being developed for herbs, flowers, asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb, gourds, whatever.
Outside the garden on the north end, grass and weeds are being scalded out for red and black raspberries plants that are on order for a 60' row of each next spring

(Early Plans subject to change without notice)​

2022 Peppers​

22' bed of sweet peppers (28)

Carmen F1 (Johnny's) -16​

Sulu Adana (self-saved) -2​

Ancient Sweet (self-saved) -1​

Jimmy Nardello (self-saved) -5​

Jimmy NarYellow (self-saved) -1​

Big Jim (2021-2021 Seedtrain)-3​

10' bed of medium hots (12)

Zapotec Jalapenos (Baker Creek) -4​

Yaki Blue Fawn (PaulG) -3​

Cabe Merah Panjang (self-saved) -1​

SB Papa Dreadie (self-saved) -4​

Potted or Mini-beds of Supers and Misc

Fatalli -1​

Aji Charapitas (Richmond Dave) -1​

Aji Ahuachapan (Harry_Dangler) -1​

Red Habanero (Richmond Dave) -1​

Shishito (self-saved and 2021-2021 Seedtrain)-2​

Potted Ornaments

UFO (Richmond Dave) -2​

16 Varieties
Total Pepper Plantouts Target -48

Sometimes I pre-soak 24hrs. Sometimes I don't.
Gerninate in starter mix in cups on a heatmat set to 85F

Transplant about 72 plants at coty stage (usually 14-28 days after sowing
4 trays of 18 allows for extras.
3.5" square x 5" deep P86D pots (43.75cu in each) in 18 pocket liners with Extra Heavy Duty 10x20 trays from Greenhouse Megastore
Uses about 2 cuft of 15gal of starter soil mix. (This seems like a lot but the calculator said 1.82 cuft)

Starter Soil recipe​

For 15 gallons
Start 30-60 days before needed for "aging" to allow beneficial fungal and microbial growth and organic nutrient breakdown to begin.

​

7.5 gal Sphagnum Moss​

3.75 gal Perlite​

3.75 gal Tru-Leaf compost​

​

2 cup Kelp Meal (1-0-2)​

3 cup Plantone (5-3-3)​

2 cup Comfrey Compost Tea (homemade)​

1/2 cup Feed Molasses (dissolve in the comfrey compost tea)​

​

2 cup Dolomite​

8 cup Glacial Rock Dust​

Mix throughly and store damp (not soggy) in waterproof container in place not subject to prolonged freeze. (Like in a contractor waste bag in a garage)

For an Early-Mid May plantout
Start chinensis Feb 1
Start baccatum Feb 21
Start annum March 7

I have a 50% shade cloth that I used for baby trees last summer that will come in handy for hardening plants off.
We live near a ridgetop and wind is vicious especially in, but not limited to, winter, spring, early summer and late fall.


Thanks for reading
advice welcome,
JJJ

 

[PaulG]

Great results, Carl! The Dreadies look awesome,
every pod a decent phenotype.

My JA Red Habanero only has a half-dozen or so
real pods that might just make it to red. Some little,
recently set pods that probably won't make it, but I
will at least have some decent seed stock. Glad to
hear yours is performing to expectations.

My Glabriusculums are also slow to start ripening,
but they have lots of berries on them. fingers crossed.

Kudos on a great season, my friend!

 

[JJJessee]

Thanls, Paul.
The Chiltepin is a well known for a reason.
Pop a couple in your mouth with a bite of cornbread for great drive-by snack(ask me how I know)

I was a away for 11 days visiting friends in Maine. My knee, healing, is closing in on normal, but only minimal gardening was accomplised in September. I probably won't catch up until spring. I'm just trying to keep the weed seed load to a minimum, but I did get some cover crop sown on a few beds yesterday. Hurricane rain has set in, so that's good.

The pepper beds are still island jungles.

aji huachapan

Cabe Merah Keriting -one of my favorite snacking peppers from Indonesia.​

There are a lot of black pods lurking in the shadows of those Yaki Blue Fawns on the left.
No frost on 10 14day, but it is cooling down.

Put a little hickory smoke on them, de-seed, dehydrate, grind.....

Voila. That's two batches so far.


Bonus: While we're on the subject of cornbread.

I grew 16 row feet of Cherokee Trail of Tears pole beans. I picked a mess green early on for fresh, but let most of the crop ride until yesterday.
Mrs. J shelled some and cooked them along with a skillet of cornbread. We had this meal using pintos once a week as I was growing up. I've adapted here with the peppers instead of ketchup as my family didn't believe in spices.(rebel here). The cider we made last October and I kegged it for tap in April. About time for another batch.

The season is winding down. Time to start thinking about next year. I've got to find a productive Jalapeno. My Zapotecs are just not ripening fast enough. I went to a produce stands and I missed their season. Still looking.

Thanks for reading.

 

[PaulG]

Glad to hear you are mending well.

Your pepper garden is a jungle, alright.
The plants are loaded! I'll bet that Yaki
powder is killer good!

 

[JJJessee]

Pepper season is almost gone in the Potomac Valley.
Last week we had a few nights of frost, so I pulled several plants, but left a few in the ground and covered them best I could.
As it turned out, the only damage was to some Rosa Red Soba buckwheat I planted late for a seed crop.


Cabe Merah Kriting put zing in you pasta

Mostly Ajis and sweet peppers that have litte little chance of making it to red.

I had some identity issues, but I pretty sure these are Aji Ahauchapan. I make a nice easy sauce and after slow-roasting. I'll probably grow this one again. It made a large very productive plant, better than average flavor.

The ripe at orange are considerably hotter than the green

Another aji worth another look is Aji Melocoton. Beautiful peach-colored fruit. Small but productive plant. -good flavor, good heat.

Zapotec Jalapenos. They are Ok. My main use is to make my own chipolte. If anyone has a variety that seems to ripen red quicker than most, I'm listening -even a hybrid.

I'm a little garden worn for 2022, but aready thinking about 2023.

I'm building a new Germinator and have a few new lights(not as red in real life), but I'll need more. I'm testing it with lettuce and and my orchid nursery in our basement which will be warmer than last year in the garage. I'll get them going to about April then move them to the garage a few weeks until hardening them off.