MeatHead 2015-

Scorched · May 12, 2015

Just caught up. Great glog.

Sucks that you lost some of your chinense but everything else is looking great. You could always lay some ground cover/weed barrier around those beds with no walls. Or dig a shallow trench/moat around them and maybe put some mulch in to keep weeds from taking over. I bought a giant roll of weed barrier from greenhousemegastore and am covering the entire 30' x 30' garden with it as well as the two beds. I despise weeding and it's very difficult for me to do with my injury so everything that can get covered is lol. Hope the rest of your season goes great

MeatHead1313 · May 12, 2015

Scorched said:
Just caught up. Great glog.

Sucks that you lost some of your chinense but everything else is looking great. You could always lay some ground cover/weed barrier around those beds with no walls. Or dig a shallow trench/moat around them and maybe put some mulch in to keep weeds from taking over. I bought a giant roll of weed barrier from greenhousemegastore and am covering the entire 30' x 30' garden with it as well as the two beds. I despise weeding and it's very difficult for me to do with my injury so everything that can get covered is lol. Hope the rest of your season goes great

Thanks Scorched! I've thought about different ways to minimize weeds in the new beds, but to be honest just said screw it. Any excuse I have to check on/work in the garden every day means less time sitting on my butt doing nothing so it's a good way to keep myself active before and after work.
Love greenhousemegastore.com. The root pouches they have are great, and extremely cheap compared to elsewhere. I really need to check out other options they have, as I'll be needing shade cloth for hardening off next year for sure. Hope you get some relief from your injury soon!

Scorched · May 12, 2015

I just bought 30% shade cloth from them along with the ground cover and a few other things. The only thing that sucked was I had to get a piece much bigger than I needed or else I'd have had to wait 3 weeks for the custom cut stuff. At least it wasn't too expensive and I can double it over to use as a hardening off aid. I use the Walmart reusable blue bags for my containers. Hold about 7 gallons and drain really well. Almost too well. They only last one season in the sun but at .50 each they're hard to beat.

The injury is permanent unfortunately. Had to have a spinal fusion in '07 due to an injury at work. Has really changed things in my life but I'm much better and in a much better place than I was a few years ago. Found an amazing pain management doctor and I can almost do everything that I could pre injury. Thank you for the well wishes though. Growing chiles has been an extremely therapeutic activity for both body and mind. Joining THP and chatting and sharing with the amazing people here has only helped even more.

MeatHead1313 · May 12, 2015

Scorched said:
I just bought 30% shade cloth from them along with the ground cover and a few other things. The only thing that sucked was I had to get a piece much bigger than I needed or else I'd have had to wait 3 weeks for the custom cut stuff. At least it wasn't too expensive and I can double it over to use as a hardening off aid. I use the Walmart reusable blue bags for my containers. Hold about 7 gallons and drain really well. Almost too well. They only last one season in the sun but at .50 each they're hard to beat.

The injury is permanent unfortunately. Had to have a spinal fusion in '07 due to an injury at work. Has really changed things in my life but I'm much better and in a much better place than I was a few years ago. Found an amazing pain management doctor and I can almost do everything that I could pre injury. Thank you for the well wishes though. Growing chiles has been an extremely therapeutic activity for both body and mind. Joining THP and chatting and sharing with the amazing people here has only helped even more.

I really need to check out my local walmart for those bags. I tried similar bags last year from my local Dollar General that were $1 a bag and sound about the same size. Had good results until I had to move them.
Sorry to hear about the severity of the injury! Glad to hear the surgery helped at least. It's crazy how therapeutic gardening can be. Even without an injury coming home from work and walking out to either tend the plants or even just spending time walking amongst them is enough to take the stress away. Now I know why my grandmother spent so much time in her garden!

MeatHead1313 · May 14, 2015

Not sure I'll be able to update much the next week or so. Been advised by the Dr to stay out of sunlight as much as possible due to suffering superficial 2nd degree burns on my forehead at work. So it'll be quick checks on the plants while having a cigarette for a while. I did manage to snap a couple of pics today though.
Aji mango from pepperlover. This thing has got the biggest leaves I've ever seen on an outdoor plant

Quick pic of some of the nagabrain pods

MoA's

Lemon drops loading up with flowers and fruit

Brazilian starfish

Shishito. This was a plant I bought from Lowes, and judging by the amount of pods it's putting out already looks like one I'll be growing yearly. Seems like it'll be super productive

Noticed a few ladybugs on my plants today, so glad the beneficials are out doing their job! Found this one with a cluster of eggs thanks to a chance angle I was on

New Mexico 6-4L

Carmen sweet

While hoping and praying the volunteer plants I had were either black Hungarian or preferably CGN 21500, turns out they're Chinese 5 colour. Adds a nice splash of colour to the raised bed, and didn't have to do anything for them so an added bonus there

Tomatoes-tomatoes everywhere!

Got the aerogarden loaded up with lettuce for the better half. It's starting to grow like weeds now! She's had 2 harvests in the last week, and can easily get another already. I love this machine!

Me and Max chilling and watching the Simpsons. I swear dogs can sense when somethings wrong and try to comfort you. This lugs been extremely clingy since I burnt myself

jcw10tc · May 15, 2015

You have pods already and I barely have started planting. Looks good. Sorry about the burn. Nothing more painful. Plants are looking great. I have a shishito growing also, quite a few flowers and branching already and still in a 3.5.

MeatHead1313 · May 15, 2015

jcw10tc said:
You have pods already and I barely have started planting. Looks good. Sorry about the burn. Nothing more painful. Plants are looking great. I have a shishito growing also, quite a few flowers and branching already and still in a 3.5.

Thanks jcw! Yeah the burn sucks. Worst part is being off work for at least a week, but can't spend time outside. If I could work in the garden or go fishing it'd be great!
One advantage to the south is early planting out, and early pods. Though give it a month or 2 and I'll be begging for your weather when the heat and humidity drops my production.
Hope your shishito does as good or better than mines doing so far. Mines going nuts! Just wish they'd turn red already.

Scorched · May 15, 2015

Great looking pics of great looking plants. Shitty deal getting burnt man.

The red and yellow naga brains I got from you are doing great. Can't wait to try them along with the chocolate. The BBM are doing fantastic as well. Thanks again for sharing those.

MeatHead1313 · May 15, 2015

Scorched said:
Great looking pics of great looking plants. Shitty deal getting burnt man.

The red and yellow naga brains I got from you are doing great. Can't wait to try them along with the chocolate. The BBM are doing fantastic as well. Thanks again for sharing those.

Glad to hear! From what I've been told the BBM is hot as hell but tastes extremely bitter. Really hoping they're not that bad. The nagabrains are great imo. As with most peppers I've tried, the yellows my favourite, but the red and chocolate are great as well

KiNGDeNNiZ · May 20, 2015

Yummy pods
I love the chocolate. ..nice and sweet