Midwest Chilehead's 2011 Grow Log

I know I'm late into the game, but with the encouragement of others, I decided to document for posterity my 2011 efforts. I don't have any pics of my annuum seedlings yet (which are still in the basement), but here are a few others that finally got to go outside and catch some rays.

First my "greenhouse." After seeing the nice greenhouses and hoop houses some of you have, my $30.00 Harbor Freight greenhouse seems tiny and cheap in comparison, but it gets the job done. Mostly chinenses in there now, doing the slow hardening off thing, and a few plants my wife bought last weekend and stuck in there.

Next is my double-decker wagon from grower's supply, loaded with a couple of flats of baby chinenses and all the overwinters that either I or the aphids managed not to kill.

A slightly closer shot.

And lastly, my new strawberry bed. Never grown these before, but I'm thinking some strawberry-habanero or strawberry-scorpion sauce sounds tasty. My wife didn't like the shiny galvanized look, so she spray painted them black.

More to come ... and hopefully my photography gets better. Any recommendations for a good tripod?

 

[Wolfhound]

Wow that all looks good. And by slightly you mean slightly! I have been thinking about getting me a super cheap greenhouse thing like that lately. How do you like it?

 

[midwestchilehead]

I like it, but it isn't the most sturdy contraption in the world. We had bad storms about a week ago with 60-70 mph wind gusts. Even though I put it in a protected place on the front porch, I still stayed out there hanging on to the greenhouse for about 20 minutes so as not to lose my babies. It was swaying quite a bit. And on warm days, you have to make sure to roll up the zippered flap cover otherwise it will overheat in a hurry.

I did buy some greenhouse film this year and intend to build mini-greenhouses on my 4' X 8' raised beds with pvc pipe hoops, but I've been waiting to get past the freezing temps.

 

[wayright]

Excellent start MWCH!
I love the design of the strawberry bed !
I think that would be perfect for a raised pepper bed!

Kevin

 

[midwestchilehead]

Thanks waywright. Yes, it would work for peppers too. I was going to build a raised bed for the berries, but while perusing gardening catalogs during a February snowstorm, I decided to be lazy and order one of these $100 kits. It came with the spider web frame you see, a frost cover and a insect netting cover, and a short piece of hose with a sprinkler head, and 50 strawberry plants. The galvanized edging seems nice and sturdy, but when I broke out the frost cover, it was just a flimsy piece of .2 mil plastic with some cheap grommets and spindly spikes. I tossed them aside and used bricks to weight it at the base. The first windy day, the spider web frame came apart. I think I will replace it with some 1/2 pvc pipe. I haven't opened the insect netting yet. I hope it is more sturdy than the frost cover.

 

[midwestchilehead]

I forgot to post my grow list. This is the current list of plants out for hardening, but doesn't include the annuums still in the basement or the 40 overwintered plants.

Number Variety Source
4 7-Pot AJ
2 7-Pot Jonah Peppermainia (PM)
1 7-Pot Yellow PM
3 Aji Amarillo PM
1 Aji Amarillo Everythingpeppers.com (EVY)
1 Aji Angelo EVY
3 Bailey Piquin Chile Pepper Institute (CPI)
1 Beth's Mystery PM
5 Bhut Jolokia CPI
1 Bhut Jolokia Brown Pepperlover (PL)
1 Bishop's Hat Parcel
2 Brazilian Starfish Todd Zimmerman
1 Calusa Indian Mound PL
2 Cascabel CPI
3 Chimayo Native Seeds S.E.A.R.C.H. (NS)
4 Conquistador CPI
5 Datil CPI
2 Datil Red X Zanderspice
1 Fatalii Rick Back
2 Fatalii Peppergal (PG)
1 Hab, White Bullet Bhut Camp
7 Habanero, Golden T Heather
5 Habanero, Red Savina CCN Pods
7 Hab, Trinidad Congo AJ
2 Habanero, White T. Heather
? Hawiian University of Hawaii (UH)
8 Heritage Big Jim CPI
2 Isleta Long NS
2 Jalamundo CPI
1 Joe E. Parker CPI
7 Manzano Orange PM
6 Manzano Red PG
6 Manzano Yellow PG
3 Maui Purple T. Patti1957
1 Monkey Face Bhut Camp
2 Moruga Long PM
6 Naga Morich T. J. Boyle
1 Nambe Supreme NS
3 Piquin PL
1 Quadrato d'Asti Gallo T. Hannasmom
1 Quadrato d'Asti Rossi T. Bonnie
1 Scotch Bonnet, Jamaican PL
6 Scoth Bonnet, Foodarama PM
1 Scoth Bonnet, Jamaican PM
2 Texas Bird T. Robbyjoe01
1 Trinidad Scorpion AJ
4 Trinidad Scorpion C2C
3 Valarde NS
2 Vaquero CPI
127

 

[chileaddict]

Right on MWCH. Looks like you have a great start. Can't wait to see your overwintered plants and watch how they do all season.

 

[midwestchilehead]

Me neither. My first overwintering experience. I'm waiting for the pod explosion (if we can ever get adequate nightime temps to get them outside).

 

[mascalzone]

Excellent start Midwest
and congratulations for the beautiful varieties

 

[mmcdermott1]

Very nice. Man I need one of those carts. Moving plants in and out of house sucks. Takes wife and I about 10 trips..cart would make it far easier. As far as your greenhouse, you don't need to break the bank. Yours is just fine and is obviously doing the job! Nice look plants guy..Keep up the hard but very fulfilling work

 

[midwestchilehead]

Spent the weekend potting up all my overwintered plants, and they actually got to stay outside the whole day yesterday and today. It is supposed to be cool and rainy all week here, so they probably won't get much growing done, but at least they aren't in the basement anymore and now have big enough shoes to grow into when they are ready.

Here are a couple shots of them sitting on one of my raised beds. Their eventual home will be a dog run in the backyard equipped with a drip system, but I need to kill off the weeds in there first.

More to come. . .

 

[wayright]

Looking great Midwest!
Plenty of room for the roots with those nice size buckets!
Them things will be huge in no time!
Nice work

Kevin

 

[midwestchilehead]

My eyes were bigger than my garden space. I actually got some chiles in the ground yesterday and ran out of room while I was still on the "H's" in the list above. Gotta find me some more buckets!

 

[midwestchilehead]

Forgot to mention that while that cart you see above is nice for hauling around your chiles, it is a bit top-heavy and while I was pulling it up hill around a corner today, a strong gust of wind blew it over and sent 8 flats sprawling on the ground. I will have many mystery chiles this year!

 

[highalt]

Forgot to mention that while that cart you see above is nice for hauling around your chiles, it is a bit top-heavy and while I was pulling it up hill around a corner today, a strong gust of wind blew it over and sent 8 flats sprawling on the ground. I will have many mystery chiles this year!

I'm sorry to hear about your pepper incident. I've had that happen with my Earthboxes a couple of times. It's never pretty ...

We've had red flag warnings for the past 4 days, and still don't have our irrigation water for the season, so everything is very crispy here. Thankful I don't have much in the ground yet!

 

[midwestchilehead]

Time for an update. The strawberries are really taking off.

And the chile sanctuary.

The overwinters are finally putting on some leaves, and I added a few new ones.

The raised beds are coming along.

And the back raised beds too.

And so far, the only thing with some pods is this superchile plant I picked up.

Now that the daily rains have subsided and it is starting to warm up, hopefully things will take off.

 

[highalt]

Very nice! Love those raised beds!!! I'm thinking the pepper sanctuary looks more like a pepper penitentiary

Your strawberry plants are looking great too. I have 1/2 dozen plants, and we've only harvested one tiny strawberry so far. The kids are checking every day for new ones though.

 

[wayright]

I like how you used the newspaper n mulch ! Great idea!
And the raised beds look like you will have great access from all sides!
Nice beds, and the plants look great!!

Kevin

 

[midwestchilehead]

Hey, I finally figured out how to use the multiquote button! Yea for me.

Yeah, the sanctuary is a sanctuary from the large dogs that roam the back yard and tear up pepper plants and anything else that gets in their way. They won't stay in the dog run, so the peppers have to.

I've harvested a small handful of small strawberries so far. Not bad for their first year. Soon I will have enough for one shortcake!

Very nice! Love those raised beds!!! I'm thinking the pepper sanctuary looks more like a pepper penitentiary

Your strawberry plants are looking great too. I have 1/2 dozen plants, and we've only harvested one tiny strawberry so far. The kids are checking every day for new ones though.

Thanks. I'm cheap and like to use what I have handy. Newspaper and grass clippings are plentiful and work well, and the price is right. Plus, you can till it all in at the end of the season.

The raised beds allow great access. Last year I put twice the number of plants in them though, and they were too crowded. I cut back to 12 plants per raised bed and we will see how that goes.

I like how you used the newspaper n mulch ! Great idea!
And the raised beds look like you will have great access from all sides!
Nice beds, and the plants look great!!

Kevin