Pulpiteer's grow log 2012

RocketMan · Sep 27, 2012

Now that African Horned Melon is a really cool and yet scary looking piece of fruit. Have you tried one yet? You've had a really nice season there Andy and I love butternut squash too, spelled Zuppa Di Zucca, but haven't ever tried growing them, +1 for going for it. When you get the last of it out are you going to plow it under or pull it all out and bag it up? If I had something big ithink I'd go for the turn it under, it'd be easier I think.

Getting close to the weekend, have a great one!
Bill

Pulpiteer · Sep 28, 2012

stc3248 said:
Nice pull and powders! Always great to come by here and see your kids engaged with your grow too...future THPers for sure! So did you get anymore feedback from the neighbors once the "gardenscape" filled in and started producing? I've been wondering how well it was received. When a few of my containers spilled over into the front yard it raised a few eyebrows and started some conversations. I gave away quite a few pods to folks that "passed by" (which is odd since I live in the end of a cul de sac) routinely while I was harvesting...

I thought my grow was ambitious for the amount of space I have...until I saw yours! Will you be as ambitious, more or throttle back next season???

Thanks Shane! It's been a blast having the kids involved in the gardening and stuff. They do great. Our neighbors that are the closest are absolutely wonderful. They have no problem with the garden right on the lot line. We share produce out of it with them and have them over for stuffed peppers (bell) so it all works out well. We really are lucky with our neighbors. They are the only ones the garden is close to. Folks in the town don't complain, they just ask if I'm the one with the garden when they see me in town. It's a small rural farming town, so that all works. I've given away several pods to passers by. It's a great conversation starter and a way for me to get to know some people in the community, which I appreciate.
Next year I won't increase my pepper plant number (he says now...), but I am expanding in some other areas. I think I'm going to plant an autumn olive bush near the garden which will serve as a wind break, creating a micro-climate, give some shade, and provides some tasty berries that can be made into a jam. I know they are considered invasive, but that's subjective. They provide food, shade, windbreak, and fix nitrogen to the soil, so I'm excited to bring one in. I'll also have some other fruits setting in: nanking cherry, gooseberry, and a grape vine. I'd like to grow some currants because they are shade tolerant, so I may have a spot for them. No new turned up soil, just some little projects like that. How much food production can I squeeze into my little lot... I'm all for packing it to the gills. Lawns are good for kids to play on, but if it's not for that, you might as well be doing or growing something that helps you and the environment imo. Plus it's fun. You're in a rental, if I remember your videos, right? How much freedom do you have with that? Perhaps my largest challenge is to not overdo the peppers so I can grow more to eat...

Hendrix1326 said:
I didn't end up eating the Cherokee Purples, they split for too long and got moldy The plant was a little stunted, but got about 3 1/2 feet tall, with 3 tomatoes total, and they all split bad! Many of my plants did pretty well, like Sungold, Chadwick Cherry, Bradley, Yellow Pear, and Pink Bertona. Some of those I will be bringing back next season, such as the Chadwick and Sungold, as well as Black Trifele (wow, perfect velvety, non-grainy texture!). Sungolds are the sweetest, least tart tomato I've ever eaten, and they're perfect for snacking since they're cherry-sized!

Hey Karl, thanks for responding - but I totally didn't communicate right. I was wondering about the Kiwano Melons, if you ate them and if you had trouble getting fruit from them. I think my largest one is done, so I'm going to have to harvest it soon and try it out. wow, you've got a nice tomato collection going to. Nice!

Beehunter said:
Wow Andy! im shell shocked by your havest pic! the quilt o chilis is such as beautiful thing! Also your powders kept there colors perfectly! Man you really got this growing thing down in only one year. Looks awesome. Congrats brotha!

Thanks Brit! I'm still working on drying all those peppers out a couple of weeks later. They're coming along, slowly but surely... I was blessed this year. It was my first real big year for all those peppers, but to be fair, I've gardened for 8 to 10 years and progressively gotten more into it.

RocketMan said:
Now that African Horned Melon is a really cool and yet scary looking piece of fruit. Have you tried one yet? You've had a really nice season there Andy and I love butternut squash too, spelled Zuppa Di Zucca, but haven't ever tried growing them, +1 for going for it. When you get the last of it out are you going to plow it under or pull it all out and bag it up? If I had something big ithink I'd go for the turn it under, it'd be easier I think.

Getting close to the weekend, have a great one!
Bill

I've heard of butternut squash soup, in fact I think my wife is thinking about making some. We've not had it before, but we have heard people really like it so we want to give it a try. Growing the squash has been easy - you should try it if you've got the room. They sprawl pretty good, but like I think I said, I got about 14 squash from one vine. I've not tried the horned melon, and it is scary looking. That's the main reason I grew it. It looks awesome. I had trouble getting any fruit, but the vines are all over. I'm excited to see how they taste, and if nothing else, I'll get more seeds. I've read and heard more and more that tilling is not great for my soil and the microbes long term, so I'm thinking I won't turn it all over. I think what I will do is pull a few out, trim them back, bathe them, put them in new soil and try to overwinter. The rest I'll chop and drop, probably leaving the branches and stuff right on top of the stumps. I wonder if it's possible for any to come back next spring. I doubt it, but that would be cool. The branches will be like a mulch, and I'll add more mulch on top next year and just dig out spots to plant the peppers in the late spring. That way I won't have to turn the soil over and I'll keep pumping nutrients in. We'll see how it goes...

Thanks for dropping in. I've been reading a lot of hot sauce posts to figure out how to make some for myself and I appreciate all you've added in that section.

Sethsquatch · Oct 1, 2012

Hey. Nice haul Pulp! Make sure you are chopping those bad boys in half before you dry them so you can find the hidden nasties! I swear some of my best looking pods have some weird black mold inside and I would never know if I didn't cut them open.

I hope you have a great compost pile for all those scraps! How much longer you going to have before tear down?

stc3248 · Oct 1, 2012

Yup, a rental. He's pretty cool with the stuff I dug up in the back. It was so far overgrown something needed to be done anyway. The lawn must stay though. I did claim a few small plots in the lawn, but I am going to let them go back to grass next year. Can't wait to see how your new additions shape up next season.

I've not made butternut soup, but I did make some soup from my Queensland Blue Squash that called for either them or Butternuts...was wonderful!

Used this recipe for the base and add libbed a bit...
http://www.messyandpicky.com/index.php/2009/01/05/heirloom-queensland-blue-squash-soup/

Pulpiteer · Oct 2, 2012

Sethsquatch said:
Hey. Nice haul Pulp! Make sure you are chopping those bad boys in half before you dry them so you can find the hidden nasties! I swear some of my best looking pods have some weird black mold inside and I would never know if I didn't cut them open.

I hope you have a great compost pile for all those scraps! How much longer you going to have before tear down?

Good to hear from you Seth! Yeah, I've been chopping them up after I ruined the first batch I tried to take a short cut on. I threw them in the oven without cutting them. They took forever, I turned up the temp and they burned. I've had the black mold too. It's weird. I've gotten pretty good and guessing which ones will have it after seeing it enough. And yeah, I've got two compost piles going. I'm glad I got into composting. When I get time in the next couple of weeks I'll have to tear down. I'll probably just chop and drop the plants and leave them like a mulch for next year. I'm going to try not turning over the soil, just adding more mulch next year and seeing how that goes. I also want to over winter some plants, so I'm watching the forecast to see when we are going to get a hard frost. I hope we make it till mid October. How about for you?

stc3248 said:
Yup, a rental. He's pretty cool with the stuff I dug up in the back. It was so far overgrown something needed to be done anyway. The lawn must stay though. I did claim a few small plots in the lawn, but I am going to let them go back to grass next year. Can't wait to see how your new additions shape up next season.

I've not made butternut soup, but I did make some soup from my Queensland Blue Squash that called for either them or Butternuts...was wonderful!

Used this recipe for the base and add libbed a bit...
http://www.messyandp...ue-squash-soup/

Thanks Shane, I'll have to check out that recipe! Sounds like the landlord is pretty reasonable then, but there are just things you can't do when you are renting. To be honest with you I'm kind of pushing it for having a parsonage, but I've got a really good relationship with the church so it all works out.

Ok, I've been up late once again. Here's a mini-update.

Today is the first Monday of October (Mondays are my day off), so we all know what that means: Halloween decorating with the kids.

So that was where my evening went. Great fun and plus I got some apple cider - which is always so wonderful!

After the kiddos went to be I set up a pepper grinding station in my garage. I had quite a pile of dried peppers - 8 varieties that I needed to grind up. I began with the garage door closed, but soon enough had to open it up because I was hacking up a lung. My face was burning, my left eyelid still is on fire, I was sneezing and coughing and choking. It was awesome.

Here's a shot of the finished products:

If you can't read my writing here they are, left to right: Fatalii, Yellow 7 Pot, Harold St. Bart Habanero, Bishops Crown, Caribbean Red Hab, 7 Pot Jonah, Peach Habanero, Pablano.

The peach hab really held its color well, which was cool. Another observation: I've got a massive amount of Fatalii powder.
I received my powder shakers from SKS last week, so I'll be combining these with some other spices to make some rubs and what not.

alright, I should go to bed. Thanks for stopping by!

chsy83 · Oct 2, 2012

Yeah, that peach did hold its color well. I was thinking that before I read your text!

Spicegeist · Oct 2, 2012

Pulpiteer said:
If you can't read my writing here they are, left to right: Fatalii, Yellow 7 Pot, Harold St. Bart Habanero, Bishops Crown, Caribbean Red Hab, 7 Pot Jonah, Peach Habanero, Pablano.

Wow, that's awesome. Is the Yellow 7 hotter or less sweet than the Fatalii powder?

PIC 1 · Oct 2, 2012

Andy, Your powders really have a fresh color, and I agree the peach..........well its peachy!
I know it takes quite alot of dehydrating to get that much powder. But its well worth it when you
bring your culinary skills to the table........you , Shane, Jamie and Paul should start a combined thread in the cooking with fire section
and hammer out some arse kicking recipes...

Greg

wildseed57 · Oct 2, 2012

Nice batch of powders, my dehydrator runs to hot and kills much of the flavors that some of my pods have , I really need a bigger one with adjustable thermostat. With yours you can almost smell the flavor by just looking at it. Well Done.

gnslngr · Oct 3, 2012

Andy- looks like you have had a stellar year- yep I finally made back around to catch up with your grow. I about fell outta my chair when I read the 'neighbors boyfriend post, :rofl:

. I know the feeling exactly.EXACTLY.That jonah is looking ferocious!My tomatoes put out one good pull, then spent the rest of the season EXPLODING from the rain.I might even really get my glog caught up this this weekend-have been crazy busy(so I can't go crazy, right?), usually I would have plenty of time to play on here when working out of the office in Houston-just not the case lately. That picture of "the boy" is priceless-first I thought wait ?-he has no legs and can levitate?WHAT!-Oh, he has some camo pants on.whew!
Have a good one-
Dave

Pulpiteer · Oct 3, 2012

chsy83 said:
Yeah, that peach did hold its color well. I was thinking that before I read your text!

I was pleasantly surprised. It sure held its heat well too. Grinding it up tore me up.

Spicegeist said:
Wow, that's awesome. Is the Yellow 7 hotter or less sweet than the Fatalii powder?

I haven't tried them yet, so I'm going to now for you. Ok, the yellow 7 had a slightly sweet taste to it, then the heat builds and builds quite a bit. Nice taste though. Tons of heat. The Fatalii has a different taste, I can't quite place, wow, lots of heat kicking in right now... Good taste, but different. So I guess I'd say the yellow 7 is sweeter. I like the Fatalii's taste. They are both hitting my pretty hard right now.

PIC 1 said:
Andy, Your powders really have a fresh color, and I agree the peach..........well its peachy!
I know it takes quite alot of dehydrating to get that much powder. But its well worth it when you
bring your culinary skills to the table........you , Shane, Jamie and Paul should start a combined thread in the cooking with fire section
and hammer out some arse kicking recipes...

Greg

Thanks Greg - I'm excited to see how they all work out as I try to use them! And you are generous to include me in with Shane, Jamie, and Paul! I'm just a beginner, but having fun for sure!

And thank you so very much for the seeds! They came today and what a package!

I love the selection of scotch bonnets! Thank you so much! And seeds from different parts of the islands, wow! Ok, this changed the set up of my garden plans for next year a lot. It'll be lots of scotch bonnets. I'm excited already.

wildseed57 said:
Nice batch of powders, my dehydrator runs to hot and kills much of the flavors that some of my pods have , I really need a bigger one with adjustable thermostat. With yours you can almost smell the flavor by just looking at it. Well Done.

Thank you very much! I got the dehydrator from my parents for Christmas last year and it's been a great addition. Not only for peppers, but I've also done quite a bit of herbs in it as well.

gnslngr said:
Andy- looks like you have had a stellar year- yep I finally made back around to catch up with your grow. I about fell outta my chair when I read the 'neighbors boyfriend post, . I know the feeling exactly.EXACTLY.That jonah is looking ferocious!My tomatoes put out one good pull, then spent the rest of the season EXPLODING from the rain.I might even really get my glog caught up this this weekend-have been crazy busy(so I can't go crazy, right?), usually I would have plenty of time to play on here when working out of the office in Houston-just not the case lately. That picture of "the boy" is priceless-first I thought wait ?-he has no legs and can levitate?WHAT!-Oh, he has some camo pants on.whew!
Have a good one-
Dave

Hey great to hear from you Dave! Glad that story could entertain you :surprised:

I didn't realize that my son had camo pants on until I was resizing the picture to put it on the site and I had the same thought you did. The camouflage really worked!
I'll look forward to catching up on your glog when you get a chance.

So tonight was dedicated to one last batch of pepper jelly. It's Strawberry Brain Strain - the idea shamelessly stolen from Pepper Guru. It sounded so good that I had to go for it.

For my recipe I used:
2 quarts of strawberries - run through the food processor
7 cups of sugar
9 Brain Strains - through the food processor as well
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 packets of liquid pectin

Here are the strawberries and peppers:

bring ingredients (except pectin) to boiling for 5 minutes.

Stir in pectin, boil for 1 minute, then can it. Water bath the jars for 10 minutes.
Finished product. You can also see the fancy vinegar I bought yesterday while in the big city. And the little yellow jelly in the background is from a friend from church. I got him hooked on pepper jelly and that is his creation. It's a peach scotch bonnet (from pepperjoe). Wonderful flavor blend.

Alright, it's bed time again.

Thanks for stopping by!

ajijoe · Oct 3, 2012

oh yummy!! not too fond of strawberry's but with scorpions yummy!!

Pulpiteer · Oct 3, 2012

ajijoe said:
oh yummy!! not too fond of strawberry's but with scorpions yummy!!

I tried some this morning and oh my goodness! :onfire:

Hottest jam I have. Very good. Very hot.

ajijoe · Oct 3, 2012

so the preacha mon was on fire!! (with Caribbean accent)

i bet it is wonderful but for me it would not be worth the two to 3 days of intestinal disruption, getting old cant do that hot anymore

thanks your friend Joe

MGOLD86 · Oct 3, 2012

Hey Andy! It is about 1 am here and as I was walking back from work I told myself that I was gonna log on real fast and click on the first grow log that I was following before I left and catch up. Well yours definitley did not disappoint! It looks like you had a great season and i know it feels great seeing all that hard work pay off. Those jars of powder look awesome, my wife just picked another 10 gallons or so off my plants last week and she literally refuses to pick more. Something about the deep freezer being full of peppers or something.... I will definitley be making a ton of powder when I get back.

But it looks like you mastered the art, and have some war wounds. That powder gets EVERYWHERE! But it was nice getting a dose of the real world, keep it up for next year!

Matt

Pr0digal_son · Oct 3, 2012

9 brains...yikes! Just started to make some jelly recently. I may have to steal this stolen idea. Did you guys get any frost yet Andy?

Pulpiteer · Oct 3, 2012

MGOLD86 said:
Hey Andy! It is about 1 am here and as I was walking back from work I told myself that I was gonna log on real fast and click on the first grow log that I was following before I left and catch up. Well yours definitley did not disappoint! It looks like you had a great season and i know it feels great seeing all that hard work pay off. Those jars of powder look awesome, my wife just picked another 10 gallons or so off my plants last week and she literally refuses to pick more. Something about the deep freezer being full of peppers or something.... I will definitley be making a ton of powder when I get back.

But it looks like you mastered the art, and have some war wounds. That powder gets EVERYWHERE! But it was nice getting a dose of the real world, keep it up for next year!

Matt

Matt!!! Awesome, great to hear from you and I'm honored to be the one to give you a dose of the real world!
Sounds like you'll have a lot of work ahead of you when you get back with a deep freezer full of peppers. Tons of work, but pretty rewarding to have them produce like that. I do miss seeing your updates and videos, I'll have to go back and watch one of your taste tests again just to get my fix.
Yeah, that powder does get everywhere. I commented on someone else's glog that I tried the bandanna mask thing Shane has, but it only seemed to trap the powder on my face and increase burning. Therefore, my conclusion is that Shane is an animal that thrives off of pepper powder burns. But as for me, I'm only mortal...

Great to hear from ya!

Pr0digal_son said:
9 brains...yikes! Just started to make some jelly recently. I may have to steal this stolen idea. Did you guys get any frost yet Andy?

It was hot. They blended into the strawberries really well taste-wise though, so I definitely recommend it. Wow it was hot though...

We've had some light frosts here and there. Being in town and with the garden next to the house I've had everything survive in the pepper patch thus far. I'm hoping the hard frost holds off until I get some dug up for overwintering and some more pods picked.
How about you, frost yet?

Pulpiteer · Oct 5, 2012

It's been another late night prepping and processing peppers, so I'll do another quick update before I shuffle off to bed...

I'm in a bit of a panic because we are supposed to get down to 28 degrees on Friday night, so that might be all she wrote folks. I'm both sad and relieved. I was hoping to get further into October, but it does not look to be in the cards. So much to do! Harvest some remaining peppers and I want to overwinter some plants. How many? Which ones? Ugh... Plus I've got some Thai peppers that have been waiting an eternity to be made into Sriracha, but more on that later.

First, a wide shot of the whole garden - probably last one of the season :tear:

The Tabascos are looking purty. I'm picking as many red ones as I can and I want to try fermenting with them.

I harvested from after dinner until after sunset, but still have more to go. Here's a harvest shot:

Ok - I made some thai sriracha (I believe the real deal is made with rooster spurs). It's from a recipe by chsy83 - a great recipe to play around with.

Here's the ingredients:

I used a lot of garlic, but as it turned out I needed more in the end, so I ended up using some granulated garlic as well.

Anyway - simmer peppers in water for 10 minutes:

Add vinegar and chopped garlic then simmer 20 minutes. Let cool a bit, then blend it up!

Next, the blended ingredients into a seed mill:

You can see there are a ton of seeds with these tiny peppers:

After removing seeds its nice and smooth. Then add the sweetener. I doubled chsy83's recipe so I should've used 2/3c of Agave nectar, but I only used 1/2c. You'll have to adjust to taste.

I used my old sriracha bottle and a couple more - yum!

Alright, I'm picture maxed out and it's past my bed time.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hendrix1326 · Oct 5, 2012

Mmm, homemade Sriracha, sounds tasty. Sriracha is still one of my favorites, and I need to either make some or buy another bottle soon!

PIC 1 · Oct 5, 2012

Andy,
Nice job with the Sriracha sauce. Thats where the food mill comes in handy. I like the
wide angle shot of your home and garden. Beautiful autumn colors on the background trees.
You're probably going to find peppers that you didn't realize were there. If you have any
"Thai Bird's" or similar you can let them hang on the plants and sun dry. The skin is thin
and they won't mold up like a juicy thick walled pod......they're also easier to spot once the leaves have fallen from the plants...
It was a great season for you, go back to page one and see where you started. Success!