Stickman's 2014 Glog- That's all folks!

stickman · Apr 5, 2014

maximumcapsicum said:
Interesting. I had planned to buy marigolds on a couple weeks, but maybe I'll start some inside. How long do they take to get transplant ready?

You can start them inside 4-6 weeks before your last frost date. I usually use my transplanting the Onion starts outside as the cue for when to sow them since that opens up a couple of 1020 trays worth of space. If you do grow them, save the seedpods in the fall when they get dry and crispy so you don't have to buy more seeds next year. Believe me, you'll get more seeds than you'll know what to do with from a dozen pods... lol!
Did my first "Dawn Patrol" of the year this morning to see what's growing out there. The south-facing backyard is totally free of snow, and has been for about a week.

We're getting our first flowers coming up there too... we usually get the yellow Crocus' first, and the white and purple after that.

The last holdout snowdrift on the north side

It looks like I'm gonna have to retract my earlier post that Scallions and Garlic Chives haven't started to grow yet. The Garlic Chives are the reddish shoots just beginning to show above the soil surface in the last pic...

Looks like I'll have to get off my butt and get that horse manure today so I can spade it in ASAP! :dance:

Have a productive weekend all!

Devv · Apr 5, 2014

Woot!

Dirt work!

HabaneroHead · Apr 5, 2014

stickman said:
I'm really looking forward to growing at least 4 Almapaprika plants and dedicating the entire crop to pickling... the jar I prepared with your Mom's recipe last year was so incredibly good that it only lasted a couple of days! One question though... what can you tell me about the "Nagykuti" variety, does it have mild heat like the Almapaprika,or is it a sweet Tomato Pepper like the Pritamin?

I checked the homepage of the seed producer, and :'Nagykúti is a continuous growing Almapaprika variety. It is a heavy producer, yielding 5-8 cm diameter, pungent pods. The size of the fruit is ideal for making pickle, even stuffed. According to the customer experiences it does not become soft after processing.'

I downloaded two pics from the same page for this pepper (aren't they beautiful? :-)

stickman · Apr 5, 2014

Devv said:
Woot!

Dirt work!

Rats... it rained before I could get to the manure... I'll have to wait until the ground dries out enough to drive on tomorrow. I don't want to leave ruts when I go to pick it up. Tomorrow's supposed to be drier and sunnier anyway.

HabaneroHead said:
I checked the homepage of the seed producer, and :'Nagykúti is a continuous growing Almapaprika variety. It is a heavy producer, yielding 5-8 cm diameter, pungent pods. The size of the fruit is ideal for making pickle, even stuffed. According to the customer experiences it does not become soft after processing.'

I downloaded two pics from the same page for this pepper (aren't they beautiful? :-)

Thanks for the input Balasz... they sure do look beautiful! If nothing goes wrong before plant-out I'll be setting out 2 of the generic Almapaprika and 2 of the Nagykuti variety. That should be enough to make at least 10-12 quarts (or liters) of pickled peppers, don't you think? Do you use the same recipe for the brine when stuffing the peppers? I'm thinking of pickling at least 2 quarts stuffed with ham and feta cheese and another 2 quarts stuffed with shredded red cabbage.

Devv · Apr 5, 2014

Rain? I would die for some REAL rain here. All we get is a smattering, of course we take it smiling, but .3"? we are so overdue. Bring on the 2-3" down pours of days gone by...

I would sooo much like to leave ruts, 4 wheel drive ruts, so bad I have to use the tractor to pull my 4 wheel drive out of ~~wet sand~~ mud. Just sink my truck to the axles. I'll bike it to work

stickman · Apr 6, 2014

Devv said:
Rain? I would die for some REAL rain here. All we get is a smattering, of course we take it smiling, but .3"? we are so overdue. Bring on the 2-3" down pours of days gone by...

I would sooo much like to leave ruts, 4 wheel drive ruts, so bad I have to use the tractor to pull my 4 wheel drive out of ~~wet sand~~ mud. Just sink my truck to the axles. I'll bike it to work

I hear ya bro'... but that's what you get for living in the Dust Bowl... no wonder you have to replace the topsoil that blew away in the 1930's! My best season for growing peppers was in 2012. It was fairly dry here, which the peppers loved, and so warm in the early spring that I was able to plant outside in the middle of April. I hadn't given much thought to what it must have been like for the folks out your way, but it must have been whacked! Check out this web page put out by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research... http://www2.ucar.edu/atmosnews/opinion/8349/dust-bowl-vs-2012
From what they're saying, we all might want to begin planning for an even dryer future in the next 10-20 years. One good tip they had was planting strategically placed belts of trees to break the wind where we have our gardens. This is making me even more determined to get a low pressure drip irrigation system in place for my vegetable garden to conserve water.

Devv · Apr 6, 2014

The 2012 season was really dry, it didn't rain on the garden until September.

LOL Dust Bowl, but you're right, I never thought about it that way. I don't think we ever had topsoil here, just sand, so I'm making my own soil and it's a long process when you start out with nothing. I dug out two holes to amend for the growdown and I now have 14's of darker heavier soil before I hit virgin sand. And it was just a few more inches before I hit the clay.

I read that article, pretty scarey, I'm hoping the weather is coming back. At least it's trying to rain again, what we need is an El Nino to fill the lakes and aquifers.

I wish I could use drip irrigation, but they stop up, even soaker hoses stop up from all the minerals in the well water. One good thing is we have lots of water, and very few straws in the system. I try to use it wisely, I don't water the grass, or what's left of it

stickman · Apr 6, 2014

Devv said:
The 2012 season was really dry, it didn't rain on the garden until September.

LOL Dust Bowl, but you're right, I never thought about it that way. I don't think we ever had topsoil here, just sand, so I'm making my own soil and it's a long process when you start out with nothing. I dug out two holes to amend for the growdown and I now have 14's of darker heavier soil before I hit virgin sand. And it was just a few more inches before I hit the clay.

I read that article, pretty scarey, I'm hoping the weather is coming back. At least it's trying to rain again, what we need is an El Nino to fill the lakes and aquifers.

I wish I could use drip irrigation, but they stop up, even soaker hoses stop up from all the minerals in the well water. One good thing is we have lots of wahow

Bummer that you can't use drip irrigation

but you seem to have a handle on how to deal with local conditions.

We had a beautiful day today, no excuses to avoid working in the garden...

I got a load of fresh Horse manure from just down the road... Heck, it was still steaming!

I spread it out kinda thin to let it mellow for a few days, then I'll add my other amendments and spade it all in.

The OW Scallions tops have grown noticeably in just the last couple of days, so we're starting to get underway here for sure!

Have a great week all!

PeriPeri · Apr 7, 2014

Nice one Rick! That horse poop is looking mighty fine... awesome!

stickman · Apr 8, 2014

We've been eating quite a lot of Mexican food lately... Cinco de Mayo is still a ways off, but it seems to fit our mood ATM. A friend gifted us with 8 pounds of Pinto Beans, and I did them up a la Charra in the slow cooker.... http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/...6646&origin=detail&servings=8&metric=false%C2 They're excellent in a Burrito with yellow rice, shredded cheese and the salsa of your choice. Last night we had Baja Fish Tacos with homemade salsa verde and corn tortillas. I think the tortillas taste a lot better if you make your own with fresh Masa.

The overnight lows are creeping up into the upper 30s overall, with occasional spikes into the upper 20s or low 40s... I'm looking for fairly consistent low temps in the 40s before I set up my low row cover. We're starting to get our April showers right on cue though, and that puts a big old smile on my face!

JJJessee · Apr 8, 2014

+1 on the horse poop!
It always feels good when the onions start to grow.

That fish taco is going to haunt me all day

Have a good one!

OCD Chilehead · Apr 8, 2014

Baja fish tacos. I could eat those day and night. Looks great. When I lived in San Diego, me and my friend would take the boat out every weekend and catch Halibut and rock fish. Had deep freezers and stomachs full of fish. Anyways.. Looks like Spring has arrived. The garden is looking good. Thanks for the update.

Spicegeist · Apr 8, 2014

How's the Chintexle doing?

stickman · Apr 8, 2014

Thanks for the good vibe guys... guess what's for lunch?

Spicegeist said:
How's the Chintexle doing?

I'd say pretty good for up here in New England Charles... They're working on their 5th set of leaves.

The rest of the wilds are doing about as well.

Except the last to germinate... the Pequins from Smokemaster were the last to germinate. They're working on their 3rd set of leaves...

And Shane's wild-collected Texas Pequins, that were the first to germinate. I notice they also seem to have a wavy edge to the leaves that makes them almost look serrated. These babies are really happy... they're already working on side-shoots!

The green phenotype Pimenta Lisa is still quite short... I think its go-round with the Horticubes stunted its growth somewhat, but hopefully when I get it outside and the weather warms up it'll really start to grow.

Its purple sibling is doing just fine.

The stem on the Goat's Weed is starting to fuzz up.

Scotch Bonnet MoAs are growing well, but looking kinda twisty. I expect they'll straighten out when I get them outside too.

BOC is forking, budding, and looking a lot more green since I repotted in Solo cups.

And the Guwahati Bhuts too.

That's 10... I'll post more later. Happy Tuesday all!

PeriPeri · Apr 8, 2014

That MOA is looking mighty twisty... sure its not a cabbage? :rofl:

Just kidding, I have one going and it does look the same, leaves are twisty and curly like that... so all good

stickman · Apr 8, 2014

PeriPeri said:
That MOA is looking mighty twisty... sure its not a cabbage? Just kidding, I have one going and it does look the same, leaves are twisty and curly like that... so all good

Thanks Lourens, I wasn't worried exactly, but it's good to know it's nothing to fret about.

Not sure why, but the Thai Orange is much bigger than the Thai Red...

Takanotsume is my biggest Annuum ATM

I had to pinch off some of the largest leaves on the Naga King because they had a little bacterial spot on them, but the side branching continues to push outward

The Manzano's pushed out almost as much, and is looking much bigger than its parent did this time last year.

Ta for now...

Trippa · Apr 8, 2014

Looking great Rick ... Bonus that dirt day is getting mighty close now ... Best of luck with the continual warming of the climes!!

maximumcapsicum · Apr 8, 2014

Excellent work on the horsepoo... I'm sure it'll pay off. How does horse manure compare to cow manure? Ungulates poop more nitrogen I think.

Inspiring burrito. Need to give that a whirl.

meatfreak · Apr 8, 2014

Nice, Rick you finally can start getting the garden back in gear

Plants are looking good, I'm really jealous of your dark Pimenta Lisa :lol:

Interesting and funny to see your growing the Orange Thai and Thai Demon to! I've found that they have an different growth then your average Annuum. The leaves are less wide and more pointy. They are really vigorous growers!

Devv · Apr 8, 2014

Nice update Rick!

And glad to see you're out working the dirt, IMHO it's a rewarding chore, and glad it's hot and steaming, hopefully it killed any weed seeds.

LB, my primary weeder won't let me get any more horse manure. That which I got made a ton of work for us later on. Even though it got hot, evidently not hot enough..LOL.

Plants are looking good and healthy, it won't be much longer now!