Sorry 'bout the glitch... still learning how to use my new "smart" phone. Sometimes it seems like it's smarter than me... 
Stickman's 2017 Minimalist Glog
- Thread starter stickman
- Start date
I have 2 bleeding heart bushes that are just starting to wake up, One is a traditional (with red flowers) and the other is a purple flower with a small tear drop on the bottom, Beautiful plants, I never thought of using them as an indicator for beginning to harden off plants. The beds look great. Whats the fitting your showing for exactly? the copper tubing for a meter? whats the purpose of it though?
Blitz527 said:
That's the thing about insects and plants that emerge in Spring... they need a certain number of degree days of warmth to emerge... and the plant in our backyard that most closely approaches the number that the peppers need to go out into the low row cover here are the Bleeding Hearts. It may be different in your area.
My Wife and I live in a condo, and the condo association assigned garden plots to the residents that wanted them. For the last few years we've been renting out parking spaces in our field during the County Fair across the street to finance running a municipal water line out to our garden space. It's one inch pipe that steps down to 3/4 inch where each hose bib diverges from the main line, and each plot has its own hose bib. I'm in the process of adding a brass water meter so I can accurately track my water usage and avoid paying for more than I actually use. I supplement with the rainwater collected in the barrel under our eaves to use even less. Last year my share of the water bill was only $20... down from $60 the year before.
That's all looking tremendous, Rick! Good stuff!
How long do you find your pubes take to ripen? I've got a large Rocoto Canario which podded up long before any of my chinense varieties and yet, not a spot of colour.
How long do you find your pubes take to ripen? I've got a large Rocoto Canario which podded up long before any of my chinense varieties and yet, not a spot of colour.
RaelThomas said:
Cheers Rael! Manzanos are the only Pubiscens variety I've grown successfully so far, though the Aji Oro looks fair to outperform it. The Manzanos took at least 90 days from flower to ripe fruit though they started coloring up at least 2 weeks before that. I think one reason it's so hard to find viable seeds for it is that the pods look riper than they are for quite a bit and people harvest the pods a bit too soon.
This web page has some great tips for starting Peppers! http://www.ecoseeds.com/Pepper.growing.tips.html
It was kind of a shocker to see what they had to say about starting pepper seeds in sand or potting soil with a high percentage of peat moss. Apparently I'm doing exactly the right thing by blending it with with coco coir.
Well, I finally got the irrigation line hooked up to the raised beds behind the house folks, and laid down the IRT plastic mulch on the pepper bed!
Just gotta set up the low row cover over it and I can begin to start hardening off my chiles, tomatoes, eggplants and herbs. Between the raised bed and the house you can see the heat exchanger for our mini-split air conditioner. I put the pepper bed where I did so the exchanger blows warm air onto it all summer. I make sure the plants get plenty of water since the drip hose is on a timer, and they just lap it up! I think it contributed quite a bit to the shape of my Scotch Bonnets last summer too.No zoom lens so this pic is fairly blurry, but this male White-Throated Sparrow is very brightly colored for the Sparrow family. In addition to the patch of white at its throat and black-and-white stripes on its head the male has canary yellow patches of color next to its eyes that just come through in the pic.
Hope you all are having a great weekend!
The beds are looking slick! That's a great little set-up, I will definitely get some plakky mulch next season.
Good to know re: ripeness on the pubescens. I would have likely picked them too early. Funnily enough, just started to blush today.
That's a gorgeous little sparrow.
Good to know re: ripeness on the pubescens. I would have likely picked them too early. Funnily enough, just started to blush today.
That's a gorgeous little sparrow.
PaulG said:
Cheers Paul! I'm glad I have a space in the community garden too. My backyard is only about 50'x200' and I doubt I could fit in my 450 sq. ft. veggie garden in it after arm-wrestling with my Wife over available space.
Is growing your chiles in pots a compromise with your wife? Devv said:Glad to see the final preparations going on Rick
It purely feels good to be pulling into the home stretch Scott!
RaelThomas said:
It is a good setup Rael... I've been using it for at least 4 years now, and I don't think I'd have anywhere near the results I do with the superhots without using the IRT plastic mulch to passively use solar energy to make a warmer microclimate for my plants.
Sorry, I meant to say that my only experience with growing Pubes from seed to harvest is with the Manzanos, and they're slow to grow and ripen. Until starting the Aji Oro this season, the only other Pube I've grown was a Lima Market Rocoto plant that FreeportBum sent me last year. I was disappointed with it because it made lots of flowers but never set fruit. That's definitely not the case with the Aji Oro! Going on 9 weeks it's just covered with blossoms and has set 5 little pods like this one.
The plant this morning... it's only about 10 inches tall, but it's about a foot and a half wide.
I'll be interested to see how long it takes for the pods to grow and ripen. It took the Manzano 90 days... if the Aji Oro follows a similar curve they'll start ripening the end of July.
I wish my camera could take closeups at a distance... this really is a beautiful bird.
In other news... the Annuums have all forked and started to bud up...
... and the Tomatoes have stretched out to a foot tall. Gotta get these babies in the dirt soon!
Have a great week all!
If only peppers grew as willingly as tomatoes...
I had a lot of flower drop (maybe a months worth, before they set) with my Rocoto, but it, as yours did, started very early.
I had a lot of flower drop (maybe a months worth, before they set) with my Rocoto, but it, as yours did, started very early.
PaulG
eXtreme
Looking back over my pubescens experience, which
isn't much, my Red Rocotos flower and set pods much
more readily than the Orange Manzanos. This is the first
season I'm growing both, so I'll get a better comparison,
(after they recover from their hailstone shower)
.
Even with the lousy weather they've been in, the Reds are
still setting little pods!
isn't much, my Red Rocotos flower and set pods much
more readily than the Orange Manzanos. This is the first
season I'm growing both, so I'll get a better comparison,
(after they recover from their hailstone shower)
.Even with the lousy weather they've been in, the Reds are
still setting little pods!
Rick that Aji Ori is a real beauty, great to see flower set, toms looking A1as well, I giggle every time I look at me mata plants all I see is spicy ketchup lol.
Your cooking on gas and going to be busy harvest time.
Sent from my VFD 900 using Tapatalk
Your cooking on gas and going to be busy harvest time.
Sent from my VFD 900 using Tapatalk
All is looking stellar Rick ! Gonna be a great grow for you this year ,
RaelThomas said:
Hmmm.... Out of curiousity, did you plant it in a pot or in-ground? I'm thinking that the more temperature sensitive Pubes probably do better in-ground and under dappled shade, but the Aji Oro is supposed to be one of the least sensitive and best suited to growing in pots. I'll put mine in a #5 pot when I set it out to harden off and that'll be its final home.
PaulG said:Looking back over my pubescens experience, which
isn't much, my Red Rocotos flower and set pods much
more readily than the Orange Manzanos. This is the first
season I'm growing both, so I'll get a better comparison,
(after they recover from their hailstone shower)
Even with the lousy weather they've been in, the Reds are
still setting little pods!
Cheers Paul... appreciate you sharing your experiences growing Pubes.
Superhot Sim said:
Cheers Sim... I'll be interested to see the process and hear what you think of it.
Devv said:
Because I'm going to undersow with the Dutch White Clover as green mulch, that might be a good idea Scott... get the tomato roots deep right away so they don't compete. I'll just have to wait until the Tomatoes get up to about a foot tall and then I can sow the clover. Thanks for the tip!
moruga welder said:All is looking stellar Rick ! Gonna be a great grow for you this year ,
Cheers Frank, and yourself as well.
That Oro's looking mighty fine, as are the 'matoes! have you had prior experience with the green mulch? i was contemplating using it in my beds in the future, i will keenly watch how it turns out at your end! Keep up the good work!
Nope... This'll be the first time for me Nev. It should prove interesting.ThatBlondGuy101 said:That Oro's looking mighty fine, as are the 'matoes! have you had prior experience with the green mulch? i was contemplating using it in my beds in the future, i will keenly watch how it turns out at your end! Keep up the good work!
randyp said:
Well... things got crazy busy this week Randy. I'm gonna set up the low row cover by this weekend, harden off for a week outside under it and get everything in the dirt by next weekend... so May 6th looks like the date. I'll leave the low row cover on over the plants until it warms up a bit more, maybe around Memorial Day but we'll see. Cheers!
