Progress! Quite a bit, actually.
While the SRP is still balls to the wall on pod growth, everyone else is at least trying. We'll start with the big guy, though; credit where it's due.
You'll see they're all having some foliage issues. About the only thing I'm actually set up to handle would be a cal/mag deficiency, so I've just treated them with that; hopefully it helps.
Got a few lovely, dark little Zapotec jalapenos on the way. This plant is, unsurprisingly, the gangliest of the bunch, but it hasn't gotten out of hand with judicious pruning.
Most importantly: The Jamaican red habs are coming in! They're very light pods, and seem like they're on track to be fairly small, but perhaps that's just how they start. This isn't a great picture of the pods, but the leaf deformation sure comes through... oh well...
Finally, the Huacho Amarillo, which I thought were supposed to start black, are starting green. Maybe it's green-black-yellow, not black-green-yellow? Also, more leaf issues. Not the healthiest little farm, but at least it's better than last time, I guess (and those are still pumping out pods, despite the fact that I've never figured out half of their issues).
This week I'm harvesting the last (massive) batch of pods from the old SF Peach and handing that and my beloved Casados off to my buddy Alejandro. The pods will be going into my first attempt at a mash fermentation, just because I've never tried that before.
The previous fermentation went in two directions, since I had two medium jars. The first had an orange blended into it, and turned out way better than expected. The second got a bunch of tomato paste and seasonings and ended up as BBQ sauce. Not as impressive as the orange batch, but still good, and I think both are notably better than my previous sauces. So that's two steps in different right directions.
Also, the sauerkraut turned out quite well. I didn't know what to expect, since it's not one I've ever successfully done before, but given a little more experience than I had on previous tries, it was easy and worked well. Next time I'll definitely add a bit of heat and probably some spices.
THEN there are the new hooks.
I started some seeds in coffee filters two weeks ago.
- Thunder Mountain Longhorn
This is a fun one for novelty, and because I have a little Groot planter that's empty, and I want to give him spicy dreadlocks. Four of these have hooks, so I should have spares for whatever shenanigans I want to get up to.
- Carolina Reaper
I only had four seeds left; one has put out a tiny hook. I'll give it a shot, but thus far it's the same situation as last time, so I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't make it once it hits coir.
- Cayenne
It's Pepper Joe's from a trade, so... mystery meat. No hooks so far anyway, and I'm not exactly holding my breath.
Turns out it's a good thing the Longhorns are coming through in spades. I'd wanted to groom a Reaper into a spiral bonchi (long-term goal, I know, but I have an actual bonsai that's not doing well, and I'll be looking to replace it eventually), but since I'm not expecting the Reaper to pull through, that may fall to one of the Longhorns.
This means I should end up with, at most:
- Six one-gallon bags (SR cream, Z. jalapeno, Huacho Amarillo, JA red hab, Reaper, and Longhorn)
- One baby Groot (Longhorn)
- One restricted-space bonchi candidate (Reaper or Longhorn)
Since the four current bags are looking pretty comfortable on the top shelf, and the bottom shelf will be empty when the SR peach and Casados cycle out, the bottom will be hosting one or two one-gallon planters as well as my smaller experiments. More than enough room.
As the actual season
should be changing here soon, I'm keeping an eye out for basil and possibly sage seedlings to add to the bottom shelf as well. I picked up a small planter to add them to the bottom-shelf grow when they come around (after, of course, a complete wash and transplant to coir). I'd love to get a little basil generation station going and have the occasional tiny batch of pesto, the way I used to when I had a lot more space to play with.
To leave you with a thought: We recently took the guppy out for Korean food, which he loved. That's my boy.
