My every season starts with Texas Pequin, because it never stops growing. A few weeks back we dug up about 30 of these perennial plants to rescue them from the relentless march of the upcoming super hots...
windchicken 2017
- Thread starter windchicken
- Start date
A few photos of new 50-foot (15.24 m) forest soil bed construction currently underway. The beds on either side of the new (dirt) row are several years old, and extremely fertile. No fertilizer, manure, or any other nutrients of any kind have ever been added to these beds, only RCW (chipped oak branches). Once they are built, these beds are never tilled. The last point is crucial to the health and maintenance of the subterranean mycelium network.
Half of the RCW mulch layer has been added to the bed. The covering should be 3-4 inches (8-10 cm) thick. This raw bed will not have much fertility this year, but next season it will be richer, and the third season will be amazing.
Close-up of the native soil: fine-grained alluvial sand, ironstone gravel, and clay. (Photo by my young helper, Mitchel Garcia):
Another of Mitchel's texture and depth-of-field studies. I think his aesthetic sensibility is remarkable for a 12-year-old boy:
Half of the RCW mulch layer has been added to the bed. The covering should be 3-4 inches (8-10 cm) thick. This raw bed will not have much fertility this year, but next season it will be richer, and the third season will be amazing.
Close-up of the native soil: fine-grained alluvial sand, ironstone gravel, and clay. (Photo by my young helper, Mitchel Garcia):
Another of Mitchel's texture and depth-of-field studies. I think his aesthetic sensibility is remarkable for a 12-year-old boy:
Blister said:
Lol, a fellow Mothers of Invention fan! I knew you were all right, Neil...
Thanks so much!
NICE ! 
moruga welder said:NICE !
Thanks Frank!
romy6 said:I do come her often . But when I do I prefer to check out your grow G man . Stay thirsty my friend and keep on doing what your doing
Lol, Jamie! You have such a way with words...Thanks so much for that dude!
tsurrie said:Nice! Can't wait to see them grow on that field. Looking good.
Thanks ts!
Devv said:You're teaching me Gary! Ride on
Wow, that means especially much coming from you, Scott!!! Thanks!
Devv said:You're teaching me Gary! Ride on
You and me both Devv! Gary has been a fountain of knowledge about pepper growing for me, and always happy to answer any questions. One of the nicest guys around.
Wow, Chris! Thanks brother!!!MeatHead1313 said:
That soil looks great. Filled with lots of goodies. Those beds will have great results. Can't wait to see some foliage out there.
Thanks so much Chuck! There are some big, nice plants sitting on deck, just chomping at the bit to get going in these beds, but there's one thing left to do before planting out: Install an electric fence to keep out the feral hogs, who would absolutely destroy these beds to get at the host of earthworms contained therein. I see plenty of tracks and disturbed earth along the banks of Mundy Bayou, just 200 or so feet down the hill from this spot....OCD Chilehead said:
Man...you seem to have quite a well thought out operation there. About how many plants and varieties are you growing?
And what is the end goal of your grow? I assume you're not just growing to supply a few friends and family.
I need to find a source for some of that RCW! Looks like it works too well for you!
I've just been adding some mulch and compost to my little backyard garden...and decided a couple of years ago that it'll be no-till from here on out. Seems to be a whole lot healthier!
And what is the end goal of your grow? I assume you're not just growing to supply a few friends and family.
I need to find a source for some of that RCW! Looks like it works too well for you!
I've just been adding some mulch and compost to my little backyard garden...and decided a couple of years ago that it'll be no-till from here on out. Seems to be a whole lot healthier!
Awesome Gary ... looking forward to seeing what you intend to plant in those beautiful cultivated rows .... hope the fence stops the hogs
Truly epic Gary! Thanks for the pics of your bed prep with the RCW and the timeline for when it's best to plant. There's certainly no shortage of hardwood chips around here during the growing season... I may have to look into some kind of rotation scheme here with my raised beds if I can talk the condo association into letting me have a bit bigger allotment for my garden plot...
How old is that Pequin plant? It looks like the wood at the bottom is at least an inch and a half thick.
How old is that Pequin plant? It looks like the wood at the bottom is at least an inch and a half thick.
Jubnat said:Man...you seem to have quite a well thought out operation there. About how many plants and varieties are you growing?
And what is the end goal of your grow? I assume you're not just growing to supply a few friends and family.
I need to find a source for some of that RCW! Looks like it works too well for you!
I've just been adding some mulch and compost to my little backyard garden...and decided a couple of years ago that it'll be no-till from here on out. Seems to be a whole lot healthier!
Thanks Jub! It's so good to see a fellow Louisiana native on here! And thanks so much for building forest soil with RCW!!! I get far more excited about that than even growing chile peppers...My buddy Chris (THP member Meathead1313), very near you in Maurice, Louisiana is building RCW beds as well. Not sure where he is getting his chips, but I think maybe they are the bagged ones from Lowes...
The garden in the above photo, in DeSoto Parish, will be planted primarily in C. annuum this year, as I can never get enough New Mexico Green Chile and Zapotec Jalapeño. Last year I grew 48 plants of New Mexico chile, and it wasn't enough...I finally have a crack green chile processing team, and I intend to put up serious quantities of it this year, so I can eat green chile, the food of the gods, whenever I want. Zapotec Jalapeño is a particularly special variety brought back from Oaxaca by my late friend Beth Boyd, of Peppermania.com. When I make Chipotle from those chiles, they disappear within a matter of days, so this year I intend to have plenty of those, as well. I snapped a couple photos this morning of the plants waiting on deck at my house...
Zapotec Jalapeño, 31 plants:
New Mexico chile plants in the shade tent, 84 plants total: 28 plants Big Jim Legacy (seeds from Faron Lytle), 28 plants NuMex Sandia Select (seeds from Sandia Seed Co.), 14 plants Barker's Hot (Sandia Seed Co.), and 14 plants Chile Lumbre (selected from my 2016 garden). In the tent are also 7 plants of M.A. Wartryx and 13 plants of Papa Dreadie Scotch Bonnet Select, which will go in the beds at my house in Caddo Parish.
Trident chilli said:
Thanks John! It won't be long now...
stickman said:Truly epic Gary! Thanks for the pics of your bed prep with the RCW and the timeline for when it's best to plant. There's certainly no shortage of hardwood chips around here during the growing season... I may have to look into some kind of rotation scheme here with my raised beds if I can talk the condo association into letting me have a bit bigger allotment for my garden plot...
How old is that Pequin plant? It looks like the wood at the bottom is at least an inch and a half thick.
Thanks Rick! I am all about evangelizing for forest soil...If you ever want any information or advice, please holla atcha boy! I consider it to be one of the most important things a gardener can ever do...
That particular Pequin is either 2 or 3 years old. I first planted that bed in 2014, but some of the plants were replaced in 2015 and 2016...