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Post by ET on Jul 14, 2020 10:58:54 GMT -5
Made a visit to the garden today to take care of weeding chores. Also, to check on how the plants are progressing. Everything appears to be doing well and got a few zucchinis to take home, one yellow and one green. This weekend I will start spraying the tomatoes for blight prevention. It appears the tomatoes will have another abundant crop this year. These are low acid tomatoes so you can’t really preserve them but have a number of good friends that will assist in consuming them, chuckle. The raspberries are a nice size with a good sweetness. All in all, the garden is doing well.
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Post by billc on Jul 14, 2020 12:07:18 GMT -5
Your garden looks great! I add lemon juice when I can tomatoes to acidify they. They can well and last a couple of years. Of course the only way they last a couple of years is if they get lost on the back of the shelf.
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Post by ET on Jul 14, 2020 15:38:36 GMT -5
Your garden looks great! I add lemon juice when I can tomatoes to acidify they. They can well and last a couple of years. Of course the only way they last a couple of years is if they get lost on the back of the shelf. For me it's fresh toasted tomato sandwich. Nothing like a fresh picked tomato off the vine. Sometimes I like some mayo on my sandwich and this year they have a mayo with avocado oil I want to try. We also have different types of cherry size tomatoes (not in the picture) that goes nice in salads. The one item I really look forward to trying is the watermelon with seeds given to us to try. The watermelon seeds took well and developing nice healthy vines. Bit of work starting and maintaining a garden but I love the rewards.
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Post by billc on Jul 14, 2020 21:21:50 GMT -5
Agree, a fresh 'mater sannich -- just a few minutes from sun warmed on the vine to in your belly is one of summers greatest treats.
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Post by ET on Jul 18, 2020 16:07:23 GMT -5
Okay the chore of spraying tomatoes for blight prevention is done and needs to be renewed every 10-days. The beans aren't far off and the beets are coming nicely. Hope to get the two together for a nice soup I enjoy making. Even though soups are much more appreciated in cooler weather I still enjoy a hot soup in warmer weather.
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Post by ET on Jul 23, 2020 14:39:07 GMT -5
Spent a morning of weeding and enjoying some fresh air. The garden is really doing well. In about a weeks time I will enjoy my first garden tomato. Thought you might enjoy seeing a 1000 liter rain barrel. It sure helps on the cost of water.
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Post by GMB54-120 on Jul 30, 2020 10:21:40 GMT -5
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Post by ET on Jul 30, 2020 16:14:20 GMT -5
It's always rewarding when the garden produces. No luck growing peppers here for some reason. I see the sunflowers are reaching for the sky. Having the same results here with sunflowers. Tomorrow have planned another visit to the garden and look forward to see what's ready.
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Post by GMB54-120 on Aug 2, 2020 11:40:35 GMT -5
Ive been pretty lucky with most peppers but rocotos can be a real PITA to grow. Contrary to what many think, not all peppers love hot humid weather. Many hate high humidity especially with hot evenings. Rocotos love cool nights and most like low humidity. It took me 3 tries to try a variety that yielded ripe pods. The first 2 grew fine but dropped every flower or tiny pod.
Ive found with many peppers you dont need any direct sun after 12-2pm. The shaded afternoon during peak heat gives them time to rest. Some do fine in all day sun but many dont. You end up with sweet plants and no peppers or green peppers falling off before they are close to ready. Keeping the pots shaded helps keep the soil cool too. I use burlap to shade most of the pots on the deck until they are large enough to shade themselves.
In areas with no natural shade after noon, get a shade cloth. Something like a 40% reduction in UV. Pretty much all of them will thrive under it. This can be critical in areas with high summer heat.
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Post by ET on Aug 2, 2020 12:43:55 GMT -5
Ive been pretty lucky with most peppers but rocotos can be a real PITA to grow. Contrary to what many think, not all peppers love hot humid weather. Many hate high humidity especially with hot evenings. Rocotos love cool nights and most like low humidity. It took me 3 tries to try a variety that yielded ripe pods. The first 2 grew fine but dropped every flower or tiny pod. Ive found with many peppers you dont need any direct sun after 12-2pm. The shaded afternoon during peak heat gives them time to rest. Some do fine in all day sun but many dont. You end up with sweet plants and no peppers or green peppers falling off before they are close to ready. Keeping the pots shaded helps keep the soil cool too. I use burlap to shade most of the pots on the deck until they are large enough to shade themselves. In areas with no natural shade after noon, get a shade cloth. Something like a 40% reduction in UV. Pretty much all of them will thrive under it. This can be critical in areas with high summer heat. Never knew this about some peppers needing shade. Will have to look into this. Thanks for that tip. Ed
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Post by GMB54-120 on Aug 2, 2020 22:53:52 GMT -5
Those plants on the patio in my pic dont get any direct sun after 1-2pm. There is a tree line right behind the camera. Those plants are loaded with peppers and look great. They are also super hots, Scorpions, Reapers and Death Spirals. You would imagine a pepper like a Scorpion from Trinidad would do better in full sun all day but that simply is not the case.
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Post by ET on Aug 3, 2020 9:22:15 GMT -5
Those plants on the patio in my pic dont get any direct sun after 1-2pm. There is a tree line right behind the camera. Those plants are loaded with peppers and look great. They are also super hots, Scorpions, Reapers and Death Spirals. You would imagine a pepper like a Scorpion from Trinidad would do better in full sun all day but that simply is not the case. I was always under the impression peppers required sun all day. Learned something new.
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Post by GMB54-120 on Aug 3, 2020 11:02:13 GMT -5
Some will do absolutely fine in all day sun. I get good production from pretty much all jalapenos in full sun. Several others too but if you see plants dropping flowers and not producing peppers....Chances are its too much, too hot at night and too humid. First time i ran into this was with a Scotch Bonnet. I had no idea a pepper from Jamaica of all places would hate sitting in full sun all day. A standard orange habanero just a couple feet from it was loaded with peppers. I got less than 15 peppers off that bonnet for a full season of effort. The following year i tried another kind of bonnet. I got tons of peppers no matter where they were planted.
The first bonnet was even from Ministry of Agriculture seed stock aka MOA Bonnet. One of the most popular kinds. The next year was from a variety grown here in the USA through selective breeding called a Papa Dreadie. Then another called Trenton Farmers Market. Both those cranked out peppers.
Generally speaking though....you can grow pretty much any pepper with a good amount of afternoon shade. It wont bother them a bit and many will love it.
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Post by GMB54-120 on Aug 13, 2020 13:38:57 GMT -5
Chilhuacle (Chee Wah Lee) negro from Oaxaca Mexico. VERY uncommon outside of a few places in Mexico. These got a nice amount of zip and dry very very well. Normally used for a Oaxacan mole sauce. Now these are the odd balls. Puckerbutt sold seeds to a friend last year. A couple of his Reaper plants had brown pods. He sent me seeds to see how they grow out. Coming straight from the Carolina Reaper source Ed Currie i had to grow these out of curiosity. 2 might have crossed back to Lew's Reapers that were red?
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Post by ET on Aug 14, 2020 11:44:27 GMT -5
You really have an extensive knowledge of peppers. Some I've never even heard of before.
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Post by GMB54-120 on Aug 16, 2020 9:35:11 GMT -5
For years i pretty much only grew jalapenos and bells for peppers. The occasional cayenne also. Never really liked cayenne much until i tried these Joes Long Cayenne. I quit growing common bells. Its just not worth taking up my available space. Bells from the middle east though are great. Probably the best tasting bell types i have ever eaten. If you just want a huge sweet bell, the Tekne Dolmasi from Turkey get huge and the flavor is the best. They dont really look much like a bell though...Its a must try pepper that wont take up too much room. A large part of what i grow are peppers you cant easily buy. Some are a novelty just for the experience. Personally i dont care for Reapers at all or brown super hots. Aside from the blazing heat they just dont taste that good usually. What i love are ripe jalapeno and you virtually never see them sold. They are almost always green. So im always looking for the latest greatest jalapeno that has good heat/flavor and ripens early...Sadly that is harder than it sounds if you like large peppers and plants....Most i tried were disappointing and none have equaled a common Mucho Nacho from Bonnie. Things like Reapers trade and sell for great money at farmers markets. You always find some guy that thinks he or a friend can handle anything. All most of these guys know is its the worlds hottest pepper so they just got to try them. I warn them over and over before they head off. They are in for a full night of agony and pepper cramps if they eat a whole one. Peruvian food or fusions have become a passion of mine and getting most of those peppers around here aint gunna happen. I can buy some in paste and its good but most paste is loaded with salt. Thats a no go for some people and family. I also make many hot sauces for the same reason. Most are not brutal but it never fails that i get a friend who wants me to make him a real scorcher. Dad loves good hot sauce but cant handle high sodium. He also refuses to use plain distilled vinegar and turns his nose up to any that have it. This is my latest from the garden. NuMex Orange Spice jalapeno and orange rocoto sauce. Its hot for a jalapeno sauce but no where near as hot as most i have.
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Post by GMB54-120 on Aug 29, 2020 8:55:08 GMT -5
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Post by ET on Aug 29, 2020 17:15:47 GMT -5
Those peppers look like if you were to take a bite out of them they would bite back, chuckle. They would go nice in a chili if you wanted to kick it up a notch or two.
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Post by GMB54-120 on Aug 30, 2020 10:28:08 GMT -5
Those 3 varieties need to be handled with care they are so hot. All are over 1.4 million Scoville. A piece the size of a pea will light up most people to tears. They are all noticeably hotter than ghost peppers. Im fermenting a batch i picked the other day. Just peppers, salt and water. Dash of vinegar just to lower pH a tiny bit. After a month i will turn it into a pepper mash and toss the mash in the fridge to continue fermenting. The mash can be used in small amounts to liven up other sauces. You would not believe how hot just 1 tbs of that mash is in something like a pot of chilli.
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Post by ET on Aug 30, 2020 11:43:34 GMT -5
Here I was under the impression that the Ghost Pepper was the hottest pepper out there. Learned something new.
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Post by GMB54-120 on Aug 30, 2020 12:19:40 GMT -5
Carolina Reaper is if you go by Guinness records but ive grown them at the same time/place as my Scorpions. Ghost are around half as hot as Reapers. Growing conditions makes a huge difference but in a side by side i thought my Scorpions were just as hot. Plus they tasted better. There are quite a few peppers hotter than ghost but i like the flavor of ghost more than many of them. I really like these Death Spirals. You can buy the seeds i used from Baker Creek aka Rare Seeds. Pods are just beautiful and plants are producing great. I would say they are about 40% hotter than ghost on average. www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/new-items-2020/death-spiral-hot-pepper
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Post by GMB54-120 on Aug 31, 2020 14:36:26 GMT -5
Here is one you might like and they are not butt burners. Its called Joes Long Cayenne. Mine this year produced pods averaging over a foot long. They make a great Louisiana style hot sauce that wont melt your face and plants produce like mad. They dry fast too.
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