Anyone doing a garden?
- Thread starter spartanmanor
- Start date
I got my peppers off to a late start this year 
My biggest is an Orange Bell pepper. I have a jalapeno and a cayenne I bought at the same time that are lagging behind. I have a mystery pepper that may be a bell pepper or a chili pepper. I sprinkled some Epson's salt on to the soil and watered it in yesterday and I think it gave them a boost.
My biggest is an Orange Bell pepper. I have a jalapeno and a cayenne I bought at the same time that are lagging behind. I have a mystery pepper that may be a bell pepper or a chili pepper. I sprinkled some Epson's salt on to the soil and watered it in yesterday and I think it gave them a boost.
McLoving
Well-Known Member
This year is very good for redcurrant. The yield seems to vary from year to year. Last year I got only 2 litres but in 2021 11,5 litres. This year will probably be a little better than 2021. The bush was planted in 2007, so it is quite old. Berries will be ripe in 2-3 weeks.
I have only one redcurrant bush but several blackcurrants.
I have only one redcurrant bush but several blackcurrants.
How do ya get the maters out of the cages?
@McLoving ...thats a lot of berries. Must be the year for it...I have a Mulberry tree in my back yard that up until this year I didnt think much of the few berries on it. This year the limbs were saturated with them.
Why oh why didnt I get hooked on potato soup or something simple! 9 hrs yesterday processing 19lbs of peppers for 11lbs in the freezer. So enough for about 1 1/2 batches of chili for me. Tater soup...yeah...cut tater...cook tater...so much easier!
Yesterday I found a couple of mistakes I'd been making. I had been watering my flowers and veggies with rainwater with a pH of 4.0 (as low as the measurement goes). My kale was doing great but my peppers, tomatoes and everything else was lagging. The tomatoes were in grow bags but the peppers were in the same raised bed with the kale. A BIG no-no. I did find out basil repels mosquitoes tho'. I pulled the kale and put the strongest plants in pots and sowed some seeds for basil, four varieties worth. I gave everything a good long drink of tap water and called it a day. This morning the peppers had perked up and sprouted a few new buds. The tomatoes showed new growth too. Rookie mistake I made of not researching compatible plants before planting the peppers and kale together. Also not checking the pH of the rainwater. As Home would say...
Man you have some serious acid rain there. Time to get some garden lime on the peppers...a little at a time to avoid shocking them and swinging the scale too far. Both peppers and tomatoes need a pH of 5.5-7.0.
I try to keep mine in the middle of the range but this year my soil has been at 6.8-7.1. Probably added too much lime when I amended the soil for storage last winter. I have been adding a little citric acid each time I fertilize to keep it down. My rain water is about 6.9 so that is probably why it keeps creeping up.
Too bad we cant mix our water together to get the perfect pH.
I try to keep mine in the middle of the range but this year my soil has been at 6.8-7.1. Probably added too much lime when I amended the soil for storage last winter. I have been adding a little citric acid each time I fertilize to keep it down. My rain water is about 6.9 so that is probably why it keeps creeping up.
Too bad we cant mix our water together to get the perfect pH.
I think I let the barrels fill without letting the rain wash off the roof well enough. Time to drain and wash out the barrels then set everything up again. I gave everything a good long drink of tap water which runs about 6.9 here too. Things have perked up a bit but I think I will add a bit of lime.
Today's haul gave me 19 lbs. Five lbs from the Mulato as the plants were getting very heavy so I took the largest ones off. They are taking forever to turn color...same as the reds. They are producing though...and this from the plants I was going to trash because I had too many.
The Boldog paprika's are giving me some nice peppers to smoke...but I'm picking them as they turn red like a few every couple days. Some I'm pulling even before they turn red so I can keep them producing...I just lay them in the sun to ripen or in a paper bag for cloudy days.
The Trident, Tiburon and Sargento's I will definitely be planting again next year as they are producing some massively heavy pods. The other plants like the Anaheim's and other Poblano's that had a first pickin are loaded with pods about 2-4" so they will be ready in a couple weeks as well.
The Italian's and Spanish reds like I said are lagging on ripening. Lots of pods but still green. I really hope to get lots more Spanish Paquillo Reds...they are so sweet and delicious. I can eat those right off the plant.
Some pics for ya.....
...and I have large hands....
Pobano's loaded up...and thats just two plants...not very good at taking good pics sorry
...and these Boldog's about every couple days...
IT'S A BOY!!
The Boldog paprika's are giving me some nice peppers to smoke...but I'm picking them as they turn red like a few every couple days. Some I'm pulling even before they turn red so I can keep them producing...I just lay them in the sun to ripen or in a paper bag for cloudy days.
The Trident, Tiburon and Sargento's I will definitely be planting again next year as they are producing some massively heavy pods. The other plants like the Anaheim's and other Poblano's that had a first pickin are loaded with pods about 2-4" so they will be ready in a couple weeks as well.
The Italian's and Spanish reds like I said are lagging on ripening. Lots of pods but still green. I really hope to get lots more Spanish Paquillo Reds...they are so sweet and delicious. I can eat those right off the plant.
Some pics for ya.....
...and I have large hands....
Pobano's loaded up...and thats just two plants...not very good at taking good pics sorry
...and these Boldog's about every couple days...
IT'S A BOY!!
So may I ask this and I know it's a stupid question? Why are you labeling your peppers and counting, I just pick and eat !Today's haul gave me 19 lbs. Five lbs from the Mulato as the plants were getting very heavy so I took the largest ones off. They are taking forever to turn color...same as the reds. They are producing though...and this from the plants I was going to trash because I had too many.
The Boldog paprika's are giving me some nice peppers to smoke...but I'm picking them as they turn red like a few every couple days. Some I'm pulling even before they turn red so I can keep them producing...I just lay them in the sun to ripen or in a paper bag for cloudy days.
The Trident, Tiburon and Sargento's I will definitely be planting again next year as they are producing some massively heavy pods. The other plants like the Anaheim's and other Poblano's that had a first pickin are loaded with pods about 2-4" so they will be ready in a couple weeks as well.
The Italian's and Spanish reds like I said are lagging on ripening. Lots of pods but still green. I really hope to get lots more Spanish Paquillo Reds...they are so sweet and delicious. I can eat those right off the plant.
Some pics for ya.....
...and I have large hands....
Pobano's loaded up...and thats just two plants...not very good at taking good pics sorry
...and these Boldog's about every couple days...
IT'S A BOY!!
I'm doing that because this year is an evaluation of the 18 different varieties of peppers. Last year was supposed to be this experiment but due to the heatwave was a total failure.
I've been taking notes on each one of how they grow, skin thickness for ease of peeling, flesh thickness, heat level and taste among anything else I see may matter for replanting them. After I lay them out on the table I weigh each variety and record it on the back of the label...then at the end of the season I'll know how much each one produced.
So next year I'll know which ones I want to grow again and which ones I wont bother with. THEN I can just pick and eat...which is really what I'd like to be doing too. Its a PITA this way keeping them all separate up until after I roast and process them to get my opinion of each one. After that all the different Poblano's will get mixed together and frozen..all the Anahiem's the same...and the others will all be smoked and powdered. Crazy I know.
A question about hot peppers. I've read about drying them and fermenting them. Can anyone give me the advantages of both. Is one method of preserving them better than the other?
The other day I did a rookie mistake. I had been slicing up a jalapeno but didn't wash my hands and later on I rubbed my eyelid. Boyhowdy that's a mistake you only make once.
On a brighter note, my late start tomatoes have begun producing lots of flowers and a few have even budded into fruits
The other day I did a rookie mistake. I had been slicing up a jalapeno but didn't wash my hands and later on I rubbed my eyelid. Boyhowdy that's a mistake you only make once.
On a brighter note, my late start tomatoes have begun producing lots of flowers and a few have even budded into fruits
fredgarvin
Super Member
My Anahiems are doing pretty well, better last year, Early Girls and Champions are getting ripe, Romas are a disaster. Black fungal mold inside and blossom rot and are ripening when tiny. I guess it's common with Romas but last year they were great.