The 2019 Garden Thread

[Supe]

Last of the peppers went in this past weekend.  This year's pepper crop:

-Jalapenos 2X

-Habaneros 2X

-Mad Hatters

-Cayenne

-Ghost Peppers

-Hot Bananas

-Ancho Chiles 3X

-Carolina Reapers 2X

-Couple of sweet/milder for Mrs. Supe

Almost didn't get the reapers in this year.  Puckerbutt didn't have them in stock - woman at the register said they only sell the seedling in store if they have extras, which they didn't this year.  Gave me the name of a nursery in South Carolina, so drove down there yesterday with Junior.  Place was SLAM PACKED with horrible parking, but easy to tell why.  Selection/quality of plants across the board is 1000X better than any of the big box stores or local places, AND cheaper.  Thankfully, they had about a dozen reaper seedlings left, so we went and grabbed two of them.  The two reapers and a trio of the ancho chiles only cost of $7.  Going to get as much as possible there next year, including the flowers for the front of the house, but will definitely go on a weekday.

Also, bought two larger pots for the reapers this year.  They were in a 12" pot last year, and the root ball took up the entire thing - you couldn't even shake the dirt free.  Moved them to I think a 20" pot that's considerably deeper.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

A buddy of mine grows peppers and tomatoes every year, and usually gives me a couple of "salsa kits" throughout the year.  He grew some reapers last year.  I put 1 pepper, seeded, in a whole batch of salsa and it was too hot to eat.  WTF do you do with 2 plants worth of reapers?

 

[Road Guy]

We don't usually plant until after mothers day, (its actually snowing today)

But were  doing the normal, tomato's, cucumbers, bell peppers and jalapeno peppers.

Last year we didn't get any cucumbers, not sure If I just bought two duds but we did get a **** load of jalapeno peppers, I think I still have 2 bags in the freezer (I normally cut up the jalapenos and bag them for use throughout the winter in soups and such.

I was told that we could plant lettuce here in CO towards the end of winter put I never got around to it

 

[Supe]

A buddy of mine grows peppers and tomatoes every year, and usually gives me a couple of "salsa kits" throughout the year.  He grew some reapers last year.  I put 1 pepper, seeded, in a whole batch of salsa and it was too hot to eat.  WTF do you do with 2 plants worth of reapers?

Freeze or give them away.  I still have a bunch from last year that I plan on dehydrating in the oven and then turning into pepper flakes.  It's more something for us to do as dad/daughter than to actually eat!  They do work really well in a fruit/sugar heavy salsas, but you need to halve them or make a BIG batch.  

 

[ktulu]

I have our garden in the ground and things are growing well. Had an outstanding crop of lettuce this year - think I had 8 different Romaine varieties, broccoli did well, cauliflower so-so. Grew bok choy for the first time this winter - love the flavor so will definitely grow more this Fall. Have cabbage under row cover now. Hoping they head before the 90F heat sets in. 

Have multiple varieties of tomatoes, peppers, squash/zukes, cucumbers growing in plots spread around (my yard, the neighbor's yard, AU community garden). Also have a few okra plants growing. Watermelon and cantaloupe seedlings getting close to planting. 

 

[Supe]

Something is eating one of my habanero plants and I don't know what.  Seems insect-related but I haven't seen any.

 

[Road Guy]

do you put some type of insect spray on it?

 

[Supe]

I use that "Sevin" 5% powder that you shake on/around it.  Guess I'll need to put down a second round.

 

[FLBuff PE]

We've been using a commercial compost system that is offered around us this winter, and the compost giveback is this weekend. I'll be picking up a load of it on Saturday, then tilling our garden so the wife and kids can plant it in the next few weekends.

 

[envirotex]

I got some container tomatoes.  Can't really do anything else while we're in the rental...

 

[Road Guy]

so i put out some type of spray for my apple tree that you put on when the leaves bud out that keeps worms from growing on the apples, the label peeled off and I cant recall the brand, but I was told the spray was "live organism" - we have gotten below freezing since I put the spray on and I wonder if I should spray it again?  But I think were supposed to get another snow next week? 

Not even thinking about the actual garden yet!

 

[Supe]

Snow, LOL.  My car temp gauge showed 90 ambient on the drive home yesterday.

 

[Road Guy]

In laws and parents are coming in next week for kids graduation- they should have fun coming from Florida and North Carolina!

 

[leggo PE]

You all are making me wanna grow some veggies! We actually have access to a small amount of back years at our new spot. For ease, I think I'd probably want stuff to grow in pots.

What's a potentially good crop (i.e. easy to grow, hardy, and can grow in a pot) for beginners?

Also, if you Google search "when to put seeds in SF" be prepared to only get results about the best cannabis seeds out there!

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

We've done a few veggies in the past here in NZ (cucumbers, watermelon, jalapenos & tomatoes).  Only thing we're currently growing is a large planter box of strawberries. They had fruit last spring, but nothing but runners since (resulting in at least 2x as many plants). Not really sure what to do with them as it gets more into winter here.

 

[Supe]

You all are making me wanna grow some veggies! We actually have access to a small amount of back years at our new spot. For ease, I think I'd probably want stuff to grow in pots.

What's a potentially good crop (i.e. easy to grow, hardy, and can grow in a pot) for beginners?

Also, if you Google search "when to put seeds in SF" be prepared to only get results about the best cannabis seeds out there!

Any type of small pepper.  Tabasco, Thai chiles, etc.  Those are practically *****-proof.  Larger, "fruitier" peppers are a bit trickier, at least in the south.  It's hard to keep them watered enough with the temps down here during the daytime - watering 2x a day is just barely enough.

 

[leggo PE]

Thanks!

We got some sort of pepper (don't remember the name) starter plant as well as a starter tomato plant over the weekend. Here's to hoping we remember to water them enough! They're out on the little balcony outside our living room.

 

[Road Guy]

And they do actually sell different plants for containers versus "garden" and it will make a difference, we usually buy 2 plants of cherry tomatoes for containers and they do really well.

 

[Supe]

Just make sure your container has holes in the bottom for drainage!  We bought one of those over-the-railing type planters for the deck last year, not realizing that it didn't have holes drilled in the bottom.  Sure enough after several days of heavy rain (and ignoring the garden because there was no need to water) we came out to all the herbs in it dead from rot, and the entire ball of dirt/plant remains floating in the top of the container.

 

[leggo PE]

Yep. we got pots with holes in the bottom.

We also got starter plants that aren't meant for pots...

So I guess we'll see.