Gardening: My Tomatoe and Pepper Progress

CornyKegs 728
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I hope mine didn't freeze. I was just to tired to cover up the plants. Tonight they are talking 38. Tomorrow 32. Snow shut down i 70 near Georgetown the other day. Hurricane will miss you right passed? Martin county is spring break every year for my family, I am hoping for the best.

I had to turn the pools off because they were leaking. From the drain holes I drilled like an idiot. I can still fill up all 7 pools with one knob turn and the water plus drainage gives 4 or 5 days. I think they have had too much water once they get big. When little it is ideal. The garden is going nuts with a little dryness. The tomatoes are covered with something crystalline looking and white. Like glitter? Wth is this s..t? I think the garden needs a good hose down. I have sprayed the aphids all year on my brussel sprouts, good high pressure would have worked. The brussel sprouts are growing a bunch of buds. I am hopeful. Pics later.
 
I used 10 habs to make a hot sauce tonight. Simple recipe, and my habanero were a little over ripe but man this is delicious. Really fruity, with a little heat in the finish.
 
passedpawn said:
I've got new pepper plants coming up again (habs and cayennes) and a basil that's exploding. Freaking Jalapeno seeds just won't frigging germinate. WTF. I might just buy some pint plants at the depot.
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Starting peppers, or any nightshade from seed can be frustrating. With peppers I use a heating pad, has to be the super cheap kind, otherwise they get too hot, then they have a safety shut off. The seeds can rot before they sprout if planted too deep, the soil is too wet or too cool. I've had better luck with some seed starting mixes than others, and almost always bad luck with potting soil.

Give them at least 10 days before you give up on them.
 
I wouldn't throw them in the compost pile. Especially if your going to use the compost in the garden. You can spread disease that way. I burn mine. Throwing them in the trash is another option
 
Yep that's the one, thanks passed.

I just got a freaking huge burrito. Like, bigger than. ..well, we'll just say it was really big. I smothered the thing with this hot sauce and it was so good. I was only going to eat half of the burrito but I definitely put it all away.

Tomorrow morning I've got to go for a 5 or 6 mile run. It's going to be rough on so many levels.
 
My tomatoes were roaring along, and then it was rain rain rain. Even with some warmth, we got the cruds and after a great, earlier harvest, it went to heck. So I have some canned, and some frozen, sauces, but for about the first time ever, no green tomatoes to fuss over before the frost.

The hotter peppers (jalapenos and salsa hybrids) on the other hand have been gangbusters. I let them go red, dry them and grind them up. Daughter and SIL got some for their anniversary, and SIL gave them the thumbs up for heat. They also taste really nice! Not screaming hot, but a good heat to add to sauces etc while still adding awesome fruity flavors. I have more to dry, and then when the frost comes the remainder go in the freezer.

Dug the carrots but still a few green beans and snow peas growing, otherwise it's the first frosts to pull the leeks, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale and parsnips. Soup making weather is coming!!
 
My mustard greens really took off! I tried a new variety this year, as I've been using the same variety for years, and I don't regret it. It's a 35 day that I don't remember the name of. I'm very impressed, the plants are too big, yet they still show no signs of bolting. The weather has been mostly mild but we've had hot days too. The flavor is good too, I have been pressure cooking them for 45 mins. When they were smaller they didn't need to be pressure cooked. I always take scissors and cut or "dead head" the tops so that they grow back.

The okra is huge, something like 8 feet tall, the base of them is reaching 2 inches, but I think they are going to get pulled up and burned soon so that I can plant my wheat.

You may be able to see a couple of my peppers in the photo, they still have blooms.

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Yes I love sour with them, I put mustard in the pot with them, but malt vinegar is fine too. I've been putting what I have left of the homemade pepper flakes in there too.
 
estricklin said:
Yes I love sour with them, I put mustard in the pot with them, but malt vinegar is fine too. I've been putting what I have left of the homemade pepper flakes in there too.
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yummy... but I have all of the greens I can deal with for now... one radish, greens and all, makes a meal... LOL.
 
estricklin said:
My mustard greens really took off! I tried a new variety this year, as I've been using the same variety for years, and I don't regret it. It's a 35 day that I don't remember the name of. I'm very impressed, the plants are too big, yet they still show no signs of bolting. The weather has been mostly mild but we've had hot days too. The flavor is good too, I have been pressure cooking them for 45 mins. When they were smaller they didn't need to be pressure cooked. I always take scissors and cut or "dead head" the tops so that they grow back.

The okra is huge, something like 8 feet tall, the base of them is reaching 2 inches, but I think they are going to get pulled up and burned soon so that I can plant my wheat.

You may be able to see a couple of my peppers in the photo, they still have blooms.
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Awesome set up. Nice garden
 
Cook the stalks like celery and green like spinach. The are just like beet greens. Tasty and minerally.
 
I used to grow a lot of chard and beets, but no one else around here likes them much. Just a few baby beets in the early summer and that's it for me now.
 
I germinated the seeds in a egg carton with wet paper towels. I think 8/10 seeds germinated, but I went out of town and let it dry out. So I only ended up with 4 good ones. I'm OK with that considering how hot these beetches are.

Transferred to plantable pots. Will start hardening them during the days, and get them in the ground in a couple of weeks probably.

There's a jalapeno there too that I'm getting going.

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Beautiful work, i am so jealous that you are growing hot peppers and I'm thinking about buying a snowblower. Any tips on how you germinated them? How do you water the carton?
 
applescrap said:
Beautiful work, i am so jealous that you are growing hot peppers and I'm thinking about buying a snowblower. Any tips on how you germinated them? How do you water the carton?
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I just wrapped the seed in a folded piece of paper towel, soaked each one with bottled water (no chlorine), closed the clear carton and waited. I think the ones on the end dried out after about a week, so I'd say every few days put a few drops of water in each. Seeds that are viable should sprout in 10 days-ish, so you only need to replenish the water a few times. Pretty easy.

My wife buys those free-range chicken eggs. They come in the clear cartons, which are perfect for this purpose.

I'm putting seeds for two more peppers in the carton today: Rooster Spur and Mulato Isleno. That latter one is actually called a poblano when green, and an ancho when dried.
 
I just picked about 5 pounds of Better Boy tomatoes and a cup of cherry tomatoes. Tomorrow I'll need to pick some more crooknecks and zukes. Normally we have our first freeze around this time but we're barely touching the low 50's for the next 10 days.
 
Might try a spin-off of this recipe for the sauce: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/homemade-red-hot-sauce-recipe.html

Last (and only) time I made hot sauce was just raw, puréed, mostly red jalapeños and what I think were cayennes, salt, and covered and white vinegar. Was salty and vinegary, but quite tasty. Seemed to get better over the course of a few weeks. Going for a more "refined" sauce this time.
 
I'm getting ready for frost here, any day now (probably next week).

I have a bunch of new habs that are ready to pick, and a bunch of Serano peppers that are still a little small and green, but I'll pick them this weekend. They'll be super hot.

And what do you know, the tomato plants FINALLY started pushing out tomatoes. In November. Hey I'll take it.
 
Veggie season ended last week, but here's an interesting grand finale. We had a light frost that killed my tomato and squash plants. A few days afterwards I realized the frost killed the plants but didn't hurt the fruits. So I managed to harvest another 3 or 4 pounds of tomatoes and a handful of small squash and zukes, just in time for Thanksgiving lunch.
 

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