Gardening: My Tomatoe and Pepper Progress

[Agent]

Early blight just tears my stuff to shreds every year. Though it is kinda easy to just pick tomatoes off a leafless plant.

That reminds me, I gotta get my onion and leek seeds started like yesterday!

 

[Deadalus]

Leaf spot septoria is my main nemesis. I ordered from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange last year and this year so I could try out their West Virgina '17A and '17B varieties that are resistant. Interesting story in that they were developed from West Virginia 63 (Centennials), which were bred for late blight resistance. The breeder who developed the 63's decided to work on the new variety. I tried the '17B's last year and am trying the '17A's this year. The Roma VF's also have resistance to leaf spot septoria which I can confirm having grown them last year.

Barnes Mountain Orange
Green Zebra
Roma VF, Virginia Select Paste
Costoluto Fiorentino
Black Cherry Tomato
Mountaineer Pride (West Virginia ‘17A)

Planting these later in the year.
Reverend Morrows Long Keeper Winter Storage

 

[SoCalPlumber]

I've been growing peppers for the past few years, both hot and sweet. This past year I made and bottled a green and a red fermented hot sauce.

The red is paint thinner. Red Cayenne, red Serrano and red Jalapeno. Fermented in a brine solution for a week with onion, garlic, cumin, Cilantro and peppercorns. It'll take the paint off tables. The green is the same other than the mix of the Serrano and Jalapeno. I put it on everything Mexican we eat and we do Taco Weeks sometimes

One ingredient they both shared is some home grown cilantro..

I've tried cloning this with no luck but fortunately it continues to grow. We love home made picante or what we refer to as salsa and this stuff takes it to another level.

I'm currently using the red on gopher holes. They don't seem to like it much either

I found the simple fermenting interesting and then read an article on making apple wine with juice, sugar and yeast. Switched it up to cider and now I'm hooked. Doubt I'll ever try adding those peppers to cider like the beer craze (I personally wasn't thrilled with Scorpion's version) but gonna keep making the green sauce forever. I gave a bunch away and everyone loved it.

 

[Deadalus]

Probably because I was looking this up earlier today but this article showed up today in my FB feed. Looks like Mr. Gallegly has developed yet another variety resistant to leaf spot septoria, fusarium wilt, verticillium wilt and late blight. If you read to the end, seeds may be requested from the university through the greenhouse manager.
https://wvutoday.wvu.edu/stories/20...2AxhQVf9p1ICLTjq_g5RVrbRoyhL8FJMSEhs4SDc-zktA

 

[jrgtr42]

I'm probably a month or so out from starting my seeds, but I'm definitely in the planning phase. The past couple years I've started the plants out inside, they get going pretty well, up to a few inches tall, second and sometimes third set of leaves then most of them just die on me. Can't figure out for the life of me.
I want to get a heat pad this time around, and maybe try a different starter medium - I've been using the peat pellets for a while, then transplanting into regular garden soil when they've been established.
PLanning on a few different peppers - jalapeno, habanero and cayenne for sure, maybe a couple others.
Tomatoes will be cherry, beefsteak, Cherokee Purple and Black Krim, and maybe Eggdrop (eggyolk? I forget, but they're bright yellow when ripe.)
We'll see about other veggies; I have a limited space for them, but I also have some herbs going, cilantro, dill, rosemary, sweet basil. I'm looking for Thai basil seeds or even plants to get that going.

 

[Deadalus]

A heating mat is great for seedlings, particularly tomato (70-80F) and pepper (80-90) starts. It greatly improves germination. Then afterwards, don't let them go under 50F at least at night but I need to better check the proper range myself. The seed starter mixes sold in stores are most always crap. An easy mix that I use that's been very successful for me has been 50% sphagnum moss, 25% perlite, 25% vermiculite. You'll get a lot more mixing it yourself. That ratio has markedly more perlite and vermiculite in it than any store product. They put a bunch of nothing in their mixes and those mixes in my experience hold too much water and the seedlings later peter out. The store variety also is not loose enough, that's what the perlite and vermiculite do. I've tried the peat pellets too, they are kind of cool to watch expand but they get too wet as well. A half strength liquid fertilizer when they have 2 sets of leaves is needed. No fertilizer to start with. Don't over water, it can be a little difficult to get it right. I make sure to water from below and I leave just a small amount of water in the tray underneath and then wait about 2 days usually. You want the roots to start seeking out the water. I grew my whole garden from seed last year, a mix of starts and in ground seeding.

I do have a greenhouse though, it's 6 mil plastic and tubing, nothing expensive but it keeps the water out so the timers don't short. I put a fan or two in there too so the seedlings are stronger. I only had two lights last year but I picked up more of those this year. So I supplement, but in fairness, I am in partial shade with it so it's necessary for the seedlings to max them out.

 

[Hanglow]

This year I'm growing some that I overwintered, Locoto, Aji limon, Aji mochero, aji norteno. And I've got seeds for Poblano, jalapeno Telica, Serrano, Rokita, Sweet california wonder. I'll sow them next week I think.

Tomatoes for outside a couple of wild ones to try for fun and blight resistant ones, as I always get late blight from late june.

Inside the greenhouse, Bloody butcher, banan krasnyi, purple Cherokee, sun gold for sure. Maybe two others

I've also got melons and aubergine which I have to grow under glass to get anything edible.

I'm still harvesting parsnips, swede, brussèls sprouts, winter salads from the greenhouse, winter cabbage and have purple sprouting broccoli to come. I planted another 110 garlic on Friday, that's maybe 250 in total and 8 varieties. I'll sow many other brassicas and salads at the end of next month when I have 10 hours of light, no point in doing it earlier.

Happy growing everyone for 2024!

 

[Deadalus]

Bottled up these three different ferments. One has added pineapple along with the Thai and jalapeno blends and the other two are just Thai and jalapenos. I had four half gallon ferments but lost one to infection. I haven't tried the pineapple yet...

Question: These have added vinegar in them and are fermented. How long might they store in a cool basement vs the fridge? I am actually going to put them in a ferm fridge but just to have an idea to tell the people I am giving them to. Plus wondering if I need to ship before I see some people.

 

[PCABrewing]

This year I'm growing some that I overwintered, Locoto, Aji limon, Aji mochero, aji norteno. And I've got seeds for Poblano, jalapeno Telica, Serrano, Rokita, Sweet california wonder. I'll sow them next week I think.

Tomatoes for outside a couple of wild ones to try for fun and blight resistant ones, as I always get late blight from late june.

Happy growing everyone for 2024!

I had great crop of Pink Brandywine so it is a definite repeat for 2024. Then I think I will add Early Girl for early harvest and Husky Cherry.
Peppers will be Bell, Thai, Jalapeno and Habenero. I have been getting great results with "Bonnie" brand green and red bell sweet peppers, some softball sized with great aroma and flavor, so those are sure to be included.

For the last three weeks I have been harvesting curly Kale that I thought was dead, we had a week of -10f that should have finished it. But to my delight it has started producing new growth.

Still several weeks away from outdoor sowing.

 

[z-bob]

I planted some pepper seeds a little over 2 weeks ago. "Mad Hatter" mild peppers, Murupi Amarela which is a long white habanero-type very hot pepper, and some seeds that I saved from a chiltepin x "Lemon Drop" cross that I really liked. All the seeds were a couple of years old, and they should have been coming up after about a week because they were on a heating mat. So I assumed they weren't sprouting because they are too old, and yesterday I ordered some new seeds. "Bahamian Goat", "Smooky Rainbow" (yes, it's really spelled like that, not "smoky"), large jalapenos, and something called sriracha peppers that I think are just another smaller jalapeno variety. This morning the Mad Hatter seeds started coming up

It's way too early to start tomatoes up here, but I'm planning to grow San Marzanos this year. That probably a poor choice because they are indeterminate and I'm going to try growing them in 5 gallon buckets to keep them safe from the neighbor's walnut tree. Last year I had the most beautiful healthy tomato plants growing in raised beds with new soil. When they were about 5 or 6 feet tall they suddenly wilted and died; I think the roots grew through the bottom of the beds into the old garden soil underneath and met the walnut roots Peppers and squash and tomatillos did okay, they are not nearly as susceptible to juglone poisoning as tomatoes.

 

[Hanglow]

All my lettuce, coriander, brassicas have sprouted so I've moved them to the greenhouse to get full light. I decided to start them a week or two earlier than normal. We can still get frosts down to about -5c occasionally but they'll all survive that fine in the greenhouse. Onions are just starting to sprout.

Chillis were a bit patchy germinating at first but they are mostly up now so i can reduce the temperature of them a bit so they don't get too leggy.

I'll sow my toms in two weeks

 

[VApatriot]

Here is our garden I built last fall, the trelleces were added about a month ago. Excited to grow veggies again.

 

[Abrayton]

Seeds are up. 8 varieties I’ve never had:
Carbonero
Hallow’s Eve
Lemon Spice Jalapeño
Ultra Violet
Cayenne Orange
Yellow Fever
Orange Panther
Tangerine TS

 

[Hanglow]

Only 3 of my overwintered plants made it, 2x locoto and an aji norteno. I also kept it simple with growing just jalapeno telica, poblano and rokita from seed this year. I am tempted to buy some others though

Last year I grew loads of tomatoes in the greenhouses but I'm doing less this year, instead growing two types of aubergine and a couple of melons

 

[z-bob]

My tomatoes are about 3 to 5 inches tall, still in pots. A few of my peppers are the same or a little larger; but a lot of the peppers are stunted from a white fly invasion. They should come around once I get them outside if they survive that long. I feel like I'm at least a month behind because the days are so warm, but it still gets down to the 40s and sometimes the upper 30s at night, so even tho' the soil is probably warm enough the cold nights would damage (not kill) the plants.

I saved the seeds from a Korean avocado squash last year that hid well enough I didn't find it to pick green (my brother says they look like Seminole pumpkins) and I germination-tested some. I got about 50% germination, and it's late enough I went ahead and potted them. I'll get them in the ground probably next weekend.

Egyptian onions are going gangbusters. I've started pulling some of them to use as scallions. They are very strong-tasting as green onions, but not hot. I started them 2 years ago and haven't eaten any until now, just letting them multiply; perhaps I should have eaten some earlier because I have way too many now and they are taking over

 

[Abrayton]

Last batch from last years peppers.

 

[PCABrewing]

My tomatoes are about 3 to 5 inches tall, still in pots.

I just put three plants in this morning. Still looking for some Pink Brandywine but in case I don't find them I put in a German Queen plant. Haven't tried them before but I wanted to have another heirloom in case I can't find the pink Brandywine. Had great luck with them last season.

 

[Oldskewl]

Here is our garden I built last fall, the trelleces were added about a month ago. Excited to grow veggies again.

View attachment 847820

Did you build the raised beds from scratch or was it a kit? I would like to transition to rasied beds from my ground level garden. Looking for ideas for next year

 

[corkybstewart]

I planted my first garden in France with tomato varieties I am not familiar with, except for the Romas and cherries. My favorite cherry tomato over here is Pigeon Heart, but I couldn't find seeds or plants. I will allow a few pigeon hearts to dry out so I can plant the seeds next year.
I have hard time getting hot green chile over here so I planted some Moroccan pepper plants, and espelette(a mild "hot" pepper) with my cayenne plants in the hopes that the cayenne pollen will increase the heat of the milder peppers. It's worked for me before.
A brother in law gave me about 15 tomato plants he grew from seeds, but he doesn't keep track of the varieties he plants so I have no idea what I'm growing until I see fruit. My brother in law next door got about 4o plants from him, we joke that if one of us got all cherries and the other got beefsteaks we will just raid each other's gardens as needed.

 

[NeilMac]

We had a frost warning last night, looks like in a few days another night around 1c, 8c right now.
Most of my plants out already, not seeing any damage this morning. I use those black landscape sheets on the ground so hoping the warmth in the ground will give an edge against the cold.

 

[Deadalus]

Hardening off my tomatoes and peppers over the next few days. A few eggplants in there too.

 

[z-bob]

I moved 2 of my tomato plants from gallon nursery pots to 5-gallon buckets. They've only been in the 1-gallon pots for 2 weeks and the pots were already full of roots; not quite pot-bound. (I wonder if 5 gallons will be enough?) Maybe that's why my tomatoes that are still in 4-packs and small pots don't look very good. I'll move the rest of my 1-gallons to 5's and the little ones to 1-gallons.

I haven't decided where I'm gonna put the tomato buckets. I might put a couple on south side of the house where they'll get full sun, and the rest in the vining squash patch.

 

[PCABrewing]

My Fortex Green Beans have broken the surface and I am looking forward to another year of those delicious heirloom beans!

 

[passedpawn]

I'm harvesting Jalepenos, cayenne's, banana peppers, habaneros, and tomatoes now. Serannos are fruiting but not ready to pick. Red ghost is on the plant but still green. Good times.

My mouth is actually hot right now from eating some slices from peppers I just put into jars.

 

[PCABrewing]

My mouth is actually hot right now from eating some slices from peppers I just put into jars.

Obviously not slices of red ghost.
My Jalepenos and Habaneros have only just started to flower. They've still got a bunch of growing to do.

 

[passedpawn]

Obviously not slices of red ghost.

haha, you don't know my tolerance for the hot.

 

[Dog House Brew]

Planting my peppers and tomatoes tomorrow. Paper mulch works great, just wish it were more economical.

 

[Hanglow]

I ended up buying two more pepper plants, Zimbabwe black which is a great looking plant and chocolate, which I think is a habanero.

New potatoes are pickable and I've been enjoying garlic scapes and it is peak lettuce season here

 

[Oldskewl]

I planted 2 chocolate habanero plants a few years ago. BIGGEST pepper plants I have ever seen. 6-7 feet tall and roughly the same in diameter. Needless to say I had more habaneros than I knew what to do with. I thought I had some pics but can't find them.

 

[Oldskewl]

There is a sweet chocolate pepper plant as well

https://shop.seedsavers.org/sweet-chocolate-organic-pepper