What Peppers and Tomatoes are you Starting for 2012?

I have an old woodburning tool that works great -I punch 3 holes about 1/4 " above the bottom - I buy packages and get them all ready- I have 4 pkgs of 5oz ready- they are great to start with, then move to about 8oz later. I beg empty cactus flats at WalMart that hold the small cactus- they hold the little cups perfectly. While I have your attention I just went and took this photo to show you what I do- (I don't know what the cups with the lips were for- I got a big bunch at the Thrift Shop!)

This message was edited Feb 6, 2012 11:46 AM

AH HAH! A wood burning tool.....that stays hot because it's plugged in. You should picture me out on the patio with the propane camp stove and an icepick. Scheesch! I'll bet DH has one of those tools in his workshop. Thanks......DUH! - sound of Mary slapping herself across the forehead.

Good idea. I noticed it from the photo that the tool puts a nice size hole in the bottom.

Yes, I just don't put any of the tips on- just use the base, which makes about a 3/8" hole. To me it's the perfect way-but the stink is bad- don't breathe it in! You can find the woodburning tools real cheap- less tha $10, or less at a thrift store. And the cactus flats keep them from tipping over which is great! I Love repurposing!!!

Here's a link to an article I found very interesting......I've sent out email blasts looking for fresh horse manure to heat the raised beds. I've had the black plastic and glass top on for several days, it's not 'bounding' up in temps. I like the idea of burying the manure, repacking the soil on top, and the manure heats the soil above. Someone here directed me to this same idea a while back, sorry, I don't remember who to give the credit to, but I was then focused on getting the black plastic and glass top going. Time for Plan B.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publications/guides/carver_tomato.html

So when are you going to plant your tomatoes outside?
I have just checked your weather and it is perfect to plant out.
Have you harden off your tomatoes plants? also under the sun?

I am hardening off mine. Not yet at night ... it is still cold.
My plants are just loving being outside ... I can tell the leaf color turning from indoor green to bright outdoor green (which is more green instead than on a blue tone green)

There's an 'Arctic Express' coming through late this week or next, can't remember now, but we often get one final hurrah before spring truly breaks. I'll wait for that to pass, although had planned to plant out Feb 15+...so a little of a set back. Overnight low's in the high 30's/low 40's with what we call and Arctic Express here in the SW desert. The plants have been outside during the day for the last 2 or 3 weeks. Hump everything back in at night.....ready for a bit warmer temps so that task is over. :-|

Mary-You may already know about this but some fresh animal manure contains a systemic broad leaf herbicide that will kill veggie plants. I only use "old manure" or manure from our donkey that only eats off our untreated pasture.

great Article but it too says not to use fresh (hot) manure. This is only true of herbivore manure
































This message was edited Feb 6, 2012 8:16 PM

huumm
in DFW we also have always some cold spell at the end of March/beginning of April.
But my tomatoes always survive that.
Plus the very high winds.

I keep my plants under a hoop house with a perforated plastic cover.
If the temperature drops below 40F I cover the all hoop house with blankets.

Good luck to you

This message was edited Feb 6, 2012 8:12 PM

Thanks for pointing that out Lisa, I'll check with the person I'm picking up the manure from. drthor, have not got the hoop house idea put together yet, it's on my bucket list of projects......long list. ;-)

Mary -Did you seal the edges aroound the plastic or sliding class door so you are not getting any air leaks?

Susan, a thick mil black plastic sheet is draped over the entire bed, then a door on top, it does not quite fit completely and I have not gone the extra step to make it airtight. It's a good idea though. The soil has come up to 60° (from 50) and according to a chart honeybee posted last week, 60° is okay for planting out tomatoes. Someone here (Shoe I think but am not certain) suggested 75° and that's what I'm really shooting for....nice warm soil for those roots.

Tomato starts on Feb 5th. Anybody else notice we can now post up to 5 images at a time? Whooo Hoooo.

Wow! The multiple image upload is super. Thenks to whoever implemented it!

Mary, I have not noticed the 5 pic upload.
that is neat
And your plants look so pretty.

Thanks Cricket, I'm very happy with this season's tomato starts......now if I could just get their parents to come and pick them up!! If our night time temps ever sneak past 50, I won't care so much but humping these trays in and out of the house overnight is a hassle, especially now that they are all in larger containers.

your tomatoes are wonderful.
Seriously you are ready to plant out.

I'll not be too hasty with a storm scheduled to come through in a few days. Low's in the high 30's next week. I'll wait a bit. I lost 3 beautiful Black Plum tomato plants to an early frost in December and it was heartbreaking. As the bumper sticker on the car ahead of me in Hawaii often says: "Try wait." hahahah

Mary - Try getting the edges sealed down by soil. Another suggestion would be to put a sheet of black plastic under the sliding glass door Glass converts sunlight to heat and black colors store heat.

Cricket - Nice list of peppers. BTW - I enjoyed the discussion about pumpkins and squash bugs. Let me know if you start one on the subject.

This message was edited Feb 7, 2012 1:13 PM

I have to agree with Mary, there is no way I would plant out if the temps were predicted to be in the 30s. IF you look at the chart I posted (on the soil temp thread) it says the recommended soil and air temp. We all have our methods but Ive been gardening for 25+ years and there is just no way. I doupt if Mary has time to cover and uncover them every day, I know I dont. I wait until the weather stablizes every year, and every year I get tons of tomatoes and other veggies all summer long. Last summer was the ONE exception. But the heat was extreme and then there were the deer....

Mary's plants look great I sure would hate to lose them to a freeze.

Mary - Agree dirthur that your tomato plants look wonderful. I've not heard of the black plum tomatoes. What are they like? On the manure, I vaguely remember reading that it had to be composted a year before the volunteer seeds and nitrogen burn on plants was not an issue. It might be something you want to discuss with your freind.

Cricket - It had not occured to me to make our own pepper spices. I'm looking for a couple of new peppers to try. Have you grown any of the peppers before and which do you like best?

Nice to be able to have multiple picture uploads.

I posted my tomatoes over on the other message in the tomato forum. The peppers I plan to grow are mostly sweet. I will be growing one hot pepper, for drying and making into flakes (if I can actually harvest enough to be useful).

The list:

Aleppo -- hot, medium size pepper from Syria/southern Turkey
Yummy -- small, orange sweet Hungarian type
Gypsy Hybrid -- medium to large, sweet, orange-red "frying" pepper
Whitney Hybrid -- medium to large, sweet, red Hungarian type
Zsa Zsa Hybrid -- medium, sweet, red Hungarian type
Chablis Hybrid -- medium to large, sweet, red bell (supposed to be resistant to Tobacco Mosaic Virus)

I have soil contaminated with Pepper Mild Mottle Virus, which has pretty well destroyed my ability to grow bell peppers. Hot peppers seem to resist it and I've had okay luck with the non-bell sweet peppers. I'm still looking for one that is the best in my circumstance. That's why I have four different peppers that are very similar... hopefully one of them will do well in resisting the virus and produce a decent quantity of peppers.

David

SusanKC, I have grown all the peppers in my list before Except for that Peter Pepper.
I don't know how the hot peppers taste raw cause ...lol....i just cant handle the heat but I can handle a piece thrown into dishes.
I love the Fooled You Jalapeno cause there is no heat but sometimes there might be a tiny touch of it. I like the flavor of Jalapenos but can't handle the full force heat. And if I do eat something hot spicy, I am a big big baby and have to have my chocolate milk to go with it.
I love the Super Heavyweight Bells. They ripen yellow and its has the mild sweetness level of a banana and it doesn't have a strong bell pepper after math flavor. lol Great snack . And I love how huge they get. The Big Bertha is great too and ripens red.
I have only dried peppers once in my life and I did that with bell peppers and stored the long slices in a canning jar and used it all winter.
My sister said she dried some hot peppers this past year and just ran the dry peppers through her food processor and stored the powder/semi flakes in a canning jar. I never thought about the food processor which makes the idea of drying and storing peppers so much better and I am following her foot steps this year.
I will start a Squash/Pumpkin ( Big Family) topic one day soon cause I will be growing some in the greenhouse to get an early crop....impatient.

I am growing my peppers in 5 gallon buckets / pots this year. Using my garden beds and raised beds for other veggies that either take up a lot of space or need deep root space (carrots, potatoes , etc...pumpkin)

This was last years peppers that the Bull ate..........I been waiting a year to do it again.....(bull gone bye bye)





This message was edited Feb 7, 2012 2:46 PM

oh and this hydroponic place gave some info on other ways to dry peppers.

http://www.hydroponic-growing-systems.com/drying-peppers.html

Thanks Cricket. Nice looking pepper plants. We have grown our peppers in containers for a while. The soil warms up faster in the containers and the peppers like it that way, so it works well for us.

Cricket, That's a great link on drying peppers, I just read through it quickly but have bookmarked it for later. I'll post a pic of my home sun drying setup. Works great here in the summer. When dry I like to grind them with a spice grinder, then put in jar with shaker top. Lasts months.

Susan, the hot manure idea is simply to heat up the soil in the beds. It's been used for centuries in other countries, like Germany and the UK to get the soil warmed up for spring planting. It's not that you mix the manure into the bed, but bury the manure 2' to 3' deep. The heat comes up to warm the bed, and by the time the roots get to the manure, it's no longer hot. At least that's the way I understand it.

But I still need to ask my source about the broadleaf herbicide issued raised by 1lisac. The jury's still out on that but I may be better safe than sorry. Probably the only way I would know is if I contacted the company they buy their hay from for the horses. but if the horses are eating alfalfa, which is a broad leafed plant, it's doubtful that a broadleafed herbicide would be used on it. I dunno.....too deep for me.

Cricket, your pepper plants look just great. Poor bull....my Cav spaniels like to graze on green leafy things so I have to be careful where I place the young'uns.

Susan, I read about the Black Plum tomatoes on the TomatoVille site when I was browsing tomato recipes. Folks over there claim it's the best salsa tomato around.

Here's my leafy greens eater....the main culprit anyway, and the solar pepper drier. Can't find the pic of the beautiful Black Plum plants before they were frosted......I saw it this morning when looking for something else but it's hiding now.

Mary 2' to 3' deep? I couldnt dig that deep here with a bobcat. You can test the manure/hay by starting a pea or bean in a small container make "tea" with the hay or manure. After the seed has sprouted water it with a little tea if it has the herbicide it wont live very long. Legumes are very sensitive to this herbicide. Im not sure of the time frame you may want to google

Cricket - Thanks for the input. I'll be looking at those peppers.

Mary - Interesting concept. I've seen the manure piles in ND steam in the middle of the winter so that may work. It seems like a lot of work to dig it in 2-3 feet down. Do the articles say if they typically dig the manure into the garden in the fall or in the spring?

Our leafy green eaters. The first is helping with the compost in our compost pile. The second photos is two of the babies when we first started gardening. The fence kept them out until one of them fell through the 2x3in grid in the fencing. All five then proceeded to eat through everything except the mustard greens.

Lisa, thanks for the sprouting tip. My raised bed is not that deep. I was not planning on mountains of manure. Just a small amount should heat the soil I need. It just needs a little bitty boost and the concept intrigues me....or it did yesterday. I dunno now.

Susan, In order to serve the purpose, the manure is planted in spring. If planted in fall, it would cool down before spring. ;-) My leafy green eater is cuter than yours......good thing they don't like mustard greens, at least something was left for you.

Your's is cuter. Mine adds to the usable compost. :-)

Try sealing the edges of the glass door and plastic. See what that gets you.

BTW the tomato festival is a favorite site. I came across their cookbook in our library. I like the cookbook very much also.

Dave....would mind sharing your source for the Aleppo seeds? I looked for several years and never found a reliable source for them. There was a thread here devoted to finding such a source a few years back. I finally gave up the search but if you have found a source I'd be interested in checking it out.

Ditto what Dan said. That Aleppo pepper is pricey - when I can find it.

I got a few seeds from a Dave's Garden member a couple years ago. I didn't get them planted until last year. Unfortunately, we had a horrible drought and a heat wave (all summer was 100-degrees plus) so I didn't get a good crop. I did get enough to save the seeds, though.

I would be willing to share from the 100 or seeds I have for a stamped, self-addressed envelope. D-mail me for my mailing address if you are interested. (Dan & Mary, I sent my address to your d-mail).

David

Thanks David!

Mary - unfortunately, alfalfa is sprayed with Round Up!

https://www.genuity.com/specialty/Pages/GenuityRoundupReadyAlfalfa.aspx

ALL ag crops are sprayed with Round Up. No horse owner is going to pay for hay that has weeds in it, me included. Not only is it a waste of money but some of the weeds are poisonous. Please dont make assumptions, it makes people panic and things get very confusing. The Systemic Broadleaf Herbicide is not ROUND UP and it is only avalible to people in the AG industry. By the time hay and grain are digusted by an animal Round Up is no longer a problem.

Dave - Nice of you to offer the seeds. What do you use the aleppo peppers in and what do they taste like? Can you grow the peppers in pots to get away from the virus or is it too highly transmittable for that to work?

Cricket - I don't know if this will help with the vinegar issue. I can't have vinegar so we use something called Verjus. It's juice crushed from immature grapes. The basic type is white but you can get a rouge colored verjus which is the basic plus some red grape juice. There are several types on Amazon.com

Susan

The Aleppo pepper tastes like spicy paprika to me. It is a little smoky and a little sweet. I use it anywhere you would use red pepper flakes.

David

Thats very helpful Susan. I'll will surely check out the Verjus. Wondering how it taste. Assuming tart grapish.

Critters====oh my! Lunch!

yep---I hear good things about Round Up and I use it. Love it. That's a whole deep subject all by its little lonesome.

Crickets - Not grapey. Think acidic with a sweet clean taste to it.

We've used both the Fusion and the Terra Sonoma brands. Current favorite is the Rouge Fusion. Greenhouse gal makes her own with a grape or cider press. She's more up on the process than I am right now. I think we had a thread on it a while back. Usually the first cull (or whatever the word is) of immature grapes gets used.

A caution on the Roundup. There is some kind of residual issue that they are discovering with it. I don;t remember exactly what the issue is and I'm sick enough today to not feeling like looking for it. Whatever it is was bad enough that we quite using Roundup in our yard.