I've been doing a lot of planting these past couple months. I planted out much earlier(January) than I was supposed to but I just couldn't wait. I wanted to share with you all cuz I'm pretty happy. So far I have....
TOMATOES
2 - Beefsteak
2 - Cherokee Purple
2 - Sungolds
4 - Hillbilly
2 - San Marzano
2 - Paul Robenson
2 - Purple Calabash
4 - Abe Lincoln
1 - Arkansas Traveler
4 - Big Yellerens(an family Heirloom from a friend in Tenn.)
1 - Mortgage Lifter
2 - Better Boy
2 - Big Beef
1 - Yellow Pear
PEPPERS
5 - California Wonder
3 - Big Bertha
3 - Golden Bell
3 - Better Belle
3 - Red Beauty
10 - Jalapeno
5 - Aji Dulche #2
5 - Anaheim Chili
10 - Bell Peppers(From my friend in Tenn.)
A few more hotter varieties to be planted. Just waiting for them to get a decent size.
OTHERS
8 Cucumber
20 Bush Beans
6 Squash(Sure thing hybrid)
I plan on getting some corn, melons and strawberries going soon. Last year I didn't have luck with them so I'm a little hesitant.
Ok, here's the pics....
EB Bush Beans - http://rayderphan.net/Pics/Garden3-10-09/EBbushbeans3-10-09.jpg
Container Bells - http://rayderphan.net/Pics/Garden3-10-09/bells3-10-09.jpg
EB Bells - http://rayderphan.net/Pics/Garden3-10-09/EBbigbertha-calwonder3-10-09.jpg
EB Beefsteak - http://rayderphan.net/Pics/Garden3-10-09/EBbeefsteak3-10-09.jpg
EB Sungold - http://rayderphan.net/Pics/garden3-7-09/EBsungold3-7-09.jpg
Bell forming - http://rayderphan.net/Pics/garden3-8-09/bellpepper3-8-09.jpg
EB Cukes - http://rayderphan.net/Pics/Garden3-10-09/EBcukes3-10-09.jpg
EB Jals - http://rayderphan.net/Pics/Garden3-10-09/EBjals3-10-9.jpg
EB Hillbilly Toms - http://rayderphan.net/Pics/Garden3-10-09/EBhillbilyToms3-10-09.jpg
Mortgage Lifter - http://rayderphan.net/Pics/Garden3-10-09/mortgagelifter3-10-09.jpg
San Marzano - http://rayderphan.net/Pics/Garden3-10-09/sanmarzano3-10-09.jpg
Sorry the pics aren't the greatest....I use my phone to take them.
Here's some Spring pics. I'm pretty happy so far :)
Beautiful plants!!!!!!!!
Wow, your pics are great! Where are all the bugs? LOL!
You're going to be eating good pretty soon. My favorite is the one of the bell forming.
I tried to grow some bells last year, California Wonder Peppers. They made some peppers, but they were the size of a pingpong ball. I hope I have better luck this time.
Got any pepper growing secrets you want to share? I can use all the help I can get with those fussy little devils.
This message was edited Mar 11, 2009 1:41 AM
Bob- If they turn out even half as well as yours, I'll be really happy.
Pugzley- Oh I'm finding bugs. See the pic below, something chomped the lower leaf of a Big Beef plant. I doubt it was a hornworm. Seems too early for them and I didn't see any Caterpillar poop. I'm keeping my eye on that one. Also have tons of aphids this year. Time to unleash a plague of ladybugs on them :)
Cal Wonders are definitely smaller than most Bells(at least for me they were). But much better tasting than most. Here's one of my small harvests last year of some Cal Wonders(2 plants). After the initial harvest, I could get 5-6 peppers off each plant every couple months http://rayderphan.net/Pics/Bells7-28.jpg
Secrets? Shoot, I wish I had some.....I could use all the help too lol
What I did last year was grow them in 5 gal. containers(they are actually 4.09 gal.) with this soil. http://www.ebstone.org/13_ednas.php The stuff is really good. Most people are surprised when I tell them that I didn't fertilize my peppers once last year. They never seemed to need it. I watered deeply 2 times a week and stood back. They're only getting 6-7 hours of sunlight......morning to afternoon. No hot late afternoon sun for them. Not sure if that's a good thing or not but it seemed to work last year for me.
I see you're in Elsinore.....it gets pretty hot out there in the summer. If it's possible, try to keep your Bells out of extreme late afternoon heat. They seem to be a lot more finicky that hot peppers.
Oops forgot the pic....
I haven't seen any type of catapillers or worms yet, but the grasshoppers are abundant, and the slugs and snails are beginning to make their presence known.
Carol
I'll be happy to get peppers small or pee wee or huge for that matter, good looking veggies.
OCcarol: How do the slugs and snails make their presence known? I'm new to this kind of thing, and want to be on the lookout for those little monsters. Don't mind sharing my vittles with people; but, not creatures. LOL
joy
Oh, my! I put my poor little Ca Wonders in the hottest place I could find and left them there. Sheesh if there was anything I didn't do backwards last year, I'd sure like to know what it was. LOL! Thanks for that tip. The medium you used is chocked full of richness, no wonder you didn't need to use more fertilizer.
Something is munching on my tomatoes already, looks about like what you've got going on in that picture. I broke down and put Sevin dust on them yesterday, didn't want to, but last year I tried everything I could find for home remedies and none of it worked. Whatever is doing the munching is doing it at night I think, I'm out there all the time with the plants and never see a thing during daylight hours.
I set Lady Bugs loose once and they immediately flew to the neighbor's and didn't want to stay at my place.
I haven't seen any type of catapillers or worms yet, but the grasshoppers are abundant, and the slugs and snails are beginning to make their presence known.
Carol
I was thinking it might have been a Japanese Beetle but you're probably right, most likely a grasshopper. I haven't seen anymore eaten leafs so I'd bet it was a rogue, drive-by munching.
How do the slugs and snails make their presence known? I'm new to this kind of thing, and want to be on the lookout for those little monsters. Don't mind sharing my vittles with people; but, not creatures. LOL
joy
Just look for the slime trail they leave on the soil, leaves and sides of the containers. 2 applications(month apart) of sluggo around the bottom of the containers last year and I never saw another snail or slug in the garden until winter.
Oh, my! I put my poor little Ca Wonders in the hottest place I could find and left them there. Sheesh if there was anything I didn't do backwards last year, I'd sure like to know what it was. LOL! Thanks for that tip. The medium you used is chocked full of richness, no wonder you didn't need to use more fertilizer.
Something is munching on my tomatoes already, looks about like what you've got going on in that picture. I broke down and put Sevin dust on them yesterday, didn't want to, but last year I tried everything I could find for home remedies and none of it worked. Whatever is doing the munching is doing it at night I think, I'm out there all the time with the plants and never see a thing during daylight hours.
I set Lady Bugs loose once and they immediately flew to the neighbor's and didn't want to stay at my place.
They sell the soil at Armstrong Nursery. You should have one out in that area. It is kinda pricey. $8.99 for 1.5 cu. ft. but it's the best potting soil I've seen around here. It's a must have for my containers. It also works in EBs from what I've been told. I have one filled with it so we shall see.
Sevin dust is some potent stuff. I used it twice last year but then I saw a few dead bees near so I stopped. I need all the bees I can get. I'm using a very diluted mix of Ortho veggie Bug-B-Gone.
My ladybugs only stuck around for about 2-3 days. What they do is eat the food supply then move on. I was buying lady bugs every other week to control my aphids last year. The bug that gave me the most problems was the whiteflies.....I hate them! I'm ready for them this year. :)
TPlant swears by that bug b gone stuff, and I'm stuck using one of three this Spring, Sevin spray, Dipel dust and fertilome triple action plus, one dust is enough. LOL I wear goggles and a mask; and have an applicator that gets the underside of the leafs too.
joy
Bug-B-Gone is good but I dilute the hell out of it on my veggie plants and only once a month. I'm scared as hell using insecticides on anything I eat. Hope TPlant can chime in and tell us more about Bug-B-Gone. I like it but in small doses.
Ray,
That damage looks like a hornworm. They are EXCELLENT at hiding right under your nose. Go look again. In my first experience I kept seeing the poo droppings. TPlant told me to go look for a hornworm. I had 4 EBs with 8 tomato plants growing and I went up and down the line about 5 times each. I went inside and told TPlant I couldn't see any, and he told me to go look again. I went up and down that line again, examining every plant and leaf before I spotted the first tomato hornworm. Once I figured out how they hide, sure enough I found 4 more!
Ray,
That damage looks like a hornworm. They are EXCELLENT at hiding right under your nose. Go look again. In my first experience I kept seeing the poo droppings. TPlant told me to go look for a hornworm. I had 4 EBs with 8 tomato plants growing and I went up and down the line about 5 times each. I went inside and told TPlant I couldn't see any, and he told me to go look again. I went up and down that line again, examining every plant and leaf before I spotted the first tomato hornworm. Once I figured out how they hide, sure enough I found 4 more!
That's what it looked like to me initially. But after 2 days of no further damage, I really don't think it's a hornworm. Plus I didn't start seeing them until June last year. I have been seeing some a lot of huge moths around though. I'm gonna check again today.
Ray, if it's horn worms, give a good one for me bud, they devoured both my tomato crops and peppers last year. Go sic em with some Dipel dust, anything that has BT in it, the ones you see, pick em off and throw em in a cup with rubbing alcohol. That should do em in real good.
joy
Even better, pull them off and squash them on the ground. I HATE hormworms even though they turn into the hummingbird moth. One year I picked of 20 hornworms per day for 2 weeks and I only had a dozen plants at that time.
Ray........what are those tough looking blue containers you have the pepper in?
I used to play nice with the Hornworms. I would just place them on a bush across the yard. But since there's no shortage of them around here. Below is a pic from last year and my new method of dealing with them :)
Ray...what are those tough looking blue containers you have the pepper in?
They are 5 gallon(actually 4.09 gallon) nursery pots made by Listo Products. A nursery went out of business last year and were selling them real cheap so I bought 20 5 gallon, 20 10 gallon and 10 15 gallon containers.
ROTFMAO, Ray! Too funny! Don't show that on some of the forums here though, the butterfly women will come after you!
did not know that the hornworm was related to the hummingbird moth. Oh well, I prefer the real thing anyway, don't you?
ROTFMAO, Ray! Too funny! Don't show that on some of the forums here though, the butterfly women will come after you!
So it would be a bad decision to ask them to confirm how far the green goo shot out? lol
Hornworms are pretty cool looking but enough is enough and I've had it with them. They get the bottom of my shoe or thrown in the air for the birds to play with :)
Real hummingbirds are much cooler!
This message was edited Mar 13, 2009 4:38 PM
Ray, you are SO right!
This girl seems to like hornworms more than any of us.... http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8nr1n_girl-eats-hornworm_people
If someone likes those blasted things so well, then maybe they should come pick em off those that happen to like their tomatoes and peppers and that's all I have to say about it, good stomping there Ray give em a good one for me too.
joy
I hear you. They are actually really cool looking and are interesting if you watch them closely. I actually left 6 of them on one of my Jalapeno plants last year and watched them devour the 26" plant in 2 days. It had tons of peppers too, they ate them as well. I just wanted to see and learn more about them by eye. Like I said, I tried to do the right thing and move them to another part of the yard but I soon began to see that their numbers are not in short supply. I began killing about 5 to 10 daily last year from July-October(big and small). The foot was getting a workout and the birds were fat :)
From my experience last year BT didn't help much. It worked on the little ones but the big ones mowed right through it....almost enjoying it. Kinda like Salt & Pepper for us.
Last year I would clip the stem the were on. This year I'm just gonna cut them in half and leave the stem. My plants might have some green goo dripping off of them in July :) I bet it's good fertilizer lol
I agree they are very cool looking. I found one last year on one of my eggplants. It was chewing to beat the band. Gave me the creeps picking it off. Ewwww! They are so BIG. I was talking to my sister on the phone when I found him, I said, I'm gonna throw him out in the road. Of course, she says, smash it or it'll come back. LOL! Yuuuk! I think mine could have competed with your for how far the green goo shot out.
My neighbor told me that you can make a good organic pesticide by taking the bugs from the garden, toss them into the blender, strain, add some water to the gruesome mix and spray it on the plant. Ummm... I would have to have a separate blender cup for that mess. I wonder if it really works.
Pugzley.........remind me to never drink smoothies at your house!!
Awww now! I can make a mean green virgin margarita for ya. If there's a little horned worm residue in there... I'll never tell.
We all need to try...
Pugzley's "Mean Green Shootin' Machine" Shots....I bet they're fortified with all the chlorophyll we need lol
If you need a supply....hit me up in July.
Hey, my maters are still in the greenhouse, I have been leaving the doors open though as it's been hot out and I heard buzzing going on and lo and behold a wasp. He is a sight for sore eyes as he loves to lay eggs on those horned catepillars. I also got 3 huge bees in the front yard, as my daffodils are now blooming. Spring is in the air folks, and I'm getting in a great mood now.
joy
Oh yeah, Joy, it's that time of year again! :)
Ok, we'll have a party over here to celebrate the growing season and I'll make the drinks.
Horn worm margaritas, woo hoo!
I'm exhausted. Worked all day in the yard planting. I feel twice my age now. No wonder a lot of gardeners have bad backs, mine is killing me!
Here's a look at some peppers in containers. Thinking about hooking up a self-watering hose to all of them but it's only it the thinking stage. So far I have....
44 Pepper plants(cut off at 60)
20 Tomato(cut off at 30)
16 Bean plants(All those pics of vertical stackers makes me want to plant about 50 more)
8 Cukes
....and I haven't even started melons, corn, squash or strawberries yet. I need more room. I may have to ask some neighbors to let me use some of their backyards :)
Good work, I've had quite the day too. I picked up my nephew and we got half my canna beds dug up, I divided the rhizomes and then we added cow manure, and peat humus and 13-13-13 to the beds and then put the cannas back into them, it started to rain, and we were growing tired so will finish it up tomorrow weather permitting. I did plant a bunch of seeds today into seed starter kits filled with coir, planted 10 charleston jr watermelon seeds, cantaloupe seeds, ambrosia melon seeds, burgandy and green okra seeds, henderson lima bean seeds, bush bean seeds and snow pea seeds, then got them all on heating mats and covered with domes.
A very tired me tonight; but happy in deed. Only got to direct seed my corn, waiting on my pepper seeds to get here and my onions and eggplants and other tomatoes.
joy
Sounds like you were very busy as well. I can't believe that gardening can make me ache more than a workout. But carrying bags of soil, kneeling down then carrying pots to their home has worked muscles I haven't used in awhile.
Well, I took a sneak peek at the predicted forecast for the next two weeks and the twoest lows are in the 38 degrees which would be at night, the rest of the time it should hit right between 70 and 80 during the day, I'm thinking I can go ahead and plant my cukes outside in the bloommaster and possibly direct seed plant my corn and maybe put 8 of my tomatoes into the two topsy turvys and 4 revolutionary hanging planters????? Can I? Can I? Or is it still too early??
joy
Well, I'm getting hit with upper 30's lately at night. Only my beans an a few tom seedlings had a bit of cold burn. I can't wait until I have 60 degree nights in April.
So Ray, what do you say? Should I go crazy with it now or what? I'm anxious.
joy
I can't tell you what to do Joy. I would say plant what is ready to plant. If it looks bad, rip out and plant again.
Ray: Thanks, still waiting for TPlant's and Bobs opinion.
joy
I spent a couple of hours outside watering, putting in fertilizer, epsom salts and lime in my tomato plants and I think I got a sunburn. I can piddle around out there with those plants for a long time it seems. I think most of the time is spent looking at them and trying to figure out what they need or if something is eating on them. I'm just pondering over them I guess.
I set everything up on the table and in the wheelbarrow so I don't have to get on my knees, can't even handle that or squatting. I'll be sore tomorrow from bending over 70 tomtatoes that were all in growbags on the ground. Yep, it hurts more than working out and no matter if I am going to the gym 3x a week or not, when gardening I'm using different muscles I guess and it can make me sore anyway.