Sunday, March 10, 2024

Gardenfest 2023 review/2024 preview

Update from 6/23/2023 - My prep this year was decidedly lacking. Rather than beat myself up over it, I decided to just roll with it. Last year I was very aggressive about bringing in pepper plants - 28 of them made it into the basement. Whereas last year things went swimmingly, with almost all plants making it through, this year it looks like only 8 made it. And whereas last year they really took off within a week of being put outside, these 8 survivors seem to be a bit less vigorous. Last year the overwinter leaves kind of fell off and new leaves popped up everywhere. This year the regrowth seems much more subdued.

Today, 03/10/2024 - Last year was unimpressive. I got a few zucchini (planted late, did not keep up with them well). Tomatoes were pathetic. Definitely focusing on other things. This year, as I perpetually say, will be different. There is at least some hope that I may do a better job. I've already started some peppers and I'm working on tomatoes today. I've cleaned out some of the spider webs in the basement (lol, what a metaphor!), and I've got my first batch of peppers under lights. 

The hot pepper selection was interesting. I dug through my last 12 years of seed packets and came up with the following that I started last weekend:

  • Poinsetta - None sprouted.
  • Hungarian Hot Wax - None sprouted.
  • Caperino - None sprouted.
  • Pablano - None sprouted.
  • Habanero - None sprouted.
  • Sweet Banana - None sprouted.
  • Pepperoncini - None sprouted.
  • Tabasco - None sprouted.
  • Buena Mulata
  • Cayenne
  • Datil
  • Korean Dark Green 

So only the last four sprouted. Maaaaaybe I'll get some of those. I think my problem is that I have a lot of old seeds.

Today I also planted 

  • Serrano
  • Jalapeno
  • Anaheim/Big Jim - a New Mexico type of chile

Went a lot heavier on these than the other types, these are the ones I enjoy the most. I really, really hope the New Mexican type of green chiles do well, I'd like to get a big enough harvest to justify getting a roaster. A hand cranked, propane fired roaster would be really fun, and a great way to prep them. 

Spent some time today deciding which types of tomato to plant.

  • YES - Rutgers - These are reliable.
  • YES - Black Vernissage - See how they stack up to Cherokee Purple
  • YES - Brandywine - Low output but maybe do 1.
  • YES - Beefsteak - Low output but maybe do 1.
  • YES - Spoon - These are fun.
  • YES - Black Cherry - Pretty, good flavor. Get loads of tomatoes.
  • YES - Yellow Pear - Yes, looking for a nice range of cherry colors this year.
  • YES - Roma - Doing sauce mostly, so yes.
  • YES - A Grappoli D'Invierno - Got a lot of these.
  • YES - San Marzano - Mostly using them for sauce, so no brainer here. 
  • YES - Cherokee Purple - My favorite!
  • YES - Napa chardonnay - Yeah, doing a rainbow of cherry tomatoes.
  • YES - Green Doctors - Yeah, doing a rainbow of cherry tomatoes.
  • YES - Red Cherry, Large Fruited - Yeah, doing a rainbow of cherry tomatoes.
  • YES - Sungold - A great cherry variety.
Decided against these.
  • NO - Brandywine Pink - Low output.
  • NO - Gezahnte - I don't think these fared well.
  • NO - Mortgage Lifter - Never get much from these

The two major themes this year are cherry tomatoes - I want a nice variety of colors, and tomato sauce, so somewhat of a preference for paste types. I also am being less tolerant of varieties that produced poorly. I want to make up for my lack of tomatoes last year and see if I can have a great year.

Other things on the agenda for... soonish... eggplant, ground cherries, and huckleberries.

Another big theme this year is berries. I had elderberries for a few years, but they got lost in the backyard jungle and never saw them again. The black raspberries that used to be everywhere in the back are largely gone. I think the jungle swallowed them up as well. Last fall I hired a landscaper to clear the back yard. Expensive, but the change is very dramatic. I will definitely have some extra space for plants.


Another berry project - I took cuttings from a blackberry bramble at the community garden and put them in water. They're sprouted nicely, I will see if I can start them in soil soon. I also put some blueberries and blackberries from work and put them in the freezer. Will defrost them soon and see if I can grow plants from the seeds. And finally will need to hit the nurseries in the area to see what else I can scrounge up. Strawberries would be awesome, but I think I will try a variety of things if I can find them.

Some scavenged photos of the mediocre attempt that was 2023...

Peas

Got some peas at least
Tomato seedlings. NONE came up.

Baby zuke

Zukes always give me something for my effort

Yum
My one tomato. Miserable! Got a few at least.

Lotta kale.

Okra flower. I got some pods but I think I left them on the plant too long.



Wednesday, November 16, 2022

The Final Buzzer

 Well, it's official, the 2022 season is over. Tuesday morning (11/15) we had a hard frost. We'd had some light ones, but the basil held on, though not flourishing. I did a final pick of basil a couple weeks ago and had some pesto. But this frost turned all the remaining plants to mush. Except kale. KALE DON'T CARE. Actually the dill looked ok, too. Funny, I grew dill but never picked or used any. I brought the oregano inside, along with the peppers.


In the end, I brought in 28 pepper plants on 10/16. The basement seedling tables are packed with peppers now. If I can get them through the winter I will have a huge head start next year.

Peppers for overwintering!

They seem pretty happy with their situation despite the absolutely savage cutting back of the plants and removing all their leaves. But in the last month they have blown up, and they almost all have an explosive growth of new leaves on the remaining sticks.


Thursday, October 27, 2022

Kale Stories

 Kale keeps on growing despite several light frosts. Indeed I've harvested it in January before. Right now the kale bed is just starting to come back from the heat of the summer. Apparently it gets a bit too toasty for it in the stone planter. But meanwhile it doesn't mind the heat of the driveway, growing up through cracks in the pavement!

The white stuff is actually the camera flash off a heavy dew, but the contrast between my carefully cultivated plants and the "wild" plant is pretty comical.

Sunday, October 16, 2022

End of the Season

 Well, not exactly the end. Still getting a dribble of tomatoes, and maybe a couple zucchini I could pick now. But the basil is trying to flower, and a lot of it is brown. The dill is yellowing. The oregano looks pretty good though. And the pepper still had a TON of fruit. So today I picked them. 2.011 kg (4.43 lbs) of various peppers. Probably mostly Anaheims.

Today's Haul

So today was cleanup day. I pulled all the cukes, they were mostly dead anyway. I did get one suitable for use in a salad, that was nice.

Current setup
Next worked on bringing in the peppers for overwintering. A titanic task!

Anaheims

Trimmed them down to sticks, pretty much. Was hard to do.

Trimmings

They looked so sad!

The Remnants
The stems were big and woody. One jalapeno was easily as big as a nickel.

Jalapeno Stem

And here's their winter home. Gave them a healthy dose of water and fertilizer with low N. They shouldn't need much attention over the winter, but if I can give them a little dose of water not and then I'm hoping they can hit the ground running in the spring.

28 pepper plants

I will have to come up with a plan to start seeds in the spring, this is usually where I do it. Maybe I will expand things a bit and have some more lights by January.

Sunday, September 11, 2022

Pepper Post

 Yesterday I spend harvesting peppers and weighing each type. First the pretty pick of the varieties I harvested yesterday.

9/10/2022 harvest

 Here's the rundown.

Jalapeños were the top producer. I'm cool with that - I've been adding them 2 or 3 at a time, thin sliced, to my eggs in the mornings. It will take a LONG TIME to eat over two and a half pounds of them though. It does have me very excited to overwinter peppers this year though. If I get results like this with other peppers I'm going to be very pleased.


Jalapeño bounty

The cayenne harvest was pretty small, but it'll make enough powder for a few meals. And still plenty not quite ready yet on the plants. Next step is running them through the dehydrator. 

Serranoes harvest was not gigantic either, but I don't have too many plants and they're all in two liter bottles. I will overwinter these and repot for next year.

Serranoes 
The Korean Dark Greens are a bit of a mystery, not sure how hot they will be. I think I may dehydrate and powder those as well.

And finally, my favorite, New Mexico Chiles. They are a mix of Big Jim and Anaheim. Felt like one variety was lighter in color than the other, but they might just be not as ripe, *shrug*. And not sure which is which. Next year labelling will be KEY! Anyway, these will be roasted, the skin peeled, and then frozen. Green chile for the winter, woot woot!

The prettiest 2/3 of my Green Chile haul

These are all the ones I grew this year, other than the Jalapeños which were started last year and kept inside over the winter.
Love me some Baker Creek

I'm not sure what happened with the Tabascos - maybe they just got lost in the shuffle. Ah well, next year!

Saturday, September 10, 2022

Non-Pepper Post

 This was a big pepper day so I think I will separate out non-pepper content.

Tomatoes are still coming along, but have slowed down dramatically. I picked a couple today, along with eating a few black cherry tomatoes off the vine. Once again I saw a nice Hungarian heart tomato coming along right outside my bathroom window. Yesterday it was reddening, but I thought, heck, one more day. This was a mistake, because I looked today and someone ate half of it. Not sure who the critters are, need to get my trail cam up. Black Cherry tomatoes are a real superstar this year. Every time I go out there are a dozen ready to pick, and there must be over 100 left on the vine. Never see any pests bothering them. The Roma and the A'Grappoli D'Invierno (right beside each other) appear to be suffering from Septoria leaf spot.

Septoria Leaf Spot I think

Herbs are starting to do very well. Dill and Oregano are really springing to life. Basil is VERY happy, and I've already made a pint of pesto with it. More to come soon!

Dill

Oregano took its sweet time, but looking good now!



Starting to flower, boo!

Big leaves on the Lettuce Leaf Basil

Zucchini had been struggling. Last one I got was 8/23, but pulled this one today. I may get a few more, they're like gold now.


Long Beans done. Not a huge fan.

The new cuke setup.




Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Chuggin' Along

 Ho-LEE-Cow. I have been watching a nice tomato for days now as it slowly ripens. Yesterday I thought, huh. Maybe I should pick it. I did not. This morning I looked and it looked like something had eaten like half of it. I'm not 100% sure who took the first bite, but caught this beastie dining tonight.

Slug :-(
The offender was capture and I executed summary judgement immediately. But one less tomato for me. Seeing a lot of my ripe ones getting eaten. Not sure what the culprit is, but maybe slugs, chipmunks, mice.

Lately my enthusiasm for ripe tomatoes has started to dip a bit. I've had some good ones already. My usual MO is to try to grow a zillion different varieties, which is fun for sure, but I think that's not the way to go, at least for next year. there are a couple big winners that will definitely return in 2023.
  1. Black Cherry. So good! And ridiculously prolific. 
  2. Sungold. Didn't grow them this year and I miss them.
  3. Roma. I had all of one Roma plant and it did great. Didn't seem to suffer pests or disease so far.
  4. Cherokee Purple. The best! Not super prolific, but I've had a bunch already.
  5. A Grappoli D'Invierno. Super prolific. Not my favor tasting tomato, but easy for saucification.
Ones that will likely not come again next year.
  1. Mortgage Lifter. Not prolific at all.
  2. Gehznte. Gotten zero. Maybe something taking green ones.
  3. Hungarian Heart. None ripe yet, lol.
  4. Spoon. Fun, interesting, tasty, but something eats them before I do. Maybe if I can cage it completely somehow.
I got what I suspect will be my last zucchini today. Gotten 43 lbs so far, more would be a waste. Powdery mildew is rampant. Next year maybe I will succession plant so I'm ready to tear out and plant new ones. The Rampicantes are cool, but not as tasty.