The Sprout 2018

[shavefan]

Got a few more Ghosts yesterday.

There's many dozens still green on the plant. Fingers crossed that they get to ripen before the cold weather sets in...

 

[DoctorShavegood]

Good stuff BT.

My green beans are ready. They taste so fresh. When I get enough I'm just going to cook them in some chicken broth or make a garlic, ginger and green bean stir fry.

Tomatoes are 7 feet high.

Curly and dino kale. First time growing these.

 

[shavefan]

Everything looks very healthy Aaron. Nice!

 

[shavefan]

So I did some more picking this afternoon and noticed a nice branch broke off the serrano...

Managed to get some real beauties from it though...

and my finger

 

[shavefan]

Fall is definitely here in north TX. The Ghost pepper finally is giving up some prizes, and not too soon it seems, supposed to dip down into the 40's or maybe even the mid 30's in a few nights...

The Serrano is still producing too...

Seems like the days are numbered, I can feel it in the air.

 

[cleanshaved]

That's a healthy looking plant.

 

[DoctorShavegood]

That's a healthy looking plant.

+1 I had to go back and see what BT was doing with soil and fertilizer.

 

[shavefan]

My earlier post about the coming weather motivated me to go clean out the serrano plant....

To many to count but I weighed them at 159 ounces or 9.9 lbs. Going out to do the ghost now...

 

[shavefan]

That's a healthy looking plant.

+1 I had to go back and see what BT was doing with soil and fertilizer.

Thanks guys. Healthy indeed! Monsters.

So its getting near dark and I cleaned out all the good ghost peppers I could. I was starting to get eaten by mosquitos...

Lifting the ground branches up, there were quite a few underneath that I couldn't see from above

18.05 oz worth...

 

[shavefan]

+1 I had to go back and see what BT was doing with soil and fertilizer.

Aaron, when I built the bed 3 years ago I basically did a version of "Sheet Mulching". A layer of rotted manure (from a local horse stable), followed by a layer of shredded leaves, then compost. I also mixed in some GreenSense Potting soil, a couple 40lb bags. Then I mulched it with shredded straw. I did this in the fall and planted the following spring. I add a layer of homemade compost and then mulch again every fall. Everything in that little bed has gone gangbusters!

http://tobyhemenway.com/resources/how-to-the-ultimate-bomb-proof-sheet-mulch/

 

[DoctorShavegood]

Picked some chili piquins this morning. Seemed like a few hundred. I think I have enough now to make a vinegar based hot sauce. I've saved up quite a few peppers.

 

[Buster]

I'm getting my winter garden going. I live in Northern California so I can grow a few things during the winter. I put in some onion sets, arugula, turnip, a wild kale mix, carrots. Radish will go in as soon as my peppers are done.

I'm the garden parent for my sons first grade class. We have kale growing and just started kohlrabi last week. It's the teaches favorite vegetable. We started some in cups to give to her for her garden at home.

 

[shavefan]

Picked some chili piquins this morning. Seemed like a few hundred. I think I have enough now to make a vinegar based hot sauce. I've saved up quite a few peppers. View attachment 926222 View attachment 926223 View attachment 926224 View attachment 926225

Nice Aaron. Are some of those in the bag a different strain? The elongated ones?

 

[DoctorShavegood]

Nice Aaron. Are some of those in the bag a different strain? The elongated ones?

The longer sort of orange ones are Tabasco and the medium long with deeper red is tepin. The tepin are my favorite but all taste similar. I build a taco then go out in the backyard and pick a few and pop them in.

 

[martym]

I love to dry them out, grind them in a spice grinder, and then sprinkle on my food!
Delicious!!
Or pick em fresh and pop em in my mouth and eat them with my meal.
Really delicious!

 

[DoctorShavegood]

Picked some pak choy, green beans, arugula and kale.

 

[DoctorShavegood]

Well it dropped down to 24F (-4C) degrees last night and killed almost everything in the garden. Even what I covered. Some of the lettuce survived, lost some of the kale, all my green beans and half of my tomatoes. Our normal first frost here in Austin is usually around the 2nd week in December. Not this time. Adding insult to injury two opossums dug up my kale bed.

 

[natenaaron]

We dropped below freezing a few days ago. That is a month earlier than last year, and a couple weeks earlier than normal.

 

[shavefan]

Sorry Aaron, same news here in the Dallas area. Pretty early for those temps.

I'll probably dig up and prepare my bed for next year this week. Pepper-zillas are toast

 

[DoctorShavegood]

Sorry Aaron, same news here in the Dallas area. Pretty early for those temps.

I'll probably dig up and prepare my bed for next year this week. Pepper-zillas are toast

I guess I'm used to it. I just hate spending money on good dirt and manure for little production.
All of my lettuce survived, the spinach, pak choy, arugula and cabbage. I picked all the greens beans the day before so I have some to eat. All be looking at my catalogs for seed to buy for Spring. It's really not that far away to start thinking about what seeds will need to be germinated.