Memorial Day Gardening

With all the irons in the fire that I have going on I've been a longtime user of black plastic mulch.  After reading about all the benefits such as early warming of the soil, weed suppression. & water conservation I felt the benefits outweighed the plastic controversy about landfill and petro production to make the stuff. Every year I recycle the previous seasons plastic by putting in the pathways and using a new layer for the current seasons garden beds.

With that out of the way, for the past couple of weeks I amended the soil with some fast acting lime, compost, soilless mix from  last years  containers, composted manure and a small amount of time release 10-10-10.

Now, armed and ready to put the plastic down,  I felt like I'm all dressed up with no where to go waiting for some natural rainfall before putting the plastic down.  I was getting concerned with the water deficit that we were having in CT this year until this weekend. Wow, what a godsend. The water fell from the chilly sky's on Friday evening  into Saturday and soaked the ground with upwards of 3" of rain. Down went the plastic and in went a variety of  tomatoes  including,  Cherokee Chocolate, Brandywine, Yaki (a new hybrid plum) Roma, Big Raspberry, Better Boy, and 1st Prize. As far as cucurbit family goes, in went Pic n Pic yellow squash, Black beauty zucchini,  Early Bush and Marketmore cucumbers. I'm holding off on eggplant and peppers until sometime in June. I find it better to wait nighttime temps consistently in the 60's before setting these plants.

Until  next post- Happy Gardening and keep checking back on my super hot pepper progress.

2013 A new beginning-The greenhouse and Peppers

Well, well, well, it's been a while. After a long historical winter and a record maple sugaring season here in Connecticut, it's time to get down and dirty.

A couple of days after the 36-38" snow fall from February 8-9th the snow on the greenhouse proved to be to much for the house to handle. Yes, much to my disappointment the greenhouse collapsed do to the wait of the melting snow.

With the maple season behind me I now had time to assess the damage. Bad, but not so bad to end my long endearing relationship with the greenhouse. I was able to use some lumber and 6 mil greenhouse plastic and cover her up. Ventilation is the biggest issue since the two solar rooftop vents are gone (for now). I moved the louver window from the side and placed it a the highest point in the rear of the house opposite the front door. Sure does get very warm in there but it's doing the job.

inside view



2013 seedlings and wintered over Collards & Kale

Sowing seeds has been going on since late March and the time has come to transplant into individual containters or cell packs. As you can see I start seeds in a 4" round pot using soiless mix (usually ProMix ) and covering with a baggie to create a moist environment. Then they go underT5  flourescent lights, which I believe is 6500k spectrum and onto the heat mat. This practice usallly yields me seedlings in a week or so depending on the plant variety. Some take less and some take longer.

Each year I get all fired up up about a particular varity of vegetable. This year it's the soon to be crowned "the worlds hottest" pepper, the Carolina Reaper also known as  HP22B which is consistently coming in at 1.4 MILLION scovilles. To give some perspective a jalepeno is around 5000 scovilles and habaneros come in at a blazing 250,000-400,000 scovilles. This is one amazing and frightening looking pepper. The seeds of the super hots take longer to germinate, some up to a month. To hasten germation I soaked the seeds overnight in warm water. Some say soaking in chamomile tea is even better. My 1st Reapers germinated in 9 days.

Carolina Reaper seedlings



Carolina Reaper seedlings -Day 22

I want to give a shout out to Pepper Joe's as one of the two reliable sources for authentic HP22B  Reaper seeds. Ed Currie from Pucker Butt Pepper Co. is the other. The Carolina reaper was developed by Ed.  Like everything " It has to be true, I read it on the internet" You know, the place you can find French models. But seriously, I did a lot of research and Pepper Joe's  and The Pucker Butt Pepper Co. seem to be the real deal.

Some more hot pepper varities I'm growing are the Congo Trinidad which is described as a plumper habanero type coming in at 2"x2"



 

Congo Trinidad-Day 33

Also in the mix are Takanotsume which is a small thin 2"-3" chile from Japan and Pasillo Bajio which is a mild chile popular for use as an ingredient in mole sauce.

Garlic and Final Harvest

Well another season is winding down. I didn't have a super amazing garden this year but it still provided us with plenty of fresh produce. The garlic that I planted last fall was harvested, re-planted for next season,  and is currently being eaten. Like all garden fresh veggies, you've got to try it to appreciate the freshness, texture, and flavor.

And what a pepper season! Even though it was late I had a surplus of the sweet and spicy beauties. I've been eating pepper and eggs for a couple weeks straight. Burned the eyes and bronchial passages of my family several times too! (Sorry 'bout that guys.) Below are a couple of photos of the last harvest picked on October 28th just one day before the historical Noreaster that dumped an amazing amount snow in Connecticut and the northeast.

Spring Is Slowwwly Getting Sarted

Well almost 30 days into Spring and its finally showing some more positive signs of being here after many days not getting out of the 40's.

 In the vegetable department I have some parsley that wintered over and the Fall planted Garlic is up and looks beautiful.

I got a late start but in the greenhouse I have a bed of mixed lettuce sowed. Inside on the heat mat and under the lights I sowed a few varieties each of tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers.

Outside, the rose bushes are getting trimmed up and the man eating wisteria is cut back. Tulips are up and looking good. Daffodils are in bloom now and bringing some brightness into the neutral colored landscape.

Planting Garlic In October

Well finally got out and turned the soil over in a spent string bean bed to prepare for planting some garlic. I recently bought some beautiful stif neck garlic grown locally in Shelton from Guy Beardsley.

I scattered a small amount of 10 10 10 over the soil and raked it in. Then I made three furrows about 3-4" deep. The garlic was placed about 6" apart with rows about the same, 6 inches. The base of the garlic sits about 3" down.

Early Fall

Where did the time go. Where did the rain go? Finally got the rain though to little to late. Time? Well still can't figure where that goes.

The garden season was a good one for us. Investing in the fence was the best thing I could of done. I actually got enough tomatoes to do some canning along with making fresh sauce throughout late summer along with topping a bunch of wood fired pizzas and focaccia's with fresh tomatoes (made in the backyard brick oven of course!) gregkaraspizza.blogspot.com 

This year also gave us a bumper crop of basil, cucumbers, beans, squash, eggplant, and even some small pumpkins. Tomatillos and peppers are still going and I hope to make some salsa verde soon.

Now I have to get in gear and turn over the bed where the string beans were and plant some garlic. Jamie and I made a quick stop to the Farmer's Market in Shelton and I picked up some beautiful locally grown stiff neck organic garlic from Guy Beardsley. I like growing the stiff neck varieties for the early spring treats of garlic scapes. Just snip them off and saute them up. Similar to scallions but with a mild garlic flavor.

June Yard and Garden

June roses came in two weeks earlier this year.

Our apple trees look like they'll produce some apples this season. Last year was a bust. Completely organic at this point.

With the fence up,  the vegetable garden is finally off to a pretty good start. A late start I might add.

The greenhouse bed still has swiss chard in it but that's about it. I'll be starting some roses from cuttings in their soon.