They're ALIVE!!!! 2010 Garden Growing Tips, Tricks, Pron Thread

Outstanding edgamacation fellas. I got some japs, Santa Fe Grande, Piemiento, Chili Red and Garden Salsa peppers growing in the back yard in planters. Too many gophers (fencing) to just plant in the backyard.

This thread may need to be Road Mapped!

Chef Jim said:

Well you ARE going to have to do something with them if you want peppers.

I have have had big problems with my garden here in Florida. Bugs and critters. So, I moved mine inside the screen porch and put them in my own version of an Earthbox http://www.earthbox.com/index.php

They are a little pricey but really do work! I make my own now and if you are interested in the plans, send me a PM If others are interested I will post it.

Click to expand...

Ummmmm....we are interested, trust me!:thumb:

Earthbox

I was just gonna jump in there with a comment on homemade earthboxes 82muchhomework! I did the 5 gallon bucket version last year with some roma tomatoes and green peppers. The peppers died a painful death and I never got more than a couple dozen 'maters. The design worked flawlessly, however. Watering through the tube kept the entire bucket watered. The issue I believe was my choice of potting material. This year I went with the Squarefoot Garden Mix (Vermiculite, Manure, Peat Moss), but it drains so well the 'water up' method of the earthbox may not work. I've only had them up two days so I can't tell yet how that's gonna work.
I for one would like to see what Chef Jim has come up with!

Tom

It sounds like it might be a fine balance with the earthbox soil for growing peppers. I always had best luck growing peppers in very sandy/loamy soil that drained quickly. This type of soils might not work as well with this design. Has anyone grown peppers successfully in an earthbox?

i have one of the generic version of the earthbox. it is very similiar to the one that was posted by "82". we had two mater plants and a jap plant and it produced wonderfully. that was last year and this year we went with one mater and two japs.
i will say that once the plants start maturing, it gets a little difficult to move the box around and also that it is a good idea to come up with something for a tomato cage early on. as it is more difficult to install a "cage" when the maters take off. haha

SmokeJumper said:

Awesome stories Bob. It is always great to hear good stories of people's geographical and family ties to the "little"ingredients that make all the difference.
I too growing up have fond memories of peppers in the garden. My parents, who moved every three or four years for their careers, always managed to find a plot of land to work near where we lived and cultivated most our produce and my brothers, sisters, and I worked the plot twice a week. Peppers were ALWAYS an important part of the garden equation. Because my Mom was Asian and grew up cooking in the family restaurant we always had four or five hand-me-down Asian heirloom varieties growing along with many from the Southwest and Mexico. We often found that the Asian varieties crossing with the Southern varieties creating new and interesting pepper monsters but these made my mom mad and she made my dad tear them out of the ground. I wish we had saved some of these hybrids although I think my pop still has many of the seeds from the Asian varieties socked away.
Of note, we always raised "HwaJiao" or Sichuan Peppers for spicy dishes. It is a small berry like pepper that gives an awesome heat and fruity flavor to many regional dishes. My favorite featuring these was my grandma's Pork, chive, and taro root dumplings. The heat gives you an awesome numbness/buzzing in your mouth that I would expect you would get by licking on a 9v battery (never tried though, really). I have never found this type of heat from another pepper. I believe Sichuan peppercorns are actually illegal now in the States because they carry a pest that decimates citrus crops but I still have a stack of frozen cryovacked packages the we bust out for family cookouts. We prized these so much we often dug up a plant and tried to take it with us when we moved to a new location.
We also always grew the common "Tien Tsin" long chinese pepper that is similar to a chile arbol. If you have ever eaten kung pao you know what I'm talking about.
Finally, we always had a super long and wide purple variety the size of baby zucchinis that my mom always called "eggplant peppers" that had medium heat and an awesome melon and earth like flavors. We would stuff them with a mixture of pork, garlic and water chestnuts. I'm thinking these would be awesome to smoke- maybe wrapped in bacon. I'm going to have to call my dad and get those seeds while they still germinate!

Click to expand...

You have some great stories of your own, Brother! Too bad those hybrids didn't make it. Who knows what kinda heat and flavor those would have had. This year I only have two pepper plants besides the tepins. A regular jalapeno and a "mammoth" jalapeno. If they produce as much as all my others, I'll have abt's all summer and be able to smoke some chipotles. Between my plants and my dad's we have more chile's than we know what to do with. Lots gets frozen whole and many eaten raw with the meal. Pretty fun to be able to go out and pick your own jalapeno for dinner.

82muchhomework said:

The weathers been finicky lately. Its about 47F right now and rainy. It dips below 40 at night and reaches about 80 during the day.

My place faces east too. All my plants have to be in the back on the West side of the house. It gets afternoon to evening sun. The summers are typically over 100 and reach 110-115 on the really hot days. I water twice a day on those days.

I have one of those kitchen windows that is made like a mini greenhouse. Everything we have ever put in there has died. Are those things death traps or am I putting the wrong kinds of plants in there? Would the chilis do well in there or better outside?


My other problem is that we are currently renting while I'm still in school (one more year, yeah). I would HATE to have an awesome plant that wont survive a dig up. Would growing the chilis in pots be ok, or should I risk the dig up later when we buy a house.

Click to expand...

You weather is about the same as here, but once summer rolls in, our nights will be in the high 70's to 80's. I actually hold back the water a little bit and maybe water every couple days in the summer. Too much water will kill off pepper plants. The constant moisture rots the roots and they just don't like it. My soil is also deseret sand that I have built up over many years with grass clippings and ashes. It drains well, yet holds moisture very well for a few days. Once I get grass clippings going, those will serve as mulch. Don't worry about having to dig up the tepins. All of my plants were dug up and replanted, some of them even twice and have taken off each time. As long and you don't sever the main tap root, it will survive a dig just fine.

I wouldn't risk the indoor greenhouse area. The tepins especially prefer outdoors in the soil.

I think it should. Once it gets going, it's gonna love the sun and my folks have a few of their plants in full sun all day, and they do just fine. However, my plants are not as mauture as theirs and out grow their plants by almost double. I think a lot has to do with the fact that the area where my parents live was once river bed and has a THICK clay layer about 12 inches deep. Everything they grow has a hard time growing very big. So I think good drainage is key. Try this, plant some seeds in another place. Just make a tiny hole with something and drop in a few seeds. Water and watch.........I bet you they will take off. They grow anywhere.
My problem with pots or containers is I think I'm not watering to often, but I am, the roots rot on me. I've never had good luck with pots. For flowers yes, but veggies, no.

Dude, you need to dig a hole about 1' in diameter and 1-2 feet deep, mix the dirt with aged cow poop, not more than 10-15%, and plant the little farkers. I lived in the OC and spent a lot of time near you, the sooner you get them stared and going the better, it will be blazing there soon enough. Space them out about 2' on all sides and make a watering basin about 18" wide, put a 3'-4' tall stake in next to the root ball when you plant them, this will give you something to tie them as they grow. At first water them only when they need it, ie dry dirt, slightly wilted leaves etc, a lot plants are killed by over watering. Pick a spot with as much sun as your yard will allow, look for a spot with the most hours in the sun. When it is burning hot (particularly when windy), water as needed, you probably won't be able to over water them. Harvest and eat, just be careful with not to rub your eyes after cleaning the peppers.

Currently I am growing Japs, Serrano's, Anahiems, basil, and two types of tomatoes(I for forgot what kind).
All the advice here is good. When I see flowers, I fruits coming right behind.
The peppers are near and dear to my heart.

timely thread. I didn't have any success with peppers from seeds last year so have planted 3 jalapeno and 3 habanero plants a couple of weeks ago. Looking forward to learning how to grow these so thanks for this thread.

82muchhomework said:

Or take a wiz... like I did today:mad2:

My wife was probably wondering why I went to take a shower in the middle of the day with a large cold glass of milk in my hand. :crazy:

Click to expand...

Don't do that when clearing brush either. Poison Ivy. :mad2:, for days and days.

Tom

82muchhomework said:

I found a pdf about DIY earthboxes.

http://www.seattleoil.com/Flyers/Earthbox.pdf

Are your plans like these?

Click to expand...

Mine are very similar to these but seem a little less work and look better. Girl things, if you know what I mean. I must say that the use of storage tubs looks like a good idea, and might be just a little less expensive.

Over all these plans look good.

I have one of mine in the works and will try to get some prons posted of how I did it and some of the working ones too. Not sure how long it will take but will try to do it today whilst I am watching my Salmon smoke.:clap2::clap2:

To show you how well they grow and how little to no attention the Tepins need.......all of these little shoots are Tepin seedlings that cam up all by themselves. The plants drop so many pods that the seeds come up all on their own in the spring. I hafta till these over cause there's no way I could let them all grow. But this shows how easy to grow they are.

Here are the plants I have up front. The two in the front are the orginal ones I brought over from my dad's. They are under a Spanish Broom tree and up against the house. The ones in the back are ones that I then transplanted there. I use them as cover and they will get as high as half way up the windows, easily. This year I'm going to use some tomato cages on them so they grow "upward" a little more. They get so wide that they can choke off my maters and pepper plants. I think it should work to keep them in line a little more.

Here's one of the wild ones that's in the backyard....this one came out all on it's own from a bird dropping. This one has one of the thickest trunks on it, probably cause it's squeezing through the concrete and bricks. The leaves one this one are HUGE. It's going to be a good year for this one. Plus, as you can see, they are a really nice plant all on their own too. They make for great decorative bushes too.

This one is a two year old plant and another one the birds planted for me. It's off to a slow start but you can see a shoot off to the top left. In only two years, you can see how thick the trunk got. That's how I prune them back every late fall (November). These plants have a late growing season and will be producing late into fall.



Dave---Maybe we can turn your thread into the "Official 2010 Garden Thread" since it seems to be going in that direction anyway. One place where we can share tips, secrets, pics, and later on...........GARDEN PRON!!! Lemme know if you wouldn't mind a full HIJACK of your thread and I can add a label to your title. This way we won't have several threads about the same topic and have it all in one place.

Bob

Chef Jim's Plans

OK, here goes! I'm not real good at this so let me know if you think I forgot something.

First the things you need, some kind of a box. Mine are a little smaller than the original Earthbox so you can't put as much in them. I got the box at HD cause that's all I could find. The wife loves them so they must be good.



Notice the hole I drilled, it is placed at the height of the grate that will go in the box. Drill it after you have everything assembled.

Next is the guts. I used a thin sheet of black pvc, Whatever you can find. I drilled holes for drainage and cut a square out at the diagonal corners.

Then the same material for the top with two 2 in. keyholes for the plants. Three or four pieces
of 4 in. pvc pipe. For this box 1 1/4 wide and then cut in half. you will use this to support the bottom grate.

Next is piece of thinwall pipe 1 1/4, your fill pipe. Thin wall makes it easy to fill the reservoir.



Glue the pvc pieces to the bottom of the box. Just random to support the grate.


Now put the bottom grate in and gage where the top is and then drill the hole right at that level. Then insert the fill pipe in the same side as the hloe you just drilled. That's so you can see when water starts to come out and you can let go of the hose or what ever it is you art going to use to water it.



Next add potting soil almost to the top. At that point I mix in some vermiculite and cover with more soil.

Then make a trough in the soil for fertilizer and add some slow release stuff, then cover with dirt.



Now you should water the dirt from the top and add water in the reservoir till it runs out the hole.

You are now ready to plant whatever. I used the same pvc as in the grate for the top, but you can use anything. If you are in a colder climate use a black garbage bag, in warmer climates you might want to use white.

The purpose of the top cover is to keep out weeds etc I supose mulch would work also.



Some of the finished products. An original earthbox with a blueberry plant in the middle. Stuff around it is seeds planted for the next boxes. Pole beans and Cucumbers.



Tomatoes planted about 4 weeks ago.



Herbs in the kitchen window.



Zuccini from seed.



And peppers just started this week. Don't know if you can see it but there are pineapples on the outside.



And for whoever mentioned that they are hard to move, you're darn right, so I put them on a board with casters. Almost killed me when we had the freeze here in sunny Florida

Just add water.:clap2::clap2::clap2: