Sari's Garden 2006, a bit about 2007 and 2008 dreams

[svalli]

I would estimate that I was able to harvest only 1/4 of the baccatums. Annuums I got almost all, because the pods started to ripen earlier and there were not so many green left. The baccatum plants grow much bigger in the garden than in pots and pods start to ripen later, but the possible harvest is huge, if the season is long enough. Even in this area they do really belong to pots and/or in a greenhouse and so do chinenses too.

Best greenhouse for this area would be such that I could get the walls off during the hot months and back up during fall.

I have learned my lesson this season. :cry:

[svalli]

Season is alsmost over for me now. I picked all ripe and green peppers from the potted plants on Thursday evening. I still have some plants in garage in hopes for ripening the pods. It has been much cooler and rainier than normally so I have not moved the plants outside for the day.

I'm not sure if I will try overwintering any plants, since it was such a struggle with aphids last winter. The year old tepin and pequin plants are in so good shape that I will bring them in by a south side window.

For those who I have promised seeds, but have not received them yet: do not worry, I have not forgotten what I have promised. Most of the seeds have been dried and packaged and are waiting for mailing. I have just been quite lazy lately...

[cornell]

Sorry to hear you lost your late harvest ... if you don't want to build a massive greenhouse into your garden why not use those cheap ones you have? They are quite handy and easy to build... you could use them only in spring and autum... combined with hydroponics you would harvest a lot! :lol:

For those who I have promised seeds, but have not received them yet: do not worry, I have not forgotten what I have promised. Most of the seeds have been dried and packaged and are waiting for mailing. I have just been quite lazy lately...

[svalli]

Remaining live potted plants are again enjoying sunshine outdoors. We got warm weather for few days, so I moved the plants out from garage. I am hoping to get the C. pubecens to ripen in the pots. Last year I got few ripe Rocotos, but this year they just keep staying green.

We have still been eating the pods I picked before the killing frost. It is amazing how long the fresh ones keep in plastic bags in cool area. Some of the green ones had ripened, so I smoked and dehydrated annuums and just dehydrated baccatums. Last week I cooked hot pepper jelly from Lemon Drops and Yellow Russians. This beatiful yellow jelly is the most brutal I have ever made. The heat is sharp and intense and even the sweetness of sugar does not subdue it. This is not a jelly be enjoyed on toast or crackers, I do not know how I am going to use it...

[svalli]

Season 2006 is not yet over! I will finally have a ripe Rocoto in end of November. :lol:


Remaining plants are again outdoors enjoing fresh air. Temperature outside currently is about 15°C. Later this week we will get snow, so this  warm weather is just temporary.

I tasted the Lemon Drop Jelly on toast and it is actually not so hot, when you know what to expect, but I will not serve it to any non-chilehead friends...

[JohnF]

Amazing--you still have peppers outside. Is this typical for your area?

john

[svalli]

Is this typical for your area?

I have found out the there is no typical weather here in Midwest. This time of the year we can have nice sunny warm day today and freezing cold tomorrow.  It depends which side of the jet stream we are. We had cold earlier, but now it has been quite warm. On Thanksgiving day I had to mow grass before setting up a inflatable penguin and other Christmas stuff on the front yard.

Peppers are coming back in to the garage on Wednesday, when cold air from west is reaching us and it should snow.

[Mapa]

At behind that bush is lovely birds eye(?) there is one black Rocoto too.. :cry:
By the way, you have lovely house

[svalli]

At behind that bush is lovely birds eye(?)

The one with red upright pods is my two years old Greenleaf Tabasco, which does not have any leaves at the moment, but the pods are still ripening. I should pick the pods and prune the plant. Stems are still green so there may be a change for survival.

The plants have a lot of aphids, so that's why I have not taken them in to the house. I do not want to spray the plants before the pods are ripe and I have not found enough live ladybugs to get rid of all the aphids. Only one in the house right now is the tepin with fuzzy leaves; aphids do not seem to like it so much as the other ones.

[svalli]

What a week! Wednesday morning we had still +13°C, Thursday it stayed around -5°C whole day and this morning we woke up to a snow storm. December 1st brought us the first Snow Day and schools were closed. I have some unused vacation days, so I too stayed home. Snowing finally ended in the afternoon. We got about 30 cm of snow, which then started to drift in the wind, so in some spots the snow is over 50 cm deep and some spots are bare.

Here is how it looks now. Some dried up medusa peppers are poking through the snow in the planter, which was left out.



I had to bring the live plants indoors, because the garage is not warm enough anymore. Now I should find good place for them.

[Nike]

Those Rocotos are really tough with cold weather. I had one still hanging on on the balcony while it was snowing outside!

[david nordin]

Since being alone (son and cat were already sleeping) I had no witnesses, so as a proof of my bravery I captured a video of it with the computer. As a modest person I did all the worst suffering off from the camera. This must be the hottest and one of the best tasting peppers I have ever eaten whole. I admit that I am quite sissy, since I removed the seeds with the excuse of saving them. :wink: Even the flavor of these is really good, I may not eat an other one just like that.

Now my stomach starts to hurt and it is time to go to bed. I hope the pain in my stomach does not get any worse than it is now.

Wow... that was brave :B
Damn that must have been strong, is there some approximate Scoville on that?

[annesurfs]

Hi Sari,

looking forward to hearing about your chili year 2007!

Do you have a greenhouse yet for your chilies?

Let us hear about what you´ve planned for 2007, it is always a joy to read about!

[svalli]

Let us hear about what you´ve planned for 2007, it is always a joy to read about!

Thanks!
I have been quiet because there is not much to report. We just got about 30 cm snow overnight, so it feels like spring is far away. This year I have been really slow and have not yet started seeds except some germination experiments. I kept 11 of my potted plants and so far 8 of them look like they could make it. This year I may go with mostly annuums, and that is why I have not hurried.

The overwintered plants have serious aphid infestation and that is one reason, why I have not started seeds yet.  I do not want the aphids to move to the seedlings. This spring I am planning to buy more pepper plants from chilepants.com, their selection is really good and it is saves me from a lot of hassle. The chinenses I ordered from them last year performed quite well in the garden.

I should place my seed orders soon. I have listed 32 tomato varieties and 14 annuum peppers, which I am going to order from tomatogrowers.com .

No greenhouse plans yet, even I have been looking for the ones on different catalogs. This darn place is so windy that construction has to be solid, or the greenhouse will fly like a kite.

[svalli]

The 2007 season will soon be over. I have not had much growing, so there has not been much to tell about and finally now I can tell the reason, because it is quite public knowledge already. The house here in Wisconsin is for sale and we will move to Finland as soon as we can.

This spring I planted just eight tomato plants and nine peppers in the garden and couple of potted plants to be used as decoration. If I had known that the real estate market is so slow at the moment and it takes this long to sell the house, I would have planted more. Anyways I would not have had much time to take care of a big garden, since keeping the inside and outside just around the house in presentable condition takes a lot of time.

I have ordered a lot of tomato and pepper seeds and packed them in plastic containers, so I can take them with me. I will have to learn again how to garden in the northern climate and hopefully there will be enough room on our future yard to have a small greenhouse.

It is sad to leave the house and garden here, but I am excited about moving back after all these years. I know from a previous experience that it will not be easy to get adjusted, but hopefully this time we have the right mindset and better setup than ten years ago, when we came back to Finland and stayed only for a year.

[cornell]

:shock: Tervetuloa takas...just meinasin meilailla, että lähetänkö samaan osoitteeseen noi Murupi Docen siidut... Pitäisikö odottaa, että uus osote löytyy?

Me myytiin just talomme... damned, olis ollu kasvihuone hydroilla valmiina oottamassa !!!

C.

[svalli]

Kannattaa odotella uutta osoitetta, niin on halvempi ja varmempi postitus. Uusi työpaikka on Vaasassa, joten sen lähistöltä on sen asumuksenkin löydyttävä. Kasvihuoneellinen talo olisi kyllä ollut mukava.

Kumpa saisimme mekin tämän nykyisen talomme myytyä...

[svalli]

This is how my pepper garden has been 2007:

In the garden I have one Blocky Romanian, one Jalapeno, one Anaheim, one Sweet Banana, one Cubanelle and four Italian peppers. All of the plants were purchased.


I planted one Orange Habanero, one Cubanelle and one Long Cayenne in same big container. The Cayenne did not make it, but the Habanero has been quite productive, even it has stayed small.


This is my Greenleaf Tabasco growing as a bonsai. It is now on its third season.


Ornamental peppers work well when planted with flowers. This Balck Pearl gives nice dramatic contrast to the other plants.


I do also have a one year old tepin in a pot. It almost died in the spring, but grew back and is now finally start to flower.

I'm dreaming about season 2008, even I am not sure how much room I will have for growing peppers. I listed all pepper seeds in my storage bin and came up with 114 varieties. I do also have 79 tomato varieties plus many other vegetable seeds. It will take many seasons and a lot of room to grow them all.

[JohnF]

Very attractive set up you have there.

[svalli]

Thanks John,

I was hoping for the moderate planting and pretty flowers attracting prospective buyers, but it seems that there has not been any gardeners looking for a new place to live.

I wish I had planted more, since this would have been a quite good season. We have not yet had a frost and temperatures are still like in summer.