Mystery Seedlings

[surviort_wwdnet]

I watered my starters really well and put on the greenhouse rack cover, still open in the front until later, and I watered the container garden that's full of "winter friendly" plants. Just getting ready for this upcoming cold spell!

[surviort_wwdnet]

There are a couple more sprouts in the seed starter pots - yay!!. I watered everything and put the cover on the greenhouse rack and zipped it up tonight in anticipation of high 30s to low 40s overnight tonight andthe next two nights. Then it gradually heads back into the 60s overnight by the weekend. It's pretty early for frost... The irrigation system will run tonight so everything will get a good watering, and all the "winter" plants should be fine. I'm thinking more seriously about starting some seeds indoors so I can get them transplanted in the ground before I have to drag out the frost blankets.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Had to pick another crimson...a bit more red in color and a bit more sweet, but still pretty bland. Red Kuri is starting to turn color...it is a reddish yellow color, not really an orange....hard to describe. Excited to see what this brings. Our one Ali Baba watermelon seems to have stalled in growth since the storm, but vine and plant seems healthy. Of course peppers are still producing and the Aero Garden peppers are coming along with two plants showing blooms...tomatoes, well we are trying to pick them as soon as they start turning color and let them ripen inside as they seem to get eaten or are forming ulcer type lesions (medical me coming out, lol). Blight still progressing upwards as I have given up on trying to stop it....

[surviort_wwdnet]

I got a free bottle of some miticide that would have been great this past summer when the aphids were eating my squash leaves. I'll see how it works on my other plants if the aphids haven't frozen to death yet.

My starters are still zipped under cover and they'll stay that way until tomorrow morning. It's supposed to be even colder tonight! Otherwise, everything in the bags and containers got watered and is just growing away, but those are long-term producers. I wanted to make cabbage soup, so I had to buy cabbage. Considering how easy it was to shred and dehydrate, I plan to do more of that when the cabbages mature, and can use dehydrated shreds for soup.

[surviort_wwdnet]

Carrots are sprouting, along with the lone broccoli seedling and a couple of onions...that's it.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Really the only thing I have left are some Roma's and the red kuri. Maybe the Ali Baba, but it has stopped growing. Red kuri is turning reddish orange so we will likely get to harvest that. (see pic). Reading about it the vine seems to die when it is ready to pick. I am trying to win the battle for the fruit with the Roma's and picking them when they just begin to turn a slight red color and let them ripen inside. Have harvested 30+ so far and have about another 20 to go....Of course we have some yellow banana, Ghost, sweet heat, jalapeños, cayenne and serrano peppers still producing.

[surviort_wwdnet]

The Red Kuri looks very healthy - can't wait to hear how it tastes after you harvest it. I've never grown one of those before. All of my peppers, tomatoes, squash, etc. are long gone, so now I'm focusing on the winter vegetables. Since the broccoli and cauliflower I replanted still refuses to germinate, I'll start some fresh pots tomorrow. Carrots and onions are coming along and should be ready to transplant in another week.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Yeah, we cannot wait either. Once the kuri is picked then I will start the cleaning process. I don't think I will do a winter garden, as I want to really get in the space I have and prepare it for spring. I will keep the peppers going outside as long as I can and the aero garden inside. I may plant some lettuce inside but want the peppers to be grown a bit as the lettuce will hog out the light. I want to build some trellis's so I can try and get some of the vine plants to grow up and off the ground. I just need to plan my small spot out a bit to maximize space.

[surviort_wwdnet]

I'm planning on building my trellises the same way I did in the spring, but with fewer climbers for each section. They held up really well until I had 3 or 4 climbers running all over them with watermelons, squash, and cukes on one trellis.

I finally see parsnips sprouting - they take so long to come up but I knew they would. They must have liked the hothouse effect. The broccoli and cauliflower should have already sprouted, and only one broccoli actually did. I'm going to have to start them over again. I guess tomorrow will be that day...very discouraging but broccoli and cauliflower are my main winter vegetables.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

I see a lot use the cattle fence arched. I have been thinking of that kind of like a long term, permanent structure. I am thinking two or three of them arched should work for me. I would place one in more of a shaded area, maybe 4 hours of sunlight, and the other two in full sun (6-8+ hours of sun). I also thought of making an arch with some PVC and put a fence cloth of some sort. The PVC would likely be cheaper, but I am trying to think of what can stand up to hurricane force winds as I don't want to have to take things down for a "maybe" event that changes course and now I have taken down the trellis and now all the vines are on ground. This is what I will be doing during this winter season as I want to really think about what I learned during the summer garden. I need things to be successful and easy...as in easy to water, easy to fertilizem easy to weed, easy to harvest, etc. Gardening is hard work and requires daily involvement, so anything I can make easier as we age will be better in the long run. I am looking at making some raised beds that are up 36"-40" off ground so we don't have to bend as much. I will also plant different things in the vertical gardens....looking at strawberries, peppers of course, and something else that does not vine or grow too tall. The raised beds will get some of the same. The trellis's will get the vine stuff, the grow bags will get things like tomatoes and more peppers. which speaking of peppers we have over 50 more flowers that just popped out....
Grandson just arrived...so off to play.....:)

[surviort_wwdnet]

The main thing with your trellis is to have the majority of the space be open (net openings, fence openings, etc.) so wind can blow right through it and not knock down the solid part of the trellis. My trellis only failed because I overloaded it with heavy produce (watermelon, squash, etc.), all on the same trellis. 🙄

I am definitely going to use grow bags for tomatoes, containers for peppers, and grow bags + trellises for climbers so I can spread them out. I'm not planting 25 tomato plants, though! I will likely plant more peppers because I use a lot of them. My main concern now is the winter vegetables, since I only have 2 vacuum bags left from my last year's winter garden.

50 pepper flowers??? I am green with envy! OTOH, I have another parsnip sprouting😁 So slooooowwww

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

My jalapeños, serrano's and cayenne's have been producing like crazy. These were planted from seed and are growing in my vertical garden. I have two jalapeños, a serrano and one cayenne in the vertical garden. I have three serranos, one jalapeno and one cayenne in grow bags or in ground. Seems like the vertical garden produced the most followed by grow bag. I have one banana pepper plant that has 5 large fruit, one sweet heat that has about 10 fruit and one ghost (boy is that one hot) that has 5 fruit as well. These three are in grow bags. I took a small bite off the tip of a ghost pepper I had harvested a few weeks ago, it was about 1/4" piece. Now I am not a big fan of peppers but my wife loves them. Well she watched me as I took a bite and I immediately felt the burn on my lips, then tongue and then throat as I chewed it. I could feel it going down my esophagus. My lips stayed numb (not kidding) where the pepper touched it for about 15-20 minutes. My wife said, "why did you do that?" I said if I am growing it I want to taste it. I made sure I thoroughly washed my hands right after I put the pepper down. I could not imagine getting that in my eyes....

[surviort_wwdnet]

I love your ghost pepper tasting story😂😂

Husband ordered a new wicker recliner for the screenporch and we put it together. In the process of moving the huge box and unpacking it, I sliced my ankle (ouch!) - Neosporin and bandaid. The rest of today was laundry and cooking - and the jacuzzi. I'm going out to water the starters shortly. Tomorrow is Gainesville VA, so another spent day, and the next day is phone conference with the VA SAH rep, but at least there's Friday😂😂

Plants are watered and not much change. What's growing is growing and what isn't - isn't. I'd love to do more peppers but as soon as I do, we'll get another frost.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Well the only thing left is a few tomatoes, peppers and the ali baba...picked some stuff yesterday (see pic). The orange pepper is ghost....they just look hot and the little pointy tip reminds me of a scorpion....gave away the kale and peppers and have the red kuri "curing" for storage. Oh I may be MIA on the forum for a few days, as I will be visiting with good friends that are coming into town today....

[surviort_wwdnet]

Nice harvest! Enjoy your friends👍

We just got home so its too dark to do anything😂