Re-Started Hot Peppers

When I started the "super-hot peppers" three weeks ago, I started them like I start normal peppers: in soil, on a warming pad, with a plastic cover.


Additional research suggests that may not work for super-hots. But since they take 4 - 6 weeks to germinate, we won't know for another month.

So I started some more seeds: Ghost, Carolina Reaper, Orange Habanero, Lemon Drop. I started them in moist paper towels, in baggies, on the warming pads, under the trays.

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Note that several things have germinated:

• Red bell peppers.
• Fresno peppers (I'm growing these for my son).
• Cayenne peppers.
• Tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. Looks like every single tomato seed sprouted.

January 2018: First Two Weeks.

I've been told that when you're growing peppers, the hotter they are, the earlier you need to start them.

I was given some pepper seeds. They’re for fairly hot varieties:

• Cayenne Pepper (30,000 – 50,000 Scoville Heat Units)
• Carolina Reaper (2,000,000 – 2,200,000 SHUs)
• Yellow Reaper  (1,569,383 – 2,200,000 SHUs)
• Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper) (970,000 SHUs)
• Trinidad Scorpion, (1,200,000+ SHUs)
• Orange Habanero (325,000 SCUs

They’re very hot peppers. So I started them very early: they’re in dirt before January 15^th.

Then – because I’m very eager I can’t help myself, and as an experiment – I also  planted a few other things.

•     Lemon Drop Peppers x2 (30,000 SCUs)

•     Fresno Peppers (10,000 SCUs)

•     Felicity Peppers (1,000 SCUs: these are a mild jalapeno pepper)

•     Paprika Peppers (8,000 SCUs)

And as long as I was planting seeds, I planted a batch of sweet peppers as well, of various small fruit sizes.

I have more of all of these seeds if it doesn't work out.

And just to round out the night, I started some tomatoes, too.

• Legend (determinate, slicing)
• Chocolate Cherry x2 (indeterminate, large cherry)
• Unknown purple tomato seeds (from 2013)
• Brandywine (slicing, from 2013) and again, 
• Brandywine (slicing, from 2016)

None of these are real critical seeds for this year.


These are mostly "65 - 80 days" from seed to fruit. I don't actually believe that in the case of the hot peppers, but if it was true, then I'd have fruit ripening the last week of March.

That might be really interesting, harvesting peppers or tomatoes in March. I don't expect it. 

Polliwog Grows Up!

A month or two ago, I gathered a bucketful of polliwogs for our pond. I thought that the fish had eaten them all. Apparently not.

It appears that at least one grew up.

My Simon & Garfunkel Hanging Planter

I'm making a few hanging herb planters this year, just to see how they work on my patio.

This one has Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme. And some basil.

Impatiens Experiment

I was warned that it's a real bear to grow Impatiens from seeds. Someone told me you could keep cuttings over the winter, but I couldn't. So the options were: pay through the nose for plants. or grow my own.

Well, that one is easy. What can go wrong?

I found a package of 500 seeds online for three bucks delivered. And I set up for it.

Instructions call for warm soil: 60 - 75 degrees, but don't ever go above 85 or you'll kill 'em.

I got a larger heating mat (20x20), and it turned out to be warmer in the middle. With a little juggling of the cover, we could keep it in the range.

I set the seed package in there overnight, waiting for the moist soil to warm up: I wanted to plant into warm soil.

But condensation soaked the package, so I spread the seeds on the surface in a hurry and left to mow the lawn and help a friend build a gate.

No problem. It takes a couple of weeks to germinate. I'll check 'em in a week.

I couldn't wait. Four days later, I found this: They were sprouting!

I could see which side was warmer, so I flipped 'em around. A few days later, we had this: this was getting out of hand.

For several days, I watched the temperature and marveled!

A week later it looked like this:

Now they were getting real crowded. And if I looked closely, more seeds were just now germinating.

So I grabbed some small tools and some small pots and began transplanting the ones that were forming their first pair of real leaves.

I had a small tray with sixteen pockets, so I planted one or two impatiens starts in each pocket.

And I decided I wanted a flower pot this year.

I hooked chains on one of my larger (3 gallon?) greenhouse pots, drilled some holes in the sides, and planted impatiens!

I also planted some marigold starts, and some seeds for some black-eyed susan vines, and left room for some schizanthus later on.

That reduced the crowding on the impatiens for about two days.

I needed to transplant them to real pots, starter pots, but real pots. Fortunately, a friend gave me a bunch recently.

I got busy.

I only transplanted the bigger plants.

But the more I transplanted out, the more seeds germinated. The tray stayed full.

After all this, the tray remained as full of impatiens starts as it ever was.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with so many flowers.

It's a Mystery

I was cleaning up some things in the greenhouse, and a came across a yogurt container. I pulled off the lid and found this:



A cup or so of bench sweepings – dirt and seeds and composty-bits – and a note that says, “Plant me!” and a tag reading “Bench.”

I felt a little like Alice down the rabbit hole.

But I though it was worthwhile. So I planted it.

I have a vague memory of sweeping up after a session dehydrating peppers. I suspect that this is that. 

So I suspect that what sprouts – if anything – may be a variety of festive peppers.

This could be entertaining.

Mid March in the Garden

A bunch of stuff going on in the garden today. Only dry day in weeks, and NOAA tells us to expect a very wet week.

I planted some radishes.

OK, nice, but they're the only seeds I have, for the 2012 gardening year. I don't have my hopes up.

The cover is to keep the birds from eating the seed.



I cut back the mugwort and the wormwood.

A number of the branches I cut back of the wormwood had leaves sprouting. So we'll see if we can sprout these into plants.




I've had a tray of leek starts since last fall. Planted a row of those.




Most of the asparagus is out.

I've been letting the asparagus starts tell me when they need to go out. When they have stalks at least 4 or 5 inches high and they're seriously root-bound, it's time to go out.



Tomato cages and trellises are in place. They won't have tomatoes for around two more months. But tomatoes benefit from having some garlic growing among them, and I wanted to get the garlic in. So the cages and trellises are in place.




    
And since it's such a beautiful day (and not likely to be again for a week or three), I mowed the back yard.

OK, I admit: I mostly vacuumed the back yard. But I got the yard cleaned up some. I think we'll make use of this yard this year.