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Maybe a type of chiltepin
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Sep 4, 2020 02:22
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| # ? Jun 6, 2024 12:10 |
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Also -- With recent Sichuan peppercorn talk I thought I'd make a visit to the Peppercorn Forest near my work for the first time since spring. Where I am located the leaves are used a lot and foraged as a spring vegetable. I did a lot of that this year and then again with the young green peppercorns. Then it got too hot to make the long walk out there during my break time. It's finally cooled down though so today I went to check it out to find still tons of fruit ripening on the trees. I know of several areas with tons of little trees/bushes growing wild and the very shaded places seem to have the happiest plants. When I had grown a tree before the person that sold it to me told me to keep it out of the sun so that all makes sense. 
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Sep 4, 2020 15:20
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SubG posted:So jealous. Every time I've tried to grow okra they've been demotivationally runtish, probably because the evenings are too cool. Perfect timing for that answer. I have three plants that are 9-10' tall and a couple on their way. So far I have been able to bend the top of the plant to snip the pods, but soon I'll need a stepladder. I hesitate to top them because that's where all the flowers, and thus the pods, are setting. I may top the biggest one to see whether it starts bushing out. But like everybody else down here, I already have too much goddamn okra anyway.
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Sep 4, 2020 16:41
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This morning: Something is eating my grapes. This afternoon: You motherfucker. 
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Sep 4, 2020 22:11
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ColdPie posted:This morning: Something is eating my grapes.  That's actually from a couple years ago. There's a spot under one corner of a shed in the back yard that's been home to a family of possums across multiple generations. The day I took that pic I noticed that guy, who was somewhere between the size of a mouse and the size of a roof rat (the screw in the wood behind him is a #8, and the PCV there is 1/2" ID, so around 3/4" wide on the outside, if that helps set the scale). After leaving him to go his way I was doing other poo poo in the garden and turned around to see him next to one of the raised beds on the other side of the yard. Turned around again and there he was over by the shed. At which point I stopped and looked around and realised that I had four or five wee opossums poking myopically around various corners of the yard. Apparently when they're newborn and first leave momma they wander around in the open during the day like that. Anyway, they grow to something more like possum-sized within a couple months and then they become fuckin' rodent murdering machines, particularly if the possum in question is a broody momma possum. They also clear out snakes, although we don't get a lot of poisonous snakes around here so whatever. But last place I lived in the area we were constantly fighting with roof rats trying to gnaw their way into poo poo and here we have never had a problem with them. Unrelated to that, peppercorn update for anyone keeping track: The peppercorns are just now getting fully ripe, and they're starting to split open. Gonna harvest these guys pretty soon. In theory you can leave them on the plant until they dry out but I think I'm going to try germinating some of these seeds, and they drop out after the pericarp (the part of the peppercorn you use) splits all the way open.  Speaking of splitting open, for anyone interested this is what happens to an overripe bitter melon:  A ripe bitter melon is deep green. As they get over-ripe they start to turn that bright international orange colour, and the pulp inside turns a vibrant maroon red. At this stage they start hollowing out, and feel kinda like a dog's rubber chew toy. Then they split open and dump their seeds. The reddish stuff on the seeds is the remains of the pulp. The seeds themselves, if you scrape this stuff off, is dark brown. I've developed a gardener's superstition that seeds that are direct sown with the red pulp still on the seed casing grow into more vigorous plants. Or at least the biggest and most productive bitter melon vines I've ever grown were ones that self-sowed.
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Sep 4, 2020 23:28
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^ I think I’ve seen the movie that comes from. Also, I’m pretty sure you could take cuttings from the peppercorn shrub and have a bunch of them in a couple years, but I doubt yours is really big enough to start taking cuttings really. Keep us updated on if they sprout, especially if you leave them on the branch to fully mature.
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Sep 5, 2020 00:12
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I have developed a similar suspicion that direct sown stuff is more vigorous than transplants. The basil I direct sew is huge and happy, but the starts I got from bonnie have done nothing. I've never had a problem with basil before, but they just sit there, not growing, not dying
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Sep 5, 2020 00:17
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Jhet posted:Also, I’m pretty sure you could take cuttings from the peppercorn shrub and have a bunch of them in a couple years, but I doubt yours is really big enough to start taking cuttings really. Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I have developed a similar suspicion that direct sown stuff is more vigorous than transplants. The basil I direct sew is huge and happy, but the starts I got from bonnie have done nothing. I've never had a problem with basil before, but they just sit there, not growing, not dying What I'm doing is letting some of the melons get over-ripe on the vine, rupture, drop seed, and then placing the seeds immediately where I want the plants to come up next spring. I'm also going to try just placing/burying an over-ripe melon in its entirety to see how that works. My half-assed theory is that the melon rind/pith/pulp/whatever is acting as fertilizer or a seed treatment or something that's improving the quality of the plants.
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Sep 5, 2020 00:52
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I have developed a similar suspicion that direct sown stuff is more vigorous than transplants. The basil I direct sew is huge and happy, but the starts I got from bonnie have done nothing. I've never had a problem with basil before, but they just sit there, not growing, not dying I've done well with starting basil from seed in trays and then transplanting those, but I don't think I'd go for starts because a lot of the time, by the time you get them they've been root-bound for a bit and never really recover.
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Sep 5, 2020 01:11
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showbiz_liz posted:I've done well with starting basil from seed in trays and then transplanting those, but I don't think I'd go for starts because a lot of the time, by the time you get them they've been root-bound for a bit and never really recover. Yea I do the same and they generally crush my store bought starts
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Sep 5, 2020 01:14
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I like root bound basil, though, it's less likely to bolt before I even use half of it.
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Sep 5, 2020 01:22
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SubG posted:What I'm doing is letting some of the melons get over-ripe on the vine, rupture, drop seed, and then placing the seeds immediately where I want the plants to come up next spring. I'm also going to try just placing/burying an over-ripe melon in its entirety to see how that works. My half-assed theory is that the melon rind/pith/pulp/whatever is acting as fertilizer or a seed treatment or something that's improving the quality of the plants. How is that a half-assed theory. Isn’t that kind of what plants do with their fruit? I know it’s multi-purpose, like getting animals to spread the seeds too, but I know squashes do exactly that with the pulp of the fruit too. So bitter melon doing that with the pulp is prime for extra nutrients in the soil for early growing. I swear a neighbor is growing gourds exactly this way and not on purpose. They just clearly didn’t clean them up last fall. You have a good idea and a good understanding of how plants work, this doesn’t track as half anything. I’d like to see if you can test it, but with as big as the plants can get I wouldn’t want you to drown in them.
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Sep 5, 2020 02:02
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SubG posted:My half-assed theory is that the melon rind/pith/pulp/whatever is acting as fertilizer or a seed treatment or something that's improving the quality of the plants. This completely tracks to me. I just learned about a plant whose seeds attract their own specialized fertilizer in a delightfully gruesome manner: Seeds of the Shepherd’s Purse plant, Capsella bursa-pastoris, are covered in a sticky slime that seems to attract, trap and kill nematode worms. It’s hypothesized that this is to enrich the surrounding soil, which would make the seeds “protocarnivorous.”
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Sep 5, 2020 03:25
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Oh cool we got a gardening thread. So I got a lovely little half rear end garden. That's not the important thing though. The house I moved into also has a grapevine and a raspberry and blackberry bush, so I was wondering what exactly do I do to maintain these cause having fruit just grow in my yard is cool. Both are already huge and seem to want to grow into the little patch I made for vegetables. Also there is a rude rear end pokeweed tree growing out of the raspberry/blackberry bush that i almost tasted before googling what the plant was so any tips and tricks on fighting that thing.
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Sep 5, 2020 07:28
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Jhet posted:How is that a half-assed theory. Isn’t that kind of what plants do with their fruit? If it's from the bits of rind that end up adhering to the seed casing then that would make sense in terms of better germination rates, increased growth at the seed leaf stage, or that kind of thing. But the volunteer vine is something like four times the volume of any of the other vines, and I have difficulty attributing that all to a couple mm of bitter melon goo on the seed before germination. I mean I'm willing to be convinced, but that's why I'm skeptical. Like I'd also be willing to believe that it's actually something that's working entirely in the opposite direction--the self-propagated stuff is actually at a competitive disadvantage for some reason (sub-optimal seed depth, sowing time, and so on) and so most of them die early/fail to germinate/whatever, and it's only the oddball super-robust plant that manages to survive at all. And this has some support in that each bitter melon contains a shitload of seeds (as seen in the pic of the split one I posted earlier), but I only got two volunteer vines--one that got pulled up immediately (because it was where the eggplants were going) and the one that I let grow.
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Sep 5, 2020 09:08
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Re: transplanting vs sowing, I work on a small organic farm in the NE with a short growing season and we transplant absolutely everything except for carrots, because it's difficult to not disturb the taproot and end up with a funky shape, and some salad mixes/radish etc that we want dense and don't need to get big. With proper method and the right set up, transplanting works for anything as far as I can tell. The thing that makes a successful transplant is planting without doing any damage to the underground system. We plant in little squares of soil that are ideally just a bit root bound - I think the problem is when transplanting involves tugging a baby up and soil comes off from the roots which sets it back a good deal, because it will have to regrow all the capillaries which are terribly small but don't seem to adapt to new soil without regrowing. When I'm not about to dash out of the house I'll make a post abt it. But obviously if i lived somewhere with a long enough season you don't need to transplant, I wouldn't bother w transplanting either lol
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Sep 5, 2020 11:57
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Really excited about my Corsican mint! These seeds were a total impulse buy, but once I learned this existed I had to have some. It's a ridiculously tiny mint that grows as a ground cover, with apparently one of the strongest flavors of any mint - it's the kind traditionally used in creme de menthe. I have no actual use for this, I just thought it was neat.
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Sep 5, 2020 20:11
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I pulled oh, 150 gallons of weeds that have set seeds today (mostly chamberbitter/mimosa weed gently caress you  ). I should not under any circumstances be tempted to try and compost them, right?
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Sep 6, 2020 00:37
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Whitenoise Poster posted:Oh cool we got a gardening thread. I've ripped out some stuff at a friend's place that she identified as pokeweed, and it came out pretty easily, roots and all, with a good tug. No idea about long term control, but debulking can't hurt. Are they Himalayan blackberry? (Thorny, spreads like crazy). If so, I'd kill it and its babies with extreme prejudice. Rip it out the ground, using a trowel or other digging tool to get out the roots. Watch for new growth after you rip it out and rip that out too. If you want blackberries, there are less-invasive, thornless varieties you can get for not much money. Espalier is a nice neat way to grow them. Raspberries you want to cut out any dead canes in the spring (use leather gloves, they're thorny). Also they spread through runners, so it's a good idea to pull out any that extend beyond the zone where you want it. Otherwise, keep it watered and it should give you tons of fruit. A little compost or fertilizer also couldn't hurt. Someone else can address the grapes.
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Sep 6, 2020 04:00
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  These are the Burpee Super Sauce Hybrids I've been talking about. Look at how little pulp and seeds are in there.  Rolling boil for 2 minutes after the last addition, everything being smashed up with a potato masher along the way.  Through the food mill to get rid of skins and at least some of the seeds.  One tablespoon per quart of lemon juice in the jar then the crushed tomatoes. Clean the rim with a wet paper towel, put on a lid (rinsed off), throw on a ring.  Just a bit of water in the pressure canner (the manual will tell you how much for yours). Space everything out so they aren't touching the sides or each other as best you can. Remember, it's steam that does the work here. The steam has to be able to contact as much of your jars as possible.  Blow off valve (to the back) is up, head of steam coming out of the center fitting. Wait 7 minutes to make sure all the air is out and it's just steam in there.  Jiggler on with all the weights (15 PSI). Wait until tit starts jiggling. Then let it process for 10 minutes.  Turn it off and do nothing. Nothing at all. No, don't take the jiggler off. Just wait until the blow off valve goes back down on it's own.   Bonus content, Mrs. Motronic made pepper jam earlier today: 
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Sep 6, 2020 04:29
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Those Burpee Super Sauce Hybrids have piqued my interest for next year. How many plants did that harvest come from?
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Sep 6, 2020 10:23
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Bloody Cat Farm posted:Those Burpee Super Sauce Hybrids have piqued my interest for next year. How many plants did that harvest come from? I had 10 of them, two steakhouse hybrids (the round ones you can see in that pile) and 6 "who knows, looks like big boys or better boys" from the local farm market. I've canned some of the slicing tomatoes along with the canning ones as things got crazy.  That plus what I canned yesterday puts me at 26 quarts. I've probably got at least another canner load (7) to go that aren't ripe yet but breaking.
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Sep 6, 2020 14:21
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Anyone built their own greenhouse from scratch? I want one in a size that doesn't seem widely available (4'x12' / 1.2x3.6m)?
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Sep 6, 2020 16:21
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Motronic you should check out Amish Paste heirlooms. They're an indeterminate that produces a similar fruit and I love the flavour.
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Sep 6, 2020 16:42
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CommonShore posted:Motronic you should check out Amish Paste heirlooms. They're an indeterminate that produces a similar fruit and I love the flavour. Ohh, nice. I'll put those on my shopping list. Always willing to get another variety a try.
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Sep 6, 2020 17:53
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If my sweet hungarian peppers look like chilis and are vaguely spicy and my red chilis look like hungarian peppers with a hefty kick, that's last year's cross pollination rearing it's head, right? And what I get next year is going to be a random combo of traits of what I harvest now and whatever other peppers were growing in the neighborhood, probably? I guess I never used to have these problems container gardening in the city due to a lack of insects or something.
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Sep 6, 2020 18:14
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Yes. Peppers are notoriously easy to cross pollinate. I had ghost peppers one year that came in dark purple with absolutely zero heat. Still haven't figured that one out.
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Sep 6, 2020 19:42
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Motronic posted:Ohh, nice. I'll put those on my shopping list. Always willing to get another variety a try. (The biggest advantage I see in going to heirloom is in seed saving of course)
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Sep 6, 2020 20:00
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mischief posted:Yes. Peppers are notoriously easy to cross pollinate. I had ghost peppers one year that came in dark purple with absolutely zero heat. Still haven't figured that one out. Does it generally lean in one direction? Like is it easier to breed for sweetness and hotness has to be cultivated, vice-versa, or about the same?
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Sep 6, 2020 20:16
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I've never noticed any pattern. Peppers just really like getting down apparently.
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Sep 6, 2020 21:45
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HELLO LADIES posted:Does it generally lean in one direction? Like is it easier to breed for sweetness and hotness has to be cultivated, vice-versa, or about the same? You have to select for it by isolating and crossing by hand, but otherwise peppers are like college kids at a party. Plenty of them will attempt to cross multiply with gusto. You can bag flowers to keep the pollination the way you want if you’re trying to save seeds. You just need to mark them after pollinating and take the bag off once they’re setting the fruit.
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Sep 6, 2020 22:47
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I'm just pissed that what I was growing for food now mainly has ornamental qualities. It's just skin and seeds. Stupid sex having plants.
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Sep 6, 2020 23:38
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CommonShore posted:(The biggest advantage I see in going to heirloom is in seed saving of course) 100%. I always feel a little bad about buying hybrids. This year I didn't have much choice in anything at all because I was not planning on having a garden this year, so I hadn't ordered early like I normally would have. If the Amish Pastes are anywhere close to these hybrids I'll stick with them for the very reason of saving seeds and having a well selected and predictable tomato year to year.
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Sep 7, 2020 01:41
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Motronic posted:100%. I always feel a little bad about buying hybrids. This year I didn't have much choice in anything at all because I was not planning on having a garden this year, so I hadn't ordered early like I normally would have. If the Amish Pastes are anywhere close to these hybrids I'll stick with them for the very reason of saving seeds and having a well selected and predictable tomato year to year. My mother has been using them for many years. It's her favorite paste tomato and she's tried quite a few. Zone 5 if I remember right, but they're prolific and taste great.
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Sep 7, 2020 06:26
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The only problem I have with them is that they don't have that many seeds to save! My new strategy is to scrape the seeds out of 3 into a jar to ferment a bit and make sauce with the rest of the tomatoes.
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Sep 7, 2020 16:24
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I have a weird question. For some reason, whenever I grow peppers, they don’t fully mature before the weather gets cold. I have no idea why. Everything else does. It’s now September and temps are starting to dip below 60 at night at times. If I bring my scotch bonnet and bell pepper in now, will they continue to mature? They’re in pots.
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Sep 7, 2020 16:53
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Gardening: 24/7 Pepperchat: Peppers really bring that hybrid vigor!
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Sep 7, 2020 17:12
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Bloody Cat Farm posted:I have a weird question. For some reason, whenever I grow peppers, they don’t fully mature before the weather gets cold. I have no idea why. Everything else does. It’s now September and temps are starting to dip below 60 at night at times. If I bring my scotch bonnet and bell pepper in now, will they continue to mature? They’re in pots. For now, I'd bring them in at night and put them back out during the day. But for next year - how big are the pots? Because I started a bunch of peppers this year in what I thought would be decently-sized pots, and then I moved one to a bigger container and this is what happened (photo is a month later):  The bigger one has given me way more peppers as well as getting way bigger. So maybe that's the issue. (Or maybe you are smarter than me and your pots are fine!)
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Sep 7, 2020 18:25
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showbiz_liz posted:For now, I'd bring them in at night and put them back out during the day. But for next year - how big are the pots? Because I started a bunch of peppers this year in what I thought would be decently-sized pots, and then I moved one to a bigger container and this is what happened (photo is a month later): Nope. You’re definitely smarter! Mine are still in your smaller pot. That must be the issue! I’ve only ever had gardens in the yard until last year, so containers are new to me. I’ll have to upgrade for next year! Thanks for the tip and for the tip about bringing them in. Not sure why I hadn’t thought of that.
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Sep 7, 2020 19:14
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| # ? Jun 6, 2024 12:10 |
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showbiz_liz posted:For now, I'd bring them in at night and put them back out during the day. But for next year - how big are the pots? Because I started a bunch of peppers this year in what I thought would be decently-sized pots, and then I moved one to a bigger container and this is what happened (photo is a month later): Whereas tomatoes will easily outgrow their footings and get stressed the gently caress out, peppers mostly just stop growing when approaching a rootbound situation. What capacity would you say your pot/bags are there? The one on the left looks glorious.
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Sep 7, 2020 19:30
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