Passion for Gardening!

"The returns-or should we say rewards?- that one gets from a garden are of various kinds. There are the material products-flowers, vegetables, fruits- to be enjoyed through the several senses, or shared with others and thereby doubly enjoyed. There is the physical benefit and enjoyable recreation to be gained from garden work. There is the pride of ownership of something fine and beautiful, and the inspiration of working hand in hand with Nature in creating it. Sometimes there is the thrill of an award or other recognition for something unusually good. Always there is the well-merited satisfaction of having accomplished something that enhances the home and benefits the community; of having taken a step and made a contribution toward that noble goal, a more beautiful America."

- The New Garden Encyclopedia, Copyright 1936

Pickin’ Peppers

Being a huge fan of hot sauces, spicy foods, taco salads, and all the recipes one can create with chili peppers, ‘Dirty Girl’ Suzanne asked if I would do a blog on my pepper gardening from these past couple of years.

Now gardening isn’t usually associated with men, or considered a hobby or activity that many men participate in.  However, if you’re talking chili peppers, for some reason those varietals seem to be interlinked to masculinity and therefore, a socially-acceptable gardening crop for the manliest of men to take on!

Not caring much for stereotypes or gender roles anyway, I frankly love all gardening, and have been doing it since I was a small boy, learning from my mom Jeni who is now a certified “Master-Gardener” via CSU Extension Education.

But I digress…

Peppers!  What a fun, exciting, easy and delicious crop to grow!  Peppers vary in heat and application and some folks grow both edible & ornamental peppers.  I will focus on only the edibles and share with you the lessons I’ve learned which now yield me a plentiful, satisfying and wide variety of awesome chili peppers.

Let’s talk container gardening.  Peppers by nature love full sun, and so container gardening is a great way to cultivate chili’s in just the right sunniest spot in your yard.

You can even grow peppers on your deck as I have or in your apartment window.  No need for a large plot of land to grow chilis.

Container Peppers

I have four pepper-favorites based largely on ease of growing and high yield.  The ever popular Jalapeno, spicier and more consistent Serrano, the hotter still Tabasco pepper and the super hot Habanero.  Don’t let the hot reputation of any of these peppers scare you, either.  Consider you can make an entire batch of homemade garden salsa with just one Habanero!  Talk about efficiency!  Suzanne and I have done this with delicious results. 

Serrano & Jalapeno peppers are my favorites for everyday use.  These are great for tacos (dice ‘em up and use as much or as little as you prefer) taco salads, burritos, even on eggs for a Sunday morning kick!  There are infinite uses for peppers in many of your favorite dishes.  Just today I diced up some Tabasco peppers and made guacamole for lunch.

Let’s get back to the gardening part.  Quality of soil & compost, choosing to go organic, and using organic fertilizers are the core principles of my successful pepper crops.  I do not use any pesticides or sprays; not even Miracle-Gro.  I use a mix of pure organic compost which we create ourselves via a large compost bin in our yard, but you may purchase compost soil from any garden supply or nursery.  I also recommend mixing that compost with ‘planters mix’ soil, or some quality gardening soil your local nursery can help provide.  You could even mix in some peat moss to lighten it up a bit if you’re container gardening.  Just make sure you’re not using backyard dirt & clay soil for these peppers…you want a quality soil mix which will have all the nutrients necessary for an abundant crop!

As far as fertilizers, I use an organic granular vegetable fertilizer once every ten days or so.  That’s enough along with regular watering to produce more peppers than you’ll know what to do with all summer long!  In fact, it’s now the week of Thanksgiving and since peppers are perennials, I still have peppers growing and producing in my garage to this day!  That’s right; you can save your plants for next years harvest, and still get some winter production so long as you have a warm place for the plants to remain.  Pepper plants do not like the cold, unless... 

…You freeze them!  Yes, peppers can be frozen and preserved for future use.  You simply snap off the stem, rinse and dry the peppers, then seal in a freezer bag and save for a winter batch of homemade chili.

Email me if you have any questions, and I hope you make time to garden in the future!

danielshane1@comcast.net  

Composting

One of my books in the collection is Let It Rot! by Stu Campbell.  Read it and learn everything you need to know to compost. We have composted for three years. We have a lot of organic material that would normally go in the garbage or sink disposal. It all gets composted. No animal products are composted however and since we are vegetarians, borderline vegans, this is easy enough. We also juice in the mornings and all of the organic material left over goes to the compost bin as well.

There is a lot of life in the compost bin, worms and insects, but it doesn't smell bad and we get a terrific soil as a result. We have a two bin compost. We used The Victory Garden diagrams and instructions to build ours. It is a great way to reduce waste and poor nutrients into your garden. If you have questions please ask.

Newer organic material from cleaning out the garden at end of season.

Compost bin- First bin (right) organic material has been transported to garden this Fall.

Radishes!

This year was my first year growing radishes. At first, I didn't know what to do with so many beautiful red radishes but quickly found one recipe worth repeating.

Radish pico de gallo: Dice up radishes, jalapenos, onions and cucumber and mix together in a large bowl. Add fresh garlic, cilantro and lime juice (1/2 - 1 cup) and salt to taste. Serve with chips. Enjoy!

I will grow radishes every year. This year I had 3 crops. The first two crops were the best in the same plot mixed in with carrots.


The third crop I attempted didn't do as well. I moved the radish crop to the far upper right corner of the garden. I don't think they liked the harder soil and there was less sunshine as well.

Eggplants...growing and cooking

This year, and hopefully each year forward, I like to experiment with new crops I haven't planted before. This year I wanted to try eggplant. I started them from seed inside and once in the garden they produced like crazy. We had more eggplants than we knew what to do with.

Eggplant

What I learned is that we did not need 8-10 plants. Next year I will do well with 4-5 plants.


This year I learned how to cook eggplant. Sure, my Grandmother would make an excellent eggplant parmesan, but what else was I to do with all of the eggplant!

Eggplant Prepared to Cook

I have found that I love to cook eggplant and created some recipes including eggplant bruschetta, eggplant sloppy joe's as well as using it in stir-fry and pasta dishes. You must salt the eggplant before cooking, let stand for 15-30 minutes and pat the moisture out with a paper towel before cooking. Eggplant is very versatile.

What I also learned about eggplant is you can use the little eggplants as well as the larger ones. Honestly, I didn't harvest many large eggplants. They were so heavy they would bend the plants down. So next year I will support the plants with stakes, pick off some small eggplants and attempt to grow larger ones, which I might have more fun in the kitchen with.

Growing Season Pics....

  

Here are some pictures from this season, May through July.



5/6/2012

5/20/2012

7/4/2012

7/13/2012



Carrots: Lesson Learned 2012

Carrots are tasty from the garden and I really enjoy them in stir fry but we discovered that our clay soil hindered the size of our carrots and they were very difficult to remove as well. So the lesson learned is that we will grow carrots in a whiskey barrel next year with a lite, airy soil, in the hopes of increasing the size of this crop.

First Carrot

2012 Garden Plan..

This was our second growing season so we made sure to rotate crops in the hopes of not over depleting any essential soil nutrients. We also took into account sun exposure and I personally wanted to increase our yield. This required crops to grow closer together and mixed in with each other. Above are pictures of the initial set up of our garden this last summer, 5/06 and 5/20 respectfully.

Seedlings....2012

I started seedlings early in February, including onions, tomatoes, cauliflower, yellow & green squash, red cabbage, eggplant, broccoli, spaghetti and butternut squash as well. I set up a table in my office with a seed warming pad and plant light. I would warm the seeds until they sprouted and then rotate to the plant light as needed. I also had a big window above the seedlings, so indirect light helped as well.

In March we had mature seedlings that could be transplanted to bigger containers. I use gallon milk jugs for the majority of the tomato plants. The jugs give them plenty of room to grow before planting in the garden and they can be cut off if I am concerned about  the roots. Otherwise, I separate the crowded seedlings into bigger containers. Note: I reuse all containers every year and get free containers from retailers that have an over abundance.

I move seedlings outside on warm sunny days and move them back into my office during the night. It gets crowded quickly in my office whereas I will now have plants on the makeshift table and underneath.

Things Learned from this season 2012...

PESTS! I do not use chemicals or insecticides and with the warmer than usual spring and a very hot early and mid summer we had more than fair share pests. Aphids, grub worms, flea beetles and grasshoppers were our pests this year.

• Aphids started early on our pepper plants that we had housed during the winter. Pepper plants are perennials, so we decided to keep them alive and transplant them this summer. We lost at least four plants before the last frost. But the ones that made it thrived in our garden this year. The aphids soon lost interest in the pepper plants, for the most part, and moved on to our cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower where we battled them for the remaining of the season. The damage wasn't severe but I did rinse the plant leaves and removed by hand as many as I could.
• I hate grub worms mostly because we had no idea that we had them until we lost squash and cucumbers to them. We only found them in our whiskey barrel plants. The only way we could get rid of them is to dump the whiskey barrel dirt out on a tarp and pick through the dirt and remove them. Robins love grub worms so we made quick friends this year and served them their delicacy! See picture above of grub worms.
• Flea beetles were not a huge problem and I only saw a few, because they are real quick to jump out of sight. But I suspected it was flea beetles when I found leaves eaten through to the point that they looked like lace. I could be wrong. However, I didn't need to do anything about these pest, not enough damage was done.
• Grasshoppers came very late, in August, and only ate our tomato plants and cauliflower leaves primarily. They went for the fruit on the tomato plants and the leaves on the cauliflower. I let my husband pick them out. They were huge!

Pictures from July

We have concluded our 2nd year of organic gardening. Here are some pictures from our peak this summer, mid-July.