I’ve slacked the last couple years, but now that we have a proper place to do it, I really want to go hard at a winter garden. I’ll likely go with lots of greens (arugula, kale, collards, mustards,) strawberries, and might try my hand and broccoli again, though worms destroyed all of it last time.
Any gardeners out there? What are you growing? Post pics!
My first Carolina Reaper
So the deal is that I am going to make my Jerk Chicken recipe tonight. On the left is the portion of Scotch Bonnet peppers that I normally use to marinate ten chicken thights. On the right is the Carolina Reaper that I will make a second batch with.
Lord help me I know I am going to stick a sliver of that thing on my tongue!
Where I is going with this:
INGREDIENTS
I had the day off today and spent the afternoon repotting Coconut Palms and Almond trees, planting cuttings of Crotons, and potting seedlings of various palms, Cactus, and ground covers. I've currently got a couple hundred plants in stock I'm using for various vigilante landscaping projects.
Pics below show some of the types of plants I grow. Mainly ornamentals but some like Coconut Palms, Plantain, Bananas, Almonds, and Yuka (Cassava) can also be used for food. Leo was sitting at a school entrance this past Sun. evening when I showed up to do some landscape planting and watched without saying a word while I planted palm trees etc. on public property. I try to do the work when no one will notice so Sun. evening just before dark s the perfect time for a school entrance. The school entrance has looked horrible since the school opened about 10-12 years ago. I'm "fixing" it.
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In reply to NOHOME :
SWEET!!! Aside from a handful of tabascos and jalapenos, I haven’t really berkeleyed with peppers. I love ghost pepper, but I still fear the reaper!
While it doesn’t count as “gardening,” I found a couple massive clusters of ringless honey mushrooms a couple days ago. Sadly, they were: 1. Covered in worms, and 2. A good indication that the massive sycamore they’re feeding on is dying :/
Hmm poor time for pics as things are just winding down on my summer crop. This time I went with 14 tomato plants of 7 varieties and some peppers. I always have basil, thyme, and cilantro growing to feed the kitchen needs. My setup is a pretty basic raised bed in a sunny spot that is 4’x16’. It may get doubled next year...
I want to learn more, and I think I have a good spot for a small garden. Cilantro basil etc I think would be good to start with as I hear they are hard to kill.
Couple easy things to do to ensure Garden life goes well. Good dirt, pick up from the store if need be. Good drainage, raised bed or mounded dirt around the base of the plant. Sunlight is key, as is protection from pests so pick accordingly.
In general most peppers, not reapers, tomato’s, and herbs are really low maintenance if the above factors are attended to.
Pests being dogs and cats as well.
New people with an outdoor cat moved into the neighbourhood and the little bugger started sleeping in my garlic patch. Killed everything.
No garlic for me this year.
Re-worked my whole garden this year, going to square-foot system in raised beds.
I tried growing habaneros this year along with my jalepenos and green peppers. I have got more habaneros than the other two combined. Now I need to figure out something to do with them.
I've never heard of a Carolina Reaper. Is it one of those that you only touch with gloves?
In reply to D2W :
Probably tongs.
Made of refractory ceramic.
well its not quite garden-y but its what i got. this beauty is "queen of the night" . it's an epiphytic cacti. the bloom lasts one night.
We've had varying success with our gardens, but we have one every year.
I've been thinking about destroying the beds we have and starting over. We're getting too much grass and weeds in our boxes from rhizome action under the sides of the box. The initial design of the beds was a bit haphazard and after a few years with them, I've thought of some improvements.
We also have a septic system. The area where the drainage field is always full of dense, lush grass. I'm thinking some melons would do well there.
And this is why we do it. It's all about the garden fresh tomatos.
Prepping an Ina Gardener roasted tomato recipe. They stay forever in a canning jars with some oil.
Get back in the house, Barky!
Just moved into a new place that's not as nice but cheaper and has more land.
I want to turn this:
Into something A LOT more colorful. I was thinking of planting some potted flowers. But, is this a bad time of year to do it?
In reply to NOHOME :
I'm confused by the reapers... You're putting in way fewer peppers; are the reapers as much more flavorful as they are hotter?
And I always thought Scotch bonnets were plenty hot; I haven't worked with them much, but I remember a cooking show doing a Jamaican poached fish that made clear you shouldn't break the skin on the Scotch bonnet that was in the broth...
I mostly stick to jalapeños and serranos for hot peppers. Hope to grow some poblanos at the new place for chile rellenos...
Reapers are wicked hot. The other peppers offer far more flavor to heat ratio.
In reply to yupididit :
Not sure how cold it gets in your part of Texas, but the nurseries should be full of plants that are fall hardy and offer a punch of color. You can also plant bulbs for spring bloom now. Depending on your zone, tulips, daffodils and gladiolus would bloom at different times and should be winter hardy if you can keep the rabbits and voles away from them.
Found this growing in my compost pile yesterday:
Unfortunately I kinda uprooted it while trying to pull the weeds from around it. It didn't look so good today. :-(
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