Today's harvest

[bbqcoder]

I forgot to mention that I do get a few seedlings. Some from Sun Moon Farm, a CSA in Rindge, NH. I know the farmers through a friend of mine. Have gotten garlic, dahlias, as well as eggplant, kale, pepper seedlings. I have volunteered a few times on the farm but I do not participate in the CSA program as they're too far from my house.

I also got a few seedlings from another community gardener who has a mini-CSA. Will plan to buy more from her next year.

 

[pepperhead212]

I don't have the patience to start most things from seeds, so I have a few places I buy from. I'm a master gardener and my MG group has an Open Garden (like an Open House) twice a year in spring and fall, so I buy some plants there. I buy annual herbs from another local spring sale put on by a garden group (I've been buying there for 30 years). And I buy some things from the local Feed & Seed Store. When I want specialty items, I look at Renee's Garden. I really like the tri-color seed collections they have (three colors of beans, zucchini, etc.) in a single packet. I buy these through Amazon to save on shipping, since we have Prime.

https://www.reneesgarden.com/collections/vegetables

I forgot to mention Renees! That's another place I get seeds from - that Thai Vesuvius that I get huge quantities from, is from there. A couple times a year she has a 50% off sale.

I got working on my raised bed today - edge joined some halved 2x8s, with some dowels and gorilla glue, for the ends. Will need help with the 10' sides, however! My help will be here tomorrow, so I'll have something cooked for them.

 

[pepperhead212]

More peppers today - the red Thai and Jyotis I may freeze from today's crop, since I need fresh reds for many dishes in Thai and other SE Asian dishes. Next, I'll start freezing some fresh greens, for Indian, and other cuisines. And some frozen habaneros. Hanoi market isn't great dried, or green, so I freeze all of those ripe, besides the ones I use now.
Misc. Peppers - Big Jim, Poblano, Thai, Aji Dulce, Hanoi Market, and Jalafuego 8-25 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Jyoti, 8-25 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Habaneros - Chocolate, Red Savina, and Gold Bullet, 8-25 Chocolates will soon be the max producer. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[pepperhead212]

A question for those of you here with raised beds (and I see there are a number of you!) - do any of you practice the method of Hugelkultur? Just curious, since I'm putting together that new raised bed. It's only about 14.75" deep, so not sure if it's deep enough.

 

[larry_stewart]

A question for those of you here with raised beds (and I see there are a number of you!) - do any of you practice the method of Hugelkultur? Just curious, since I'm putting together that new raised bed. It's only about 14.75" deep, so not sure if it's deep enough.

I kinda did a " my own version" of the Hugelkultur technique, but not in the raised bed, it was outside of the raised bed. I had an area of the side yard that needed to be cleaned up due to shrubbery and left over logs / branches from previous hurricane damage ( to make room for, what else, more raised beds ) So I decided to create a Hugelkultur garden ( as I had read about it and was curious). To its defense, its really in the absolute worst spot on my property for any garden, so I didn't have high hopes. My cabbages did ok there, since they are an early crop and the leaves on the trees hadn't formed, and they got their fulfillment of sun.

I figure, worst case scenario is Ill have some decent composted soil over time.

The closest I've come to doing it in my raised beds was directly composting in the raised be (not the same as Hugelkultur). Issue I had with that was the raccoons digging up the garden looking for treats.

 

[GreenEnvy22]

Mine are only around 12" tall,but there is also just more dirt below the raised beds, also good soil (old owner had his garden there right on the ground.) Never need that Hugelkultur method before, but I'll read up on it.

 

[pepperhead212]

For the lighting for my hydroponics, and seedlings I use 4' fluorescent bulbs - 2 T8s and 2 T5s, for the hydro, and 4 T8 bulbs for seedlings. This year, I tried some 4' LED fixtures from Harbor Freight, with 5,000 lumens of "daylight", and that's about the equivalent of two T8 bulbs, and when I tested two trays of seedlings under 2 of them, they did well, and didn't get leggy, like under low output bulbs. I don't know how long these last - they are listed at 10,000 hrs., but it's too soon to know. Harbor Freight has these on sale frequently for $19.95, and sometimes even $16.95.

I mis-stated this before - they actually state that these last 30,000 hours, when saw a package in the basement. The 10,000 was probably what popped into my suspicious mind, with things like this! I'll find out - I have those two that I tested tomato seedlings under, that did about the same as 4 T8 bulbs, and I labeled them - used 26 hours, @16 hrs a day, and I'll keep putting the time used on these, to see how long they actually last.

 

[larry_stewart]

Do you use you're hydroponics year round, or just during the off season ?
I use mine during the off season , primarily. I just tossed som basil ,dill and parsley in. It will take a few weeks to be harvestable, by that time the basil and likely the dill will be gone in the garden. I want to get a bigger or second system so I can constantly have things going on.

 

[pepperhead212]

I just use mine in the off season - as soon as I start getting basil, and other things outside, I break it down and clean it...when I have the time! This gives me a time to clean it out - after 8 months or so, it needs it, though the Hygrozyme helps it self clean, sort of, and the roots are still pretty good on the plants that are still there.

Speaking of parsley, I have found that flat leaf, which I have always preferred, grows roots that are just too large, and the top overgrows, as well! The plain curly (not triple) works best for me in the hydro, and I've even pulled it out in spring, and planted it outside, and it kept growing!

 

[pepperhead212]

More peppers! Just 4 days, and the chocolate habs and jyotis had a bunch more to pick (I'm only picking the totally ripe ones - many more at various stages of ripeness, plus countless greens), though others are slowing down, for sure.
Habaneros 8-29. Chocolate plant is loaded, but the red savina and gold bullet plants have slowed down greatly. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Jyoti 8-29 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I picked all of the full sized Superchilis, hoping to trigger them to a new flush of blossoms, which are there, but not opened.
Thai Vesuvius and Aji Dulce slowed down. Pulled all full size Superchilis, green and red, 8-29 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A few small tomatoes today and yesterday. About the same number both days, but we snacked on some yesterday.
Sunset falls, grape, and cherry tomatoes, 8-28 and 8-29. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I was surprised when I looked at my beans today. The blauhilde had blossoms all over, which is normal, as they were planted on 7-14, and they are a fairly fast pole bean. But what surprised me was that there are beans all over the Thai Purple Podded Yard Long Beans! They are too small to pick, since they are very thin, which is normal for long beans. But these are the fastest long beans I have ever grown, for sure.
Thai purple podded yard long bean, planted on 7-14. Fastest long bean ever! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Blauhilde blossoms. Planted on 7-14 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[pepperhead212]

Got warmer during the days again, the last several days, so the okra has picked up production again. Amazing how it slowed on those cooler days! Getting a good number of ripe cherry tomatoes, but the larger ones are slower, but with a lot of green tomatoes.

Today I planted a flat of seeds for my fall crop! All fairly fast growing, as well as cold hardy. Only one - Pad Tsai (sort of a loose-leaf napa) - I haven't grown in the fall yet, so I'll see how it fares.

 

[GotGarlic]

We harvested these yesterday. The poblanos are getting sun scald, so we went ahead and picked them. I'm going to put them in a Bobby Flay rice dish for Taco Tuesday. I let the Anaheims turn red, so I guess I'll make a sauce with those. And we have tons of chocolate cherry tomatoes ripening.

 

[bbqcoder]

I harvested a lot of yellow banana potatoes. Will post a picture later. My other potatoes are still going strong.

 

[pepperhead212]

I harvested a lot of peppers today, and a few other things, are still showing up. And two days in a row of the Thai long beans, which look like they are going to be a daily harvest, like the okra.
9-5 one bottle gourd, and a few tomatoes, eggplants, and cucumbers. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Big Jims, Hanoi Markets, Jalafuegos, Poblanos, Anattos, plus a few Thai long beans. 9-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Aji Dulce, plus green and red Thai Vesuvius 9-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Only 4 Red Savinas, plus a lot of Chocolate Habs 9-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Jyoti 9-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And here is that Red Savina plant, which got triggered, I think by cool night temps, to produce an incredible number of blossoms. This is just a small section of the plant, showing the number of small peppers and blossoms on all of the stems. There is no way all of these peppers can grow to full size:
Huge number of blossoms on the Red Savina plant, I think triggered by some very cool nights. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I also have that Hügelkulture bed set up, except for the topsoil part. I got the soil on top of all of the logs, branches, and other junk, and it rained over 2" last night, washing the soil into all the cracks and crevices! Worked out great.
Soil leveled out after 2.08 inches of rain. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[bbqcoder]

Is that picture of the bed before you add the logs or after? Nice harvest of peppers!

I have a good crop of cayenne peppers coming in. Is it possible to air dry the peppers or will they get moldy because it takes too long?

I've been picking golden & red raspberries this week. Still picking strawberries but the harvest size is getting much smaller. Also harvested a giant watermelon! Pretty good for a state not named Texas, I think.

 

[larry_stewart]

Is that picture of the bed before you add the logs or after?.

I was actually going to ask the same thing.

If not, how deep did you dig to bury all that stuff ?

 

[pepperhead212]

Here is almost all of the stuff in the bed (I found some more, and filled up the sides later), before adding the bottom soil:
This is the harder part. Got a lot of filling in for the Hügelkultur, but I had to stop, due to a storm. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And here is the soil added to the bed, after tamping it down to get it to settle as much as I could. I added a couple more loads, to fill in the corners.
The bottom soil added on top of the logs, branches, and leaves. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Amazing how much that settled from the rain! I knew that it would, and thought that I might have to hose it in myself.

Next, I'll spread some of my compost over this, and then put some topsoil in.

 

[bbqcoder]

Nice bed! How tall are the sides? And what kind of wood are you using?

My beds are simple 4'x10' 2x8 pine. Yeah, they won't last as long as cedar but they're cheap.

 

[GotGarlic]

I have a good crop of cayenne peppers coming in. Is it possible to air dry the peppers or will they get moldy because it takes too long?

It depends on the humidity where you live. Dryer air will dehydrate them more quickly, leaving less time for them to mold.

 

[larry_stewart]

In the first pic I wasn't able to gauge how deep it is, now with these new pics, makes visual sense, thanks