pepperhead212's 2025 garden

[pepperhead212]

Yesterday I planted my okra, after a delay, due to the weather. I planted 8 Little Lucy, 6 Heavy Hitter, and 4 Blondy, the latter two new to me. I also planted my butternut seedlings - Ceres, which is the replacement in the Pinetree catalog for my old favorite Polaris. Hopefully, this will store as long as Polaris. I still have several of those from last year! I also planted the sprouted seeds from bitter melons, and 3 varieties of bottle gourds. During that rainy period, the tomatoes grew more than any - that Jasper still the largest, and there are small fruits from the earliest frowers, with many more flowers since.

Also started getting scapes on some of the garlic!
Jasper tomato plants, largest, so far, and small fruits already, on 5-25 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

First okra planted, 5-25 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

a few scapes starting on the garlic 5-25 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[JayneR13]

I love garlic scapes! I'm waiting for mine to form, both at home and at the pantry garden. Okra doesn't grow in my zone well however; I've tried it and got spindly plants with very few pods! Oh well. I tried artichokes once just to see. This is how we learn, right?

[pepperhead212]

Yeah, okra does like heat! I think that's why they do so well in those EBs, as the soil mix definitely gets warm from the sun. Yet, that doesn't seem to bother the tomatoes.

I got my last peppers planted today - only 6 more, the chinense started with the others, but just slower, and maybe for the better, given the cooler days recently. And the others started later, due to getting the seeds a little later. I took some to my friend yesterday, when I went over for dinner, and I have 2 more for another friend's daughter, where I'll drop it off tomorrow or Thursday, if it rains all of tomorrow (which is in the forecast).
White Habanero, planted 5-27 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Chocolate Habanero and Aji Dulce, planted 5-27 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

L>R Fresno, Thai Dragon, and Aruna peppers, planted 5-27. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

An extra Aji Dulce and Thai Dragon for a friend. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

Plants look fantastic.
And that's a lot coming from me
You couldn't do anything better.

[pepperhead212]

Thanks. I don't do much different every year, and try not to change. And all those things I hear about bad things often happening with various potting soils, or seed starting mixes, even with organic mixes, it convinced me to keep using just the peat, coir, and perlite, and the worm castings I use I figure couldn't have been created in poisonous soil.

[pepperhead212]

Another mostly cloudy day today; warmer than it has been, but at 74°, it still wasn't back to normal. I took some extra plants I had to a friend's daughter, that's getting a lot more planted every year. The only thing I planted today was the epazote, that I started cuttings of when I cut it out of my hydroponics.
4 red epazote rootings, a little more than 3 weeks old, ready for planting, 5-29 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The only other thing I did, since everything had dried out, was pinched off the suckers from the tomatoes, and buzzed the blossoms on most of them - most had new blossoms since that last time I checked them, before the rain started. The only ones still with no blossoms at all are the Amich Paste, and the Green Zebra has some blossoms, but none opened yet. Everything else with at least a few opened blossoms.

[pepperhead212]

Yesterday I buzzed the blossoms on the tomatoes yesterday, and pulled any suckers I noticed. The Mountain Rouge was the first of the larger varieties with a noticeable fruit - about 1" already! This doesn't mean that it will be the first to ripen, but I was still surprised. And one of the Green Zebra plants had an open blossom, but still no noticeable blossoms on the Amish Paste. All of the smaller ones have some set blossoms, with the Jaspers still the most, but only time will tell which ripens first.

I wanted to spray those plants today, with that Surround and potassium bicarbonate solution, but it was just too windy earlier - gusts up to 35 mph. The wind is supposed to start getting better "starting at mid-day", so hopefully they'll be right. Soon, I'll have to stop spraying the cherries with that solution, once the tomatoes are noticeable, as it's too much of a pita to rub the powder off the small ones.

[JayneR13]

I planted both Mountain Rouge and Mountain Merit in both of my gardens and I’m looking forward to seeing how they do! We’ll have to compare notes.

[pepperhead212]

I grew the Rouge last year, and they were some of the larger ones last year, and very good; the only drawback was they were not heat resistant, though they came back, once the temps got back in the low 90s. The Mountain Magic is a new one this season, and I've never grown the Merit, so I'll be waiting to hear about that, too.

I got everything sprayed with the Surround and potassium bicarbonate, once the wind stopped blowing, later in the day. I finally saw some unopened blossoms on the Amish Paste, and some more opened blossoms on the Green Zebras, as well as many other varieties.

I had one of my okra die - maybe it was snapped by the wind, in one of those windy days we've been having. I'm soaking some of the Little Lucy seeds overnight, and I'll sprout them, then direct seed some in the Earthbox, in the empty space, then a couple inside, in case those don't take.

[pepperhead212]

Here's a photo of one of the stems of the Jasper tomatoes, showing the set fruits, and still one open on the end. I won't be spraying any more Surround on this, or the other small tomatoes. These are supposed to be about 3/4" when ripe. One of these plants is about 3½', the other 3' tall. Others have set fruits, but not as large yet. Sunsugar is traditionally my earliest ripening, and might still be, though it's not as large yet.
One of those Jasper tomato stems, showing the 10-12 set flowers. This was the last time I'll spray the Surround on the small tomatoes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

So far, only greens, and herbs, as always! But it won't be long, for those other things! I gave a gardening friend my extra seedlings as I always do, and this was the first time she grew all those greens, and was thrilled with them! They built a raised bed, just for those, and couldn't believe how many she got, and how they choked out most of the weeds, planting fairly close together, like I suggested, except for the senposai, which gets quite large. And she's amazed at how fast they grow back, after cutting the perimeter leaves from them. I got another one hooked on greens! She hasn't tried any of the kohlrabi yet - not quite large enough, but I gave her some ideas for using it, and she knows that the greens can be used, too.

[pepperhead212]

Zinnias must like heat more than I do! The Mexican Sunflowers - the only other flowers I grow for the pollinators - has some unopened buds, but the plants are much larger.
One of the first open zinnias, 6-6 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Another one of the first open zinnias, 6-6 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Another of the first 3 open zinnias, not quite all the way opened. 6-6 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I also saw a lot more new growth coming out down below on all of these.

The cucumbers are starting to climb! I'll have to wait until it gets shady out there, to look at any more, as that morning sun is wicked!
One of the County Fair cukes, starting to climb the trellis, 6-6 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I came across a problem today, when I found those two large Jasper plants drying out some - turns out, the valve for that row died (usually it's just the individual drip emitter clogging). It's the second of 4 valves to die, so I took the unit apart, down in my workshop, but couldn't find anything obvious that was different on the two "dead" valves than on those still operating. I separated a bunch of those minute wires with some electrical tape, in case that insulation rubbed off on contact with some, but when I put everything back together, they still didn't work. It was worth a try. frown

Fortunately, when that first valve died, I didn't need all 4, but I got a backup unit, back when Amazon had a sale on things like that, so I put that one in today, and set all the timers. The old one was controlled by Bluetooth - something I got only because it was cheaper, at the time, but this one is the old type, similar to the one on the other side of the garden. I'll save this one, in case the single timer on the side of the house dies at any time. Half of that one still works, after 14 years, so it doesn't owe me anything!
the 14 year old Melnor Bluetooth irrigation timer above the new one below, which I got to have as a backup, fortunately. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[GoDawgs]

It pays to have spare stuff for backups, especially for important things like water.

[JayneR13]

Fix it skills aren't bad either! Hey, you tried! Fixing is better than buying, if possible.

[pepperhead212]

Fixit skills do come in handy! Plus, all those tools I've accumulated help out sometimes, too.

Here are those Matrosik eggplants, after just 2 weeks of growth in the larger pots. Plus a pepper I started later, for my friend.
Those late planted Matrosik eggplants, just 2 weeks after putting the seedlings in the Jiffy pellets into the larger pots. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I planted my pole beans again today, because almost all of the first ones didn't make it, and the few that did, were not in good shape. This time, I sprouted the seeds in my seed sprouter, and the majority of them sprouted, even the 6 year old blue lake poles! I did those, Blauhilde purple pod, Rattlesnake, and two long beans - the Thai Red, and a new Indonesian purple. I'll see how they do this way. I usually inoculate them, by soaking the seeds briefly, then rolling in the powder, but this time I put the inoculant in a watering can with some water, I'll do it that way (it rained just as I finished up, so I'll wait until it dries out some).
3 types of the beans sprouted for planting, the white ones are Blue Lake poles, from 2019, the oldest. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A bunch more tomatoes out there! It won't be long! And those two that dried out, don't seem any worse for the drying out.

[pepperhead212]

I cut most of my scapes today - a few of the smaller plants I left on them. I got them packed into a 2 gal ziploc - just like last year.
Garlic scapes, harvested on 6-9, only a few skipped. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I also got those last two Matrosik eggplants planted. I'll look tomorrow, to make sure that there are no problems with them, and I'll take those 3 extras over to my friend. Those Swiss chards are almost ready to put out, and that pea EP is growing fast, now that they are in the larger pots.
The late Matrosik eggplants, planted on 6-9 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The Poamoho Dark Long eggplant, getting taller than the Ichibans, which were the largest. That smaller one is the Green UH long EP. 6-9 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I couldn't spray the Surround on everything today, since there is more rain in the forecast, so all I did with the tomatoes and cukes was train them up the trellises, and trim some of those suckers. A lot of the tomatoes have gotten fruits on them since I last looked, and that Marbled Mystery are the largest cherries, so far, and several more have the fruits starting - several Bronze Torches (but no Red Torches), Matt's Mystery, Juliet, and Sunsugar. Of the larger ones, the Superfantastik, Moldovan Green, and more of those Mountain Rouge, with that first one getting over 2". Amazing what happens when I don't look for 2 days!

[JayneR13]

Oh no kidding! A bit of rain followed by some sun, and everything pops! Including the weeds, of course.

[pepperhead212]

Speaking of weeds, I saw a volunteer today, I hadn't noticed before, but I know it's been there a while. I've also seen many tomatillos, tomatoes, and lettuce volunteer plants, but this surprised me:
A volunteer epazote plant, growing against the raised bed in the back, but the plants were growing out front last year! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

When everything was dry, and the shade was getting back there, I sprayed the Surround on my larger tomatoes, tomatillos, plus all the rest - cucumbers, squash, and eggplants. The cherry, and other smaller tomatoes (most of which are getting loaded with fruits) I sprayed with the H2O2 solution. Tomorrow I'll probably add the calcium nitrate to the tomato SIPs, to help prevent BER in those tomatoes. Early, I'll spray the front and side - the okra, peppers, and other things, when they'll be in the shade (that's in the sun, later in the day).

[JayneR13]

Do you find that your volunteer plants produce? I've found that mine either don't produce or take a very long time to produce very little.