pepperhead212's 2022 garden

[pepperhead212]

A couple days ago I picked a good number of ripe cherries, and today, pretty much the same thing. The half ripe ones were left on - even more of them left on today. This is typical at this time of year - cherries recover much faster after these cold snaps I've had. A large number of green cherries out there, and a few larger ones.
Cherries, picked on 10-10, snacking on them a couple of days. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

More cherries, picked on 10-12 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I disconnected my drip irrigation system, and probably I'll take out my rain guage - probably not going to freeze any time soon, but they aren't really that necessary now, so I disconnected the hoses, and drained them as much as possible, and then cleaned out the filter as well as possible, removed the batteries, and everything is sitting on the deck rail, in the sun, drying out. Soon, I'll have to bring those plants indoors, as the temps are dropping to the low 40s, and possibly high 30s next week. I cleaned that shelf off a few weeks ago, and I'll get that ready for them. Sometimes I set them on my back porch, if just a couple very cold days are forecast; the curry tree will come inside, for sure.

My garlic just got delivered! I got a pound each of Music and Metechi, and I'll put some of my Estonian Red and Georgian Fire in, probably this weekend.

[pepperhead212]

Saturday I uncovered, and cleaned out the row for my garlic, and 'tilled it, with some Plant-Tone sprinkled on. Originally I was going to plant some shallots at the end, but I ended up filling it with garlic. I never have to worry about vampires at this time of year!
Line for planting garlic and shallots on both sides of. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Saturday night I separated all of the Music and Metechi cloves, and got 36 cloves of large Estonian Red (didn't waste a single clove of those!) and 42 of Georgian Fire (only wasted 4 of those). I set all these to soak in a potassium bicarbonate and kelp solution overnight - supposed to help ward off any fungus - and a 15 min alcohol soak, before planting (I use a half cup 50% isopropyl solution, and just transfer it to the next variety, while planting one variety).
Garlic, soaking in potassium bicarbonate and kelp, overnight, until planting tomorrow. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Sunday I planted my 188 cloves of garlic - 36 Estonian Red, and 58 Metechi in one row, with 42 Georgian Fire, and 52 Music in the other row. I covered them up with 3-4" of the ground up leaves from last season - more to come later, after it settles.
Double row of 188 garlic heads, planted on 10-16 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I did very little outside today, as I'm still feeling the effects of planting all those cloves!

[pepperhead212]

I picked most of the end of my tomatoes today, since I am forecast a frost tonight. Originally, it was forecast even lower, but the predicted lows are getting higher, so we'll see badly it frosts. I harvested only the full sized green, ripe, and in between - undersized ones I left - if they don't die from frost, maybe I'll get more!
Maybe the last tomatoes of the season, 10-18 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I also picked a few ripening Carolina Reapers. Still a bunch of green Hanoi Market, but that's one that doesn't have flavor unless ripe. I also found a few more dried Red Thai Long Bean pods, to save the seeds from.
Last ripening Carolina Reapers, plus a few more dried pods for the red Thai long beans. 10-18 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

A few days ago, I picked my last Kanthari peppers. Today, I saw a couple of ripe Carolina Reapers, and I'm still waiting for a bunch of Hanoi Markets to ripen, but most pepper plants have been pulled.
Last Kanthari peppers of the season, 10-28 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I am still getting a generous amount of cherry tomatoes - less than the 4 qts I picked last time, but all these have ripened in just 12 days. Again, I left only green ones on the cherries, and left those 6 plants, but pulled all of the other plants, as most of which were dead, though there were more green tomatoes, and a few ripening ones, but not many.
Cherries ripening, and all the rest mostly green, but all pulled. 10-30 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

4 days ago, 10 days after planting, 2 of my varieties of garlic had a few sprouts; today, all 4 varieties had a generous amount of sprouts - the Georgian Fire had almost all of them sprouted, and Estonian Red was a close second.
Garlic from the Estonian Red, one on bottom, and Georgian Fire, first two coming up, 10-26. Others all up by 10-30 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Still getting peppers! I pulled 6 more plants Saturday - one the Carolina Reaper, with 4 ripe ones still, a Superchili, which surprisingly didn't keep producing, and those Kanthari peppers, which keep producing until killed by the cold. The Hanoi markets I left in, and there are still a bunch, with a few more ripening every day. Still a few jalapeños and Thai peppers, too, so those 3 plants will stay until maybe a week from now, when it is supposed to get in the low 30s.
Last 4 Carolina Reapers and a bunch of Hanoi Market peppers, picked on 11-5. Still more Hanoi Markets. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I also got my hydroponics set up! Yesterday, mostly cleaning up, and getting it ready, and today, the actual setting up. Now, the planting...
got my hydroponics system set up these last two days! Mostly today - yesterday cleaning up, and getting area ready. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The left one is the 27 gal tub, the right one the 12 gal. I tried some cuttings of some things, like I usually do, but got started too late, and they didn't do well. No big deal, as they grow fast, even from seed.

[pepperhead212]

Today I got half the pots in the hydro planted; still 4 with coir, and 5 with only the clay pellets empty, but a few seeds still soaking. I planted 2 lettuce - green salad bowl, and a red variety of saved seeds - and mizuna, both green and Beni Houshi (first red mizuna that went through most of the summer before bolting), since these don't really need soaking. 4 types of basil I soaked in some GA3 briefly, which speeds them up, since they become gelled with it, and then I plant them, and wait for the best seedling. I soaked the epazote and chive seeds for a few hours, too, and when finished with the others, put them in. Some parsley and cracked cilantro seeds I also soaked, and left them in petri dishes, to watch for sprouting. I also put the last 4 minute seeds of hoja santa - the last 2 times I tried these, they didn't germinate, so I soaked the PT pad in a petri dish with the GA3, and put those on there. I'll see if it works, though I'm not holding out any hopes.
2 basils, 2 lettuce, and some mizuna in the slightly larger one, in middle left. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Serrata and Siam Queen basils, Red Epazote, and chives, in the large pot. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I got my last tomatoes today! I pulled the last cherry tomatoes off 7 plants, getting some green tomatoes, but mostly are ripe or blushing. I wanted to get the last SIPs emptied of their water (and plants, of course), and covered, before freezing. There were still probably about a hundred tiny tomatoes still on the plants, along with flowers, when I cut them away from the trellises - I only harvested the full sized green tomatoes.
Over 3 qts of the last tomatoes, from 7 plants, 11-9 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I found another seed I haven't grown yet, that I got late in '21, but never got to - Huacatay, a.k.a. Peruvian Black Mint, Mexican Marigold (though I think another species is also called this), Wild Marigold, and a few other names. Has anyone ever tried this? I am attempting to sprout some seeds, before putting them in the coir, in the hydroponics, where I have a few others germinating now. At first I wasn't going to try it inside, since it can get to 6', but I remembered that the red epazote gets to 4' or more, but I just keep cutting it back! It supposedly has a cilantro flavor, a long with a number of other flavors; I never tried it, but it looks interesting. I'll soon find out how quickly the seeds sprout.
Huacate seeds, sprouting to go into the hydroponics, 11-9 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Today I used my leaf blower with the bag, and sucked up 12 bags of ground leaves, and put some on my garlic, to deepen the original mulch, now that it has settled, and some blown off. I have 1½ trash cans - 42 gal - filled, with a lot more, but leaves aren't all down yet. Tomorrow it is supposed to be very windy, and rainy. I cleared the leaves from some areas that I didn't want them settling in, from the rain. The rest, I'll get later.

Today I saw one lettuce sprout in the hydroponics - the first of the saved seeds, always the first to sprout.

[pepperhead212]

Finally, the last peppers! I could have gotten a few more, by bringing the 3 plants inside, to my back porch, but do I really need any more?

I harvested the last of these three, mostly the Hanoi Markets, but a few of the others. Only 2 of the green Hanoi Markets from last harvest didn't ripen, and I'll see about these.
Harvest from last 3 plants - Hanoi Market, Jalapeno, and Thai Vesuvius. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I also got more of my SIPs lined up and covered up. Before the rain we had, I turned them on their sides, to drain, and let them sit like that, until I got to them. Only a few left, with some cold weather crops.

[pepperhead212]

The saved lettuce and both mizuna seeds are the only ones sprouted, so far. But there might be more now - this was yesterday morning.
3 largest saved lettuce seedlings, 4 days. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

One green mizuna just sprouting, with the 4 red mizuna, after 4 days. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Today I saw that 2 of the 3 varieties of basils had sprouted, and even more of the chives and mizuna, in just one more day. Here's the mizuna:
mizuna, green L, red R, 11-14 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I might try another salad variety in the pot with the green salad bowl, which hasn't germinated, and lettuce usually sprouts in 2 or 3 days. I have 2 more varieties to try.

[pepperhead212]

Today I ground up the rest of my leaves (at least that I'm going to bother with), and harvested the last two of my kohlrabis, one of which got huge, and one not very big at all, in the same amount of time. These are 2 superschmelz kohlrabis, planted at the same time - 9-14 - and one got huge, the other was the smallest of all the kohlrabis I had. I've harvested the rest of them as needed, at normal size, in early November. That's a 4 qt bowl they are in, as reference.

Superschmelz kohlrabi, a 46.8 oz, and a 6.7 oz, harvested 12-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr