Re: pepperhead212's 2023 garden

[pepperhead212]

The melons are getting close to full size, with the largest ones, but no hints of ripening yet. We have some highs forecast in the high 90s this week - not good for many things, but it should help these, and many of my peppers get ripe!

I uncovered 2 of my pepper tubs today (skipped the third one because it was in the sun already - I'll have to start earlier), and harvested about the same amount of the same things - the Big Mic and some jalapeños. And the same tub - the one with Joe Parker, Numex 6-4, and a Pimiendo De Pedron - had a bunch of aphids! I hosed them all off, let it dry, and sprayed everything with a homemade mix of garlic, hot pepper, rosemary, mint, and a few of the new leaves I trim from the tomatoes, when I pull some of the suckers. I blended that well, then strained it, and diluted it, and added some ThermX70, and sprayed a bunch of it on the infested plants, and what was left on the other tub, even though they didn't have the aphids (there were a few ants below, but nothing like the infested plants). I couldn't add any Neem oil, as it is forecast to be in the 90s soon. I'll see how it works. In just another week, I can uncover these for good, as it is around 8-1 that the pepper maggot flies are gone for the

The Thai peppers are starting to ripen big time now. And one of those Datil peppers ripened, which is very early for a chinense pepper. I was actually going to pop it in my mouth out there, when I picked it, but decided not to, though they aren't supposed to be as hot as many of the habaneros, and certainly not a super-hot. There are a bunch of Red Savinas on the plant, but none ripening, as that was the last plant that went in this season.
Big Mic Numex, and some Jalapeño M, and Pumpkin Spice Jalapeños. 7-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A bunch of Thai Vesuvius ripening, 7-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A few of the Thai Dragons ripening, 7-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A very small Datil pepper ripening, 7-23. Most are much larger, like that one above it. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I did very little in my garden yesterday, because later, when I usually get out there, due to the dew hanging on much of the day, my AC died. frown It was after 5:30 pm, and I noticed it feeling more uncomfortable in the house, and sure enough, the AC was not starting up. The thermostat was working, and when I would turn it off, and then on again, there would be a brief "hum", that it always starts up with, but that's it. And when I turned the fan to on, not auto, it wouldn't go on, so it sounds like the fan motor, the guy I talked to at the ac/heater place said. And he said, though they could come out after hours, he wouldn't recommend it (even though they'd get some large fee), since they will almost certainly have to get a part for it, and those places don't stay opened late! So they're going to try to fit me in very early, so they can get the ball rolling quickly. I spent the night at a friend's house, and may have to do that again. I'll find out, once they get here, what I have to do. Wish me luck.

[pepperhead212]

My friend who's house I spent the night at called a friend of his, who agreed to come check the thing out (since it seemed like they weren't going to get me in, so I just cancelled with them)) and the first thing he did was replaced the capacitor, which he said was usually the cheapest cure. He said he took 3 common sizes of capacitors up there with him, and it was one, and when replaced, the fan motor came on, when turned on, and the cooling started up, when I turned that on. He only charged me $100 for it, but I gave him $120, plus a bunch of things from the garden! His wife, who came with him, didn't turn down anything!

[worth1]

Yes starting capacitor.
Common failure for these type motors.
I wish I could help everyone here with these cheap simple fixes.

[pepperhead212]

Well, it turned out I wasn't as lucky as I first thought, and I ended up having to get more done to it, as it just wasn't working effectively, which is probably what burned the capacitor in the motor out. I called the AC guy, and told him what was going on, with it barely dropping the temps, even with it cooler outside (I would have opened up, but it was 98% humidity!). The guy came over and checked everything out, as far as how much amperage it was drawing when starting up, and other electrical things, and they seemed ok, and when he checked the R-12 pressure, at different points it seemed a little low, but there was nowhere there seemed to be an obvious leak, as that old freon has something in it that shows up, if it is leaking. But he stood there and would give it a boost, then let it equalize, as he put it, and two of the numbers he showed me on the gauge quit fluctuating, then he'd give it another boost, and wait again, and I don't know how many times he did this, but it took well over an hour. I told him I knew that the guy that added freon to it 3 years ago didn't do that, and he just gave me a look like "yeah, right!" He said that the people that do "tuneups" usually wouldn't even have those gauges with them, since they are so expensive, it's not something they would even need them for. He had to go get it from his son's garage, along with the tank of R-12, which is the "old freon" which isn't even used any more, except for the old systems, and the stuff is not cheap, to discourage use of it; it's illegal, except for old systems, since it is one of the main things that was destroying the ozone layer, and it is all supposed to be "recovered" from old systems, instead of just opening them up, letting the pressure out, and taking the things apart, like they used to, when replacing old systems. He said it was even worse with cars, as that was always allowed out into the atmosphere. He actually works on cars, more than anything, but his son went to tech school for this kind of stuff. In fact, his son called him to see how it was going with this (even though he was on vacation!), and he gave him all the info on the unit, and numbers on the gauges, and his son gave him what numbers to look for in the end. Like I said, it was well over an hour he was on this, and he kept giving little burst of freon, then look at other things, or explain more to me! When the numbers had gotten to what he wanted, he went inside, just to see that everything was good, then disconnected the 4 gauges, and then capped two of the valves - things he said probably weren't leaking much, as you would see oil there, but over 30 years, you know something leaked out of those, so he capped them. All this ended up costing me $300 more, but as he told me, that was mostly for the freon, due to the discouraging cost of it. I know I am going to replace the unit, and it doesn't owe me anything, being 30 years old, but hopefully get through at least this year, and he took photos of all the info on the unit, inside and outside, and when this needs to be replaced, do it when it's not 90+ out there! As he said, and I was thinking, anyone else, on these big business heating/AC companies would be trying to sell me a new unit on the spot, but not these two. But I will have to replace it.

[pepperhead212]

There have been a few ripe peppers, but they are really starting to ripen fast now! And I noticed that the Aruna and Datil peppers are like the Thai Vesuvius - indeterminate types, that are LOADED with peppers, almost all full sized, and very few open flowers on them now. Here are the ripening ones.
Thai Vesuvius:
Thai Vesuvius, 7-26 by pepperhead212, on Flickr


The Thai Vesuvius, and a smaller number of Superchili and Thai Dragons, above. 7-26 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

One of the 2 Superchili plants, ready to pick the ripe ones.
One of the 2 Superchili plants, ready to pick the ripe ones. 7-26 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And here's the first ripening Kajari melon.
First ripening Kajari melon, with a bad spot on the upper right, that maybe triggered the early ripening. 7-26 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I went out for about 40 minutes this evening (at least it was breezy, in that disgusting heat!), and a few of the larger tomatoes, but mostly the smaller ones - cherries, and a little bigger ones. Also harvested a bunch of eggplants, mostly Asian String, and a few UH greens, and a few small LA Long greens. The strings are the only ones I see a bunch of blossoms on; others none, or just one more. A lot of the larger tomatoes have no blossoms, but the cherries are still producing. The okra is producing, though not like usual, and they usually like the heat, like the peppers. A couple more kajari melons ripened, but just one snowy cucumber; only the county fair seems ok in the heat.
Mostly eggplant, but a few tomatoes, 2 more Kajari melons, and a snowy cucumber. 7-28 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Almost 4 qts of the smaller tomatoes. 7-28 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Okra - Big Buck, Little Lucy, and Star Of David. 7-28 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I did a lot today, mainly because it was a gorgeous day, only getting up to 80°, and a 52° dewpoint!! That's unbelievable, compared to what we've been dealing with lately. Even when I went to Aldi at 9 am, it was 67°, and there was almost no dew on the lawn; lately, I've had to wait until 2 or 3 pm for the dew to evaporate, in the 90+ and super-humid days we've been having. It was totally dried up by 10:30 am, when I went out and uncovered my peppers. I've had some yellow tape traps out there the last several days, and no pepper maggot flies, so I took the cover off the 3 tubs. The one I didn't uncover last time had aphids, as I was afraid of, so I hosed them off, and since it got so cool out, I sprayed them with neem oil, and some potassium bicarbonate, to maybe deal with any fungal problems. After this, I mowed my lawn, and trimmed a bunch of overgrowth, from my neighbor's fence. Then I pulled a number of plants that I wasn't getting any more from in the garden - the bottle gourds, some of the cucumbers, and of course, a few weeds. I got 3 cans of lawn trash for tomorrow's pickup.

I don't know if it was just the intense heat that stopped those varieties of things totally stop, or almost stop, but I just pulled every thing that wasn't doing something, and am replacing with something that will, eventually produce something. I planted some County Fair seeds, and some County Fair Improved (both of these I stocked up on in spring, with some free shipping from a couple places), to see if there is a difference. And the original is the only variety of CF is the only cucumber I didn't pull out, as it is still producing. I get first harvest in about 55 days, but probably less, starting in the heat. I'm also going to start some cauliflower, and other larger fall crops - things I usually don't have luck with, but I'll see if this works out better than later.
I think those varieties of bottle gourds must not like heat, because after those last few that I harvested, they totally stopped flowering, and many leaves turned brown, and usually they have no problems with diseases or insects. These must not like heat, but next year I'll find a variety from the south. I pulled these, and that's where I planted some of the cucumber seeds.

I saw the first 4 butternut squash out there, plus a number more just forming. Seems they all form one, while growing in the beginning, but many more, come September. In the meantime, I always harvest a bunch of the male blossoms, which it creates in large numbers.
one of the first 4 butternut squash I have. 7-30 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Every morning I'm starting to get more okra, including some odd shaped Star of Davids. The Emerald is not producing well, and the Hill Country Red is very slow, with some fat okra, like Star of David.
Okra, morning harvest, 7-30 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I got some things done in the garden early, and more later in the day, but unfortunately, I had something that I had to fix today - a leaky toilet tank. Fortunately, I caught it, before it was leaking much, though this rusty metal plate under the tank indicated that it had been leaking a while, just not noticeable. And I had never seen that before - most tanks have 2 holes with bolts, with gaskets, holding the tank to the base, but no holes in this, except for the large hole, of course. And the gaskets are not sold at HD or Lowe's - I was ready to take a trip to a plumbing supply place, that I figured would have it, but something made me look in my "plumbing junk box", and there was a brand new set of parts - the threaded plastic, with the upper and lower gaskets! The only way I could have had that was if the toilet had come with the spare parts! I sanded all the rust off the steel, until shiny, then sprayed it with some rust inhibitor, and let it all dry, while I cleaned everything on the toilet. Then put it back together, and put the tank back on, reattached the line, and tested it, and everything works. Later, I cleaned up outside, then weedwacked a bunch (the ground is dusty dry again, so it really hasn't rained much here). And I ran about a 25' row of 4' wide black plastic on the side of my shed, so I won't have to do that again!
Something I had to fix today - a leaky tank on the Kohler toilet, in my powder room. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The early part of the day is when I went out and picked a bunch of peppers, mostly ripening Thai peppers. A few Big Mic and Jalafuego peppers, just starting to ripen.
3 different types of Thai peppers, ripening quickly. 7-31 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Big Mics and Jalafuegos, 7-31, day after uncovering. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

More peppers today! Imagine that.
Those Arunas are ripening now, and there are a lot more of them out there on just 3 plants. The Datil is starting to ripen fast, too, and that's just one plant. And that Red Savina started ripening. Early August is earlier than many varieties ripen; though the reason I stopped growing many varieties was because they ripened so late, many of them they have improved to much earlier.
Ripening Arunas, with many more to come. 8-7 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Yellow Datil peppers, Thai peppers, Jalafuegos ripening, and just 2 each of Hanoi Market and Big Mic ripening. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The larger Maui Purple plant, with many peppers ripening, 8-7. I didn't pick any of those yet, as the red peppers look better in the almost black leaves! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

More peppers ready for the dehydrator!
Peppers for dehydrator, Numex and jalapeños on top, then Thais, and Arunas. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I picked a bunch more peppers today, and would have had more, but it was getting very sunny on the side there. Maybe tomorrow...
More peppers, 8-11. A bunch more larger, green ones out there, but it got too sunny. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

A couple of days ago I harvested a few tomatoes, plus some eggplant and a bitter melon, which all seem to be coming back from the heat wave, when most of them dropped all their blossoms. I also got some okra, and beans started producing (finally!), and a bunch of these veggies went into that curry I made.
Tomatoes harvested, 8-12 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

More eggplants, a bitter melon, and a couple of cucumbers underneath. 8-12 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And a funny looking eggplant in the green ones that day.
3 of the eggplants harvested on 8-12. Two used for dinner. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

More peppers today. I would have done this early, but everything was soaked with dew until fairly late in the morning.
Datil and Aruna peppers, 8-14 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Various jalapeños, plus the Big Mic and Joe E Parker peppers, 8-14 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

More peppers!

That one Datil pepper plant is incredibly productive, and delicious, fresh and dried. As I said before, it does not look or taste like a chinense pepper, which it is listed as, but has a really strong regular pepper flavor. It is maybe 80-100k heat units, so it's not mild, but still not as hot as a normal habanero. I'm going to try some crushed ones - crushed yellow pepper flakes!
more Arunas and Datil peppers, 8-19 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The red savinas are late this year, only because the Chocolate Habaneros did not germinate, so I planted some again, plus some red savinas, in case that happened again, which did happen. So the red savinas are my hot habaneros this season. Aji Dulce is starting to ripen now, for my almost no heat hab.
Red Savina peppers ripening, 8-19 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A few Thai peppers ripening, 8-19 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[Spike]

This is what @pepperhead212 ate as a baby! Explains a lot eh?

368686842_674872557830993_7456228089968455403_n.jpg

[pepperhead212]

And more peppers, just 4 days later!

The Maui Purple are a little later than most, but a little earlier than the ones I had before, which were about a week later. I left most on the front plants, just for appearance, and this bowl came all from the side plant.
One Maui Purple plant, with a bunch of ripe peppers. 8-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ripe Maui Purple peppers, picked from just one plant. 8-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ripening Arunas, picked from 3 plants. 8-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Datil, Aji Dulce (red, almost no heat habanero), and misc. Thai peppers. 8-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Misc. larger peppers, including a few jalapeños, which aren't doing much. 8-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And a few tomatoes, as well. A lot of cherries on the bottom.
Misc. tomatoes ripening, from the blossoms after the bad blossom drop from the heat. 8-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Here are those peppers, before going into the dehydrator. Also one more tray of eggplant went in. Not enough tomatoes to add those, plus a bunch of those will be used for dinner later.
2 trays of Aruna peppers, ready to dehydrate. 8-25 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Misc. Thai peppers, ready to dehydrate. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Maui Purple peppers, ready to dehydrate. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Split Datil peppers, ready to dehydrate. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Misc. green Chiles, split and ready to dehydrate. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And these are the stems I pulled off of all those peppers! When I freeze peppers, I snip the stems off close to the pepper, instead of pulling the whole thing off, as they keep better that way in the freezer.
Over a cup of stems from all those peppers, going into the dehydrator. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I went over to see a gardening (and cooking) friend - the Indian lady, that I give my extra seedlings to, along with her son, that I got hooked on peppers. It was only a couple of years ago they bought the house and the property there, so she hasn't been growing a lot there until the last two seasons, but she's making up for it! Her garden is even larger than mine, already, and discussing next season with me already, so I definitely got her hooked! And I took her over my bag of greens seeds, and helped her plant some leaf lettuce, and some greens I told her I often use in Indian food - some senosai, boc choy, and misuna - and gave her cauliflower and cabbage extras I had - about 3 weeks old, I think. She has even more Kajari and bitter melons growing, on the same number of plants I have! Her son bought a Trinidad Scorpion plant, when they were in a nursery in spring, so he grew a variety I didn't start this season, and I told him I'd dehydrate them for him. We split one today, not chewing it long at all, and it was the hottest pepper of the year, so far, but no Wartryx yet.
Bitter melon harvest from 3 plants in my friend's garden! 8-31 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ripening Trinidad Scorpions, from a friend's garden. 8-31 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I harvested a few okra in the morning, as usual, and some more Aruna, Datil, and Big Mic peppers, which are the usual big producers. A few more of those long beans, as well, but I didn't even look at my tomatoes, as I had enough for now.

[GoDawgs]

That's a LOT of hot peppers! Do you actually use all those dehydrated peppers yourself or give some away to likeminded hot pepper lovers? For me, some jalapenos, a light dash of cayenne in some things and Korean gochugaru in kimchi are about as hot as I go.

[pepperhead212]

I use most of them, and give some away. And some things, that I get more than I can use from just one plant, like the aji dulce, and the hotter habs, I share with the owner of the Mexican grocery/restaurant in town. I don't ask for anything, but he gives me some deals, when I buy things.