applestar wrote:Mulch can be acidic, so that might have been one issue for cabbages. A pinch of dolomitic lime per cell or Something like 1 cup per 5 gallon mix, maybe? (I have to look that up) will go a long way.
Also try 2:2:1 with builder’s sand, and add a bit of nitrogen source in case mulch is not aged enough. I’ve used used coffee grounds, soaked alfalfa pellets.... chicken grit (crushed granite or oyster shells) could be used in place of sand + lime. Saved boiled egg shells (or oven dried raw egg shells) coarse crushed (I put in qt plastic container then pound with a wooden pestil) or ground up in a dedicated coffee grinder works to add calcium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, too
...I also mix in mosquito bits and ag/food grade powdered diatomaceous earth for good measure.
I think my garden already has a high acid problem there are a dozen pine trees on the south side wind blows all those pine needles right on the garden. I raked up 2 large piles of pine needles and burned them Nov. During winter the whole garden was covered with a carpet of brown pine needles that I could not rake because of mud. I put 250 lbs of white hybrid lime on the garden in Dec. Maybe I should have added more lime, too late now instructions says, add to soil 4 months before planting.
I planted beans is a 50/50 mix of garden soil & mulch I will keep an eye on beans to see how they do if plants turn yellow I know mulch is not aged enough.
Seeds I planted 2 days ago are growing 8 broccoli plants. Tomorrow plants need to spend the whole day outside in the sun & wind.
Last edited by Gary350 on Fri Mar 01, 2019 7:07 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Today I planted 57 day Packman Broccoli. I decided not to worry if mulch is too acid or if mulch causes chlorotic. If 8 plants die I only wasted $4. Wed high was 70 degrees more cold weather & rain on the way. Broccoli is ok down to 28 degrees.
I bought another 5 lbs of Kennebec potatoes. This may be enough seed potatoes.
We had spaghetti squash for dinner yesterday, wow it was good with home made pizza sauce from the pantry that we made with our own garden tomatoes last summer. I saved the squash seeds, I usually plant seeds directly in the garden but I think I will plant 3 seeds in pots about April 1st. They might be ready to plant in the garden 4 weeks later. I save a lot of grocery store seeds I have very good luck with them. Commercial growers often have very good seeds, often seeds that are not for sale anywhere.
Spaghetti squash is a C.pepo so will be susceptible to squash vine borers.
For me, best strategy is to start them early and plant out early with protection so they will have chance to mature at least one or two fruits (or first 2 or 3 clusters of good harvest with summer squash) before being overcome. My experiments with insect barrier trunnel structure and hand pollinating has not been fool-proof.
applestar wrote:Spaghetti squash is a C.pepo so will be susceptible to squash vine borers.
For me, best strategy is to start them early and plant out early with protection so they will have chance to mature at least one or two fruits (or first 2 or 3 clusters of good harvest with summer squash) before being overcome. My experiments with insect barrier trunnel structure and hand pollinating has not been fool-proof.
Thanks for reminding me about squash vine borers I was not even thinking spaghetti squash would get squash vine borers because this plant is a vine, different than yellow & zucchini plants. I have a terrible time with yellow squash & zucchini squash getting squash vine borers they often kill plants before there are squash to harvest. In like to plant a new squash seed every week all summer to try an have squash on the kitchen table all summer. Last summer squash vine borers were not a problem but summer before that we had a plague of squash vine borers all plants died. Last year I made sure all squash were planted in full sun, I kept leaves pulled back so sun could get on the stem and so birds could see bugs if there were bugs. I think wet soil causes more bugs, if birds see bugs they get eaten. I bought radish seeds to plant with yellow squash, radish plants give off a toxic gas that squash vine borers don't like it is suppose to keep bugs away. I will need to plant radishes with spaghetti squash too. Another thing I want to try, plant gourds with squash to keep bugs away. I have a 1/2 lb bag of turnip green seeds I want to plant them around a squash plant too. Plants that never have bugs are suppose to be very good to keep bugs away from plants that do have bugs. I hope this works.
Last week I tilled the garden every other day 3 times to kill all grass an weeds. Today I marked out the first 2 rows an covered them with 6" of mulch then tilled it in. I put a whole 5 gallon bucked of wood ash on each row then 6 more inches of mulch then tilled it in. Each row has 70 potatoes planted in it. Last year I only got 1 potato per eye this year if the same thing happens we will have 140 new potatoes. This year I was careful to pick out seed potatoes with 6 or 7 eyes each but after keeping them warm in the dark for a month only 1 eyes per potato has sprouts 3" to 4" long. The other 5 potatoes eyes are doing nothing but maybe they will after being planted in the garden. Instead of making cuttings with the eyes I planted the whole potato. In the past every time I have planted whole potatoes they grew no new potatoes so there is a possibility there will be no potato crop this year. Just have to wait and see. This year I have done good soil preparation for potatoes making sure there is no added nitrogen. Hopefully plants this year will not grow taller than 2 ft, not 6 ft like last year. I planted about 65% Kennebec potatoes an 35% Red Pontiac potatoes. In the past I've had very good luck with red potatoes they out produce white potatoes about 4 to 1. Red Pontiac is a 3 month crop, white potatoes are usually 4 month crops, but Kennebec is a fast growing white 3 month potato.
I have been burning wooded oak pallets I have a 30 gallon trash almost full of wood ash, it has 100s of nails & staples. All the nails & staples will go in tomato plant holes. Iron rust is suppose to be good for tomato blight and other things.
This year I am planting the garden different. First cold weather crop that I can plant gets planted first in row 1. Next crop that can be planted is probably onions. Third thing I can plant is probably tomatoes about April 20. Next corn, beans, squash, melons, okra, peppers, herbs, etc. In the past I have always planted the tallest plants like corn on the north side of the garden so they do not shade shorter plants. Today solar noon at zip code 37129 was 12:48 pm, sun is 59 degrees. June 21 sun will be 89 degrees it does not matter where tall an short plants are planted they will not shade each other much until a month after crops have been harvested. If you want to know solar noon at your house do google search for, solar noon at (your zip code).
This year I have 13 rows, 32" apart, first 3 rows are 34 ft long, next 10 rows are 40 ft long. There is a 20'x20' area that might be melons, not decided yet. There is another spot 15x25 not sure what it will be. I am making a test area 3'x10' to plant onions, garlic, lettuce, chard, broccoli, cilantro, in full shade under the trees.
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Last edited by Gary350 on Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:30 am, edited 3 times in total.
You’ve been working hard. I need to get crackin’ in my garden as well.
Listen, I was a little concerned about your soil prep where you planted your potatoes. It’s always been my understanding that you want to avoid alkaline soil for potatoes due to making them susceptible to some kind of disease. For this reason, I use pine needles when mulching my potatoes.
Before posting, I looked for confirmation of my fuzzy memory to make sure, and found this source that seems reliable —
Potatoes do well across a wide range of pH, but prefer slightly acidic soils; a soil pH of 5.3 to 6.0 is typical for potato production. If your soil is more acidic than this, mixing in wood ash will help raise the pH and make your soil more alkaline. However, higher soil pH levels are more conducive to scab, a potato disease caused by a soil-borne pathogen.
applestar wrote:You’ve been working hard. I need to get crackin’ in my garden as well.
Listen, I was a little concerned about your soil prep where you planted your potatoes. It’s always been my understanding that you want to avoid alkaline soil for potatoes due to making them susceptible to some kind of disease. For this reason, I use pine needles when mulching my potatoes.
Before posting, I looked for confirmation of my fuzzy memory to make sure, and found this source that seems reliable —
Potatoes do well across a wide range of pH, but prefer slightly acidic soils; a soil pH of 5.3 to 6.0 is typical for potato production. If your soil is more acidic than this, mixing in wood ash will help raise the pH and make your soil more alkaline. However, higher soil pH levels are more conducive to scab, a potato disease caused by a soil-borne pathogen.
I hope I did not use too much wood ash, too late now. There are about 40 pine trees on 3 sides of the garden they dump lots of pine needles in the garden. Last year I noticed plants closest to the pine trees were stunted, very small short plants. I think my soil is already too acid. Mulch might be acid too. About a month ago wife had a bag of grocery store potatoes that were growing sprouts she pealed them very thick and I planted the eyes directly into a large pile of mulch. Potato plants are growing very well and have small potatoes already. After tilling wood ash into mulch an soil too it is spread out fairly thin I hope I did not screw up. Have to wait an see. Maybe I should have bought a 50 lb bag of 0-5-15 fertilizer. I can rake up a large pickup truck full of pine needles in 20 minutes, maybe I should mulch potatoes with pine needles.
I ordered Litmus Paper to test my soil, mixed with distilled water. Test water first then mix water with soil then test it again. Distilled water should test neutral 7ph. Water soil mix will = 50% change in ph. If 7ph water + soil = 6ph then soil = 5ph. Math 7+5=12 divide by 2 = 6. If soil + water = 5.5ph then soil is 4ph. This test only tells soil ph.
Last edited by Gary350 on Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:23 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Today I got lucky an found 2 trays of Big Beef tomatoes. Last frost is not until April 20 an we are having 75 degree weather. The Garden Store got their first load of plants today.
Today I planted a few seeds in pots. Applestar, wonder where I learned this cool idea to use plastic spoons for markers.
We used up 2 more pint jars of tomatoes from the pantry today for spaghetti sauce from last years garden. Pantry has about 10 jars of tomatoes left. Looks like I forgot how to focus a camera this spaghetti picture sucks.
I removed the fish aquarium from the winter potatoes. I can feel potatoes in the soil. I will let them grow a few more weeks.
The cats came to see what I am doing. Those skinny cats are not so skinny anymore. I can not teach them to eat, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, corn & squash.
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Last edited by Gary350 on Fri Apr 05, 2019 7:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
applestar wrote:Spaghetti squash is a C.pepo so will be susceptible to squash vine borers.
For me, best strategy is to start them early and plant out early with protection so they will have chance to mature at least one or two fruits (or first 2 or 3 clusters of good harvest with summer squash) before being overcome. My experiments with insect barrier trunnel structure and hand pollinating has not been fool-proof.
Thanks for reminding me about squash vine borers I was not even thinking spaghetti squash would get squash vine borers because this plant is a vine, different than yellow & zucchini plants. I have a terrible time with yellow squash & zucchini squash getting squash vine borers they often kill plants before there are squash to harvest. In like to plant a new squash seed every week all summer to try an have squash on the kitchen table all summer. Last summer squash vine borers were not a problem but summer before that we had a plague of squash vine borers all plants died. Last year I made sure all squash were planted in full sun, I kept leaves pulled back so sun could get on the stem and so birds could see bugs if there were bugs. I think wet soil causes more bugs, if birds see bugs they get eaten. I bought radish seeds to plant with yellow squash, radish plants give off a toxic gas that squash vine borers don't like it is suppose to keep bugs away. I will need to plant radishes with spaghetti squash too. Another thing I want to try, plant gourds with squash to keep bugs away. I have a 1/2 lb bag of turnip green seeds I want to plant them around a squash plant too. Plants that never have bugs are suppose to be very good to keep bugs away from plants that do have bugs. I hope this works.
Check the fruit often while growing, the little bastages get into everything.
Today I rented a tractor for $60 it took me 2 hours to push all the mulch onto the garden & get it level. It took another 2 hours to till mulch into the soil.
I also dug up the winter potatoes. It is a good thing I dug potatoes up they were ready to harvest a month ago. Potatoes are smarter than ME they know they are a 4 month crop the new potatoes sprouted eyes and was in the process of growing more potatoes. In the past I have gotten a good crop of winter potatoes even if plants above the soil keep freezing and do not grow. Scales show 2 lbs 1 ounce of potatoes. Potatoes with dark brown skin are the original crop grown from several potato peals. The whiter color potatoes are the 2nd crop of new potatoes that were starting to grow. I think 20 potato peals were planted sometime in Nov.
It was 78 degrees today. Going to be 80 tomorrow. We are suppose to have bad storms tomorrow evening. It is warm enough to plant the whole garden but I don't trust the weather last frost is 2 weeks away. We could still have freezing weather.
A month ago when sun was lower in the sky and behind the trees my rhubarb that is growing in the dark under trash cans was blood RED. Now the sun is at 60 degrees and above the trees dark blue trash cans are still blocking out the sun but rhubarb is now green. I put trash cans over my head it is dark with no leaks. I put camera on auto picture under the trash can pictures are black. No visible light is getting in. I pulled off a green rhubarb stalk and it is not sour like rhubarb should be but it is green and it has no rhubarb flavor. Maybe ultraviolet light is going through the dark blue plastic barrels. Tomorrow I see if I can get 15 used wore out car tires from a tire shop to stack 5 high on each plant. I put a metal barrel over 1 plant today maybe that will help block the sun to 1 plant for now.
applestar wrote:You’ve been working hard. I need to get crackin’ in my garden as well.
Listen, I was a little concerned about your soil prep where you planted your potatoes. It’s always been my understanding that you want to avoid alkaline soil for potatoes due to making them susceptible to some kind of disease. For this reason, I use pine needles when mulching my potatoes.
Before posting, I looked for confirmation of my fuzzy memory to make sure, and found this source that seems reliable —
Potatoes do well across a wide range of pH, but prefer slightly acidic soils; a soil pH of 5.3 to 6.0 is typical for potato production. If your soil is more acidic than this, mixing in wood ash will help raise the pH and make your soil more alkaline. However, higher soil pH levels are more conducive to scab, a potato disease caused by a soil-borne pathogen.
Litmus paper tests show.
Kitchen 5% Vinegar = 3ph
Green pine needles from the tree = 5ph
Rain water = 6ph
city water = 7ph
distilled water = 7ph
garden soil with, no mulch, no wood ash = 7ph
garden soil + mulch + wood ash = 7.5ph
Dry dead pine needles laying 5 months on the ground = 7.5ph
mulch = 8ph
I am surprised mulch is 8ph this may not be good for potatoes. We have had almost 4" of rain in 2 days that could be a good thing for the soil it should bring ph down a bit.
Arizona soil was 8ph and Arizona water was 8ph it was not a problem for the garden.
I dug up several potatoes they have only been in the soil a few days already they have 3" long roots about 50 roots per potato.
Garden is a swap after all this rain just have to wait a few days.
I won't be able to run the tiller for 5 to 7 days depending how warm it gets and how windy it gets.
Last time I tried to lower soil ph I waited 3 weeks like instructions said after planting the garden all the plants died. 2 weeks later I planted again all the plants died. After watering the soil over and over and over with many gallons of water every day for a week I planted again all the plants lived. The dilemma now is, what to do next? Maybe 2 gallons of kitchen vinegar? Maybe I do nothing to see what happens?
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Last edited by Gary350 on Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
Gary, my Anaheim pepper seeds come up 2 days ago, a full 12 days after sowing. They had no heat pad, in my moderately heated workshop. I'd guess the air temp at 65 or so. Must get a thermometer for that place . Anyway they were the very last of that batch of seeds to emerge, including tomatoes; I was beginning to think they were not viable.
Vanisle_BC wrote:Gary, my Anaheim pepper seeds come up 2 days ago, a full 12 days after sowing. They had no heat pad, in my moderately heated workshop. I'd guess the air temp at 65 or so. Must get a thermometer for that place . Anyway they were the very last of that batch of seeds to emerge, including tomatoes; I was beginning to think they were not viable.
I started Marconi pepper seeds in the house on a hot pad March first tomatoes germinated but peppers never germinated. I hope my seeds are not bad. Now I am trying something different. No one in town has Marconi peppers and no one has them ordered. I am out of luck buying Marconi if I don't grow plants from seeds I won't have any.
Today I put down a green pine needle bed to plant potatoes on to lower ph. Online says, green pine needles will not lower ph very much, I decided to try it anyway. What is the definition of, not very much, 1/2ph, 1ph, 1.5ph? One year I planted potatoes May 1, May 15 and June 1. June potatoes did best. I did same thing with onions & June onions did best. One year I planted potatoes in first part of April 6 weeks later there were potatoes, small & large. I carefully picked out larger potatoes to eat an left the smaller potatoes to grow larger. It is interesting that 1 seed potato can grow 10 new potatoes an 3 of the new potatoes will have a 90% head start on the other 7 smaller potatoes. The 3 large potatoes can be eaten while the other 7 continue to grow. For some reason new potatoes do not all grow at the same speed on the same plant, tomatoes do the same thing. Some of the potatoes I planted a week ago already have potatoes the size of peas and kidney beans. I notice several tiny potatoes on the roots if it continues to stay like that there will be several large new potatoes on each plant.
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Last edited by Gary350 on Wed Apr 10, 2019 9:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
I love growing potatoes: 1) they are another one of those crops that taste so much better home grown. Who knew potatoes had actual flavor, not just bland starch ! 2) they function almost like a perennial. It seems like in the process of digging up potatoes, the small marble size or less ones that are just starting break off and are left behind. They sit in the soil all winter and then start growing in spring. I already have some volunteer potato plants sprouting in places where potatoes were planted last year.
rainbowgardener wrote:I love growing potatoes: 1) they are another one of those crops that taste so much better home grown. Who knew potatoes had actual flavor, not just bland starch ! 2) they function almost like a perennial. It seems like in the process of digging up potatoes, the small marble size or less ones that are just starting break off and are left behind. They sit in the soil all winter and then start growing in spring. I already have some volunteer potato plants sprouting in places where potatoes were planted last year.
Yes potatoes do taste much better than store bought potatoes. There should be a rule all gardeners should grow at lease 1 potato plant just to see how home grown potoatoes taste. It has been about 20 years since I grew a serious potato crop when the kids were in high school they could eat 5 lbs of potatoes every week. I am always frustrated with TN potatoes they never grow as well as they did in Illinois. I always got about 30 lbs of potatoes but could have gotten 100 lbs if planted in Illinois. Soil & climate makes a difference.
This morning I planted a 35' row of 298 Spanish onions = yellow onions. I covered them with 1/2" of soil. Silly cats have found the onions already. Cats notice onions smell bad so this must be the poop box area. I have a bit of a problem with cats digging up onions. I have another 200 onions to plant, 50 red, 50 white, 100 more yellow. I need to buy a 100 ft roll of fence wire, cut into 18" pieces, bend them around a power line pole to get a C shape. Then protect all the rows from the dog & cats. I wonder if anyone sells C shape guards for a reasonable price.
My yard is covered with wild flowers, purple, purple/white, yellow, yellow/white, dandelions. Too soon for white clover. Wife wants to mow the grass, I keep telling here, wait until tomorrow.
After lunch I dug 24 holes about 8" deep for tomato plants. Fertilizer mix is 2 quarts 15/15/15, 1 quart wood ash for BER, 1/3 cup copper sulfate for blight, hand full of rust nails for blight, mix well add 1/3 cup fertilizer mix to each hole. Pour in 1 pint of water return several hours later to plant tomatoes. Sometimes I save empty metal food cans from the kitchen burn then burn them in a fire to remove varnish then smash them flat, throw 1 flat can in each tomato hole for iron rust. Cans are completely gone by fall. Rusty nails & staples for iron rust came from burning oak pallets for wood ash.
Several hours later sun is on the horizon time to plant tomatoes. Put 2" of soil in bottom of each hole to cover up the fertilizer. Put tomato root ball all the way to the bottom of the hole then fill it in. Do not strip off lower leaves tomato plants have the ability to grow roots any where soil toughs the plant even the leaves. Cover plant and lower leaves with soil. Compact soil a little bit then sprinkle loose soil over the top. Loose soil will not wick water to the surface plants will not dry out. Plants will turn into a large root ball when it gets 100 degrees plants will never need to be watered even with only 1 rain per month all summer. If we are gone on a 2 or 3 week vacation garden will be fine.
Add the tomato cages and they are finished for now. There are, 12 Big Beef, 4 Big Boy, 4 Brandywine, 4 Beef Master. They are all 65 day corp except for the 80 day brandywine.
I planted too soon it is 10 more days until last frost. We are having 80 degree weather. Tomorrow 82 degrees with 20 mph wind maybe soil will dry out enough to till. We had almost 4" of rain over the weekend. I have 8 peppers to plant but I can not so soil preperation without the tiller.
TV weather said, there is a possibility of frost tonight so I covered up all my tomato plants with used 2 gallon plastic throw away pots I got free from a place that plants bushes & trees in peoples yard. Flower pots take up very little space & R easy & quick to put over plants. Stick 1 leg of the tomato cage through 1 hole in bottom of the pot they can not blow away. I need more flour pots, I also had to use 2 ceramic flour pots, a 5 gallon much, an a coffee can.
Today I prepared the soil for 8 pepper plants. I tilled in a 3 cu ft bale of peat moss, fertilizer & calcium into a 14 ft section of this 40 ft row. Thunder storms will be here later today. It is still too early to plant seeds. None of my seeds are growing in pots & no one sells Marconi pepper plants around here. When I was cutting open the peat moss bag cats all came to see what is going on. LOL. Left to right cats names are, Red, Pink, Gray, Yellow.
I planted 200 onions in a shallow unmarked grave. 50 red onions, 50 white onions, 100 yellow onions, in full shade.
75 Garlic I planted a month ago is going great growing in full shade most of them have 5 leaves. They appear to be doing better than garlic I planted in November in a hilled up row in the sun.
We have been having 75 and 80 degree weather for 3 weeks carrots are doing very well. I sprinkled 500 half long carrot seeds on a hill in Nov.
Today I finished planting row 5. As much as I hate to I paid $5 for 1 marconi plant. Only 1 place in town has single plants, no 4 packs, no 6 packs marconi to be found anywhere. At lease I have 1 marconi plant. None of my marconi seeds ever germinated it has been 6 weeks. I still have marconi seeds left I will plant them all in the garden when soil gets a bit warmer maybe they will grow.
Today I did google search for pepper plant scoville scale it lists all the peppers in order according to how hot they are. I know from living in Arizona New Mexico peppers are mild with a very good flavor they make very good chili powder.
NAME and SCOVILLE
Red Chili 500 - 750
New Mexico 500 - 1500
Anaheim 500 - 1500
Guajillo 2500 - 4000
Serrasno 8000 - 23000
I can find Anaheim, Guajillo, Serrasno, seeds for sale on ebay. After doing google search for New Mexico I learned, The name 'Anaheim' derives from Emilio Ortega, a farmer who brought the seeds from New Mexico to the Anaheim, California, area in 1894. They grow New Mexico peppers in California but sell them under the name Anaheim peppers. After doing research on Anaheim peppers I find, 1 place says 500 - 1500 scoville, 2 places that say 500 - 2000 scoville and 1 place that says 500 - 2500 scoville. Then I learn your geographic location, soil, climate determines pepper scoville range, peppers grown in Mexico are hotter than peppers grown in California. I bought 8 Anaheim = New Mexico pepper plants at the Amish garden store. If they make good mild chili powder then I will be glad I bought 8 plants but if chili powder is not good I will wish I had only bought one 4 pack. I hope to Can these in pint jars an not have to dry them to powder.
I planted all the peppers like I do tomatoes, dig a hole, throw in 15-15-15 fertilizer, calcium, nitrogen, 2" of soil, then the plants. Water plants before dark. Soil preparation was 6 cu ft of peat moss tilled into the soil to make is soft it allows roots to grow larger.
I have been searching for plum tomatoes with no luck. No one sells plum tomatoes this year & no seeds by that name on ebay or seed catalogs. I was about to give up when I decided to do google search and came across some very good information about Amish Paste tomatoes. These tomatoes are specifically grown to make Pizza sauce & Spaghetti sauce so I bought 4 plants at the Amish garden store to plant is row 5 with the peppers.
The last 3 spaces in row 5 I planted 1" cherry tomato seeds covered with boards to keep soil moist until they germinate usually about 4 to 5 days in hot weather. These are the best cherry tomatoes we every had I'm glad I saved seeds no one sells these anymore and I don't remember the real name. Row 5 is finished.
From now on seeds will be the only thing planted in the garden probably 1 or 2 more weeks when soil warms up to 65 degrees. Next, 5 rows of corn, 2 rows of beans, squash, okra, melons. Garlic in July. When, potatoes, onions, corn are gone 8 rows will be replanted with beans about August to add nitrogen to the soil and also use the available space to grow several types of beans & harvest my own seeds to plant next year.
RED Chilis = New Mexico Chilis = Anaheim Chilis, Green chiles are served roasted and peeled, whole or diced, and in various sauces. The most common uses for these diced chiles, or sauces, is in enchiladas, burritos, burgers, french fries, or rice. They are also served whole raw or as fried or baked chiles rellenos. New Mexican-style chiles rellenos follow the much more traditional Mexican technique of being covered with egg batter and fried, although variations and casseroles do exist.
In addition to local restaurants, many national food chains such as McDonald's and Jack in the Box offer green chile on many of their menu items.
The red Chile, the matured green Chile, is frequently dried and ground to a powder. These dried or powdered peppers are turned into a red Chile sauce. The dried peppers are rehydrated by boiling in a pot, and then blended with various herbs and spices, such as onion, garlic, and occasionally Mexican oregano. The red Chile powder is usually simply blended with water, herbs, and spices.
Serving both red and green Chile sauces on a dish is sometimes referred to as "Christmas" style. Both green and red Chile can be dried and turned into a powder, though this is more common with red Chile.
Enchilada sauce is, 8 ripe red or green chilies with seeds & vanes removed, 3 garlic cloves, 1 slice of onion, fresh oregano, cumin, salt, boil is 1 quart of water Puree in kitchen blender.
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Last edited by Gary350 on Tue Apr 23, 2019 7:38 am, edited 2 times in total.
Gary, if you're a hot pepper lover you may be disappointed in Anaheim. We grow them here because we don't like really hot peppers. In our garden they range from very mild when green, to fairly nippy when red, but I can't imagine them impressing anyone who likes a properly hot chilli powder. Maybe in your climate they'll be hotter.
Vanisle_BC wrote:Gary, if you're a hot pepper lover you may be disappointed in Anaheim. We grow them here because we don't like really hot peppers. In our garden they range from very mild when green, to fairly nippy when red, but I can't imagine them impressing anyone who likes a properly hot chili powder. Maybe in your climate they'll be hotter.
Good news, that sounds exactly like what we want. I use to love food fire hot but these days my stomach can not deal with hot spicy food. Wife can not eat hot spicy food anymore either. Mild chili peppers are exactly what we are hoping for. I bought a 1 lb bag of dry New Mexico peppers in Arizona remove seeds & vanes they make excellent chili lots of very good flavor and not very hot. We eat at a Mexican restaurant run by a family form Mexico they have things shipped in from Mexico their enchilada sauce and burrito sauce looks like it could be used for paint stripper but it is all flavor with very mild spiciness. These Anahein peppers will make very good, chili Rellenos, good taco sauce, good pico de gio sauce, good salsa, enchilada sauce. Flavor is what I like these days more than spicy hot. If we want it hotter we can add red pepper. I hope peppers are not hotter in my climate. I hope I can remove seeds & vanes then puree the ripe peppers then Can enchilada sauce in pint mason jars for Red & Green sauce. Thanks for the conformation I bought the correct peppers.
Last edited by Gary350 on Tue Apr 23, 2019 10:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Gary350 wrote:Good news, that sounds exactly like what we want. I love food fire hot but these days my stomach can not deal with hot spicy food. Wife can not eat hot spicy food anymore either. Mild chili peppers are exactly what we are hoping for.
Well Anaheim could be just what you're looking for. The earlier (greener) you harvest, the milder they'll be. They are a good producer for me; way better than the sweet bell types. Hope you have luck with them.
Today I planted 5 rows of corn each row 40 ft long. It seems too early I always plant when soil is warmer for beans and other seeds but we are having perfect weather 84 yesterday, 80s last week and 80s next week, 60s at night. Corn is one of the few seeds that germinate at 55 degrees. I usually plant corn when it is hotter and soil is dryer maybe that is why my corn has poor germination in the past about 50%. Nice things about replanting 50% of the seeds I get 2 crops about 8 days apart. I was not very picky about seed spacing being 6" but I was about having a straight row & making sure seeds are 2" deep. Each row should have about 80 seeds plus or minus a few seeds. Most of this crop will need to be harvested in about 4 days they don't all get ripe at exactly the same time. 400 ears of corn will keep us busy for a few days. Some will be eaten, some go in the freezer, some go in mason jars. It is suppose to rain tonight corn won't be up for a week. I remembered to use fertilizer this time, I have forgotten to fertilize the past 3 years. I used 3 pints if 15-15-15, 3 pints of urea, 1 cup calcium, 1 cup wood ash. Urea is a slow release fertilizer it needs calcium to convert nitrogen to a type of nitrogen that plants can use. If soil has no calcium, low in calcium, you don't add calcium then Urea is useless. Gone camping until Sunday.
We just got home been camping 4 days on the TN River 60 miles south east of Chattanooga with a vintage camper group in a State Park and 40 other vintage camper trailers. TN River is 1 mile across and who knows how long maybe 300 miles in TN and 200 miles in AL? Weather was perfect. I don't notice much different in the garden day after day when we stay home but being gone 4 days it is always a surprise to see how much the garden has grown. Potatoes were about 1" to 2" tall when we left now most plants are 6" tall and some are 8" to 10" tall. I sure hope plants do not get 6 ft tall like last year. Tomato plants are 8" to 10" tall, peppers are double in size, no corn has grown in 4 days. It is camping weather we won't be home much for the next 7 months garden does not need much help from me but I still need to stop dog & cats from running through the garden and damaging plants.
Today I planted 5 water melon plants that I started from seeds in a tray a month ago. I only want 3 plants but I planted all 5 plants anyway. I also planted 6 pickle cucumber plants I started from seeds a few weeks ago. I planted 3 yellow squash from seeds and 3 zucchini from seeds. I am keeping seeds covered with a flat board or flat rock to hold moisture so I don't need to water and soil does not dry out, seeds germinate fast & plants are coming up in 3 to 5 days.
I am waiting for bean planting weather. Weather was 83 today 10 degrees above normal, 60 degrees at night too cold for beans. After the big rain maker and cooler weather moves through the area Saturday maybe I can plant beans & okra.
We have a mocking bird that sings its lungs out all day. The bird is so loud I think it has its own PA system, wonder why it never gets a sore throat. Most of the time bird is in the tree next to the patio at back door but some times it flies to other trees to sing then it returns to the tree at the patio. Bird sings the same tune over & over 98% of the time it is nice to hear a different song sometimes. LOL. Today I took a video it is the only way to get sound but no way to upload it here. Video turned out good you can hear bird singing its lungs out.
I used a sifter to get small partials from the free mulch I got for the garden to make my own potting soil. Seeds germinate and grow a small plant but plants never grow larger the potting soil has no food value for plants. If I fertilize the tiny plants they grow larger.
It was 90 degrees today an going to be in the mid 80s all week. My thermometer shows soil temperature is 68 degrees so I tilled the last 3 rows in the garden, pulled a straight line then fertilized each row. Then tilled in the fertilizer and planted 1 row of Blue Lake Bush beans & 1 row of Roma Flat Pod beans. I planted 30 okra seeds in row 13. I need something else to plant in the other 1/2 of row 13. Today 1 Marconi plant is starting to come up in 1 of the pots it took a whole month, maybe there will be more plants come up in the other pots. I am sure I can find other things to plant in row 13 maybe 3 more cherry tomato plants. This is my 3rd year planting my own Blue Lake bush bean seeds saved from last years 2018 crop.
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Last edited by Gary350 on Thu May 02, 2019 8:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
Garden is finished. Now we wait for rain an watch it grow. I planted too many tomatoes & too many peppers we wanted to try new varieties this year. I may have too much corn but we have 2 squirrel families of 12 squirrels that love corn when it got ripe last year they ate 20% of the corn. Corn is a 65 day crop when it gets harvested about July 10 it will be replaced with beans to add soil nitrogen & grow more beans. When potatoes & onions are harvested they gets replaced with carrots and beans. We will have plenty of beans for seeds to plant next year plus about 60 pints of green beans for the pantry & dry beans too. New Mexico peppers mild chili peppers will give us about 30 pints of enchilada sauce, 15 pints of red chili sauce for the pantry. Soon as potatoes are 2" diameter we start eating them instead of harvesting the whole crop when they are mature. We will have corn on the cob in the freezer plus wife wants about 30 pints jars in the pantry. I hope to get 12 pints of Bread & Butter sweet pickles from the cucumbers to make relish for potato salad, chicken salad, & other things. 200 hard neck garlic will replace 1 potato row Aug 1st. I planted 500 carrot seeds in Nov after 3 days of rain soil will be easy to harvest carrots then we will see what we have and I will plant more. Garden does not seem like work because it is FUN & we have good food. I seldom spend more than 1 hour per day in the garden and I don't work in it every day, that adds up. No work for a while once a week I will keep tomatoes in the cages.
120 Kennebec potato plants
40 Red Pontiac Potatoes
298 yellow onions
50 red onions
50 white onions
106 garlic
12 Big Beef tomatoes
4 Big Boy tomatoes
4 Brandywine tomatoes
4 Beef Master
9 Cherry tomatoes
4 Amish Paste tomatoes
4 Big Bertha sweet bell peppers
4 Jalapeno peppers
2 Marconi sweet peppers
8 New Mexico mild chili peppers
400 sweet corn
340 Roma flat pod beans
240 Blue Lake Bush beans
30 okra
3 yellow squash
3 zucchini squash
12 pickle cucumbers
3 water melons
300 carrots
1 broccoli
10 Napa cabbage
30 radishes
8 chard
7 Herbs
It rained all night the mulch that I tilled into the soil is doing a good job of keep standing water out of the garden. Weather man says, rain every day until Sunday. Very heavy rain Saturday maybe 2" to 3" of rain. I hope mulch does not cause dry soil in 98 degree summer weather. Examinations shows a very good large root system in the soft mulch soil. Today is going to be a nice warm sunny day exactly what good seed germination needs.
Today I put a dog fence around the garden on 3 sides. I had 5 sections of chain link fence that I linked together. I had 6 sections of another type fence that I connected together. One fence is held up with wooden stakes on both sides and gravity keeps fence in place. The chain link fence is held up by 3 pieces of wire on each post. It took about an hour to put this up. Last year I learned dog will run all the way around a fence to bark at strangers and stays out of the garden. Corn is starting to come up I don't want dog to trample down corn & beans this year like last year.
Gary, I saw on another thread that you were trying to germinate some Marconi pepper seeds. Do you want some more seeds to try? A little late for peppers, but they weren't that late, when I grew them. Another large sweet pepper I have seeds for is Aconcagua. The only other sweet peppers I have in my bag is Jimmy Nardello - looks like cayenne, but no heat - and Lipstick, which was a freebie this year from Baker's.
pepperhead212 wrote:Gary, I saw on another thread that you were trying to germinate some Marconi pepper seeds. Do you want some more seeds to try? A little late for peppers, but they weren't that late, when I grew them. Another large sweet pepper I have seeds for is Aconcagua. The only other sweet peppers I have in my bag is Jimmy Nardello - looks like cayenne, but no heat - and Lipstick, which was a freebie this year from Baker's.
I think if I had more Marconi seeds it will be a month before they germinate by then we will be having 95 degree weather and they will be the only plants in the garden that will need to be watered every day to keep them alive. June is our vacation month we don't need to be home until about July 4th for the harvest. I should have seeds from my Marconi plants for next year.
We got another 1" of rain last night an 1" the day before that makes about 37" of rain since November. Rain in the forecast again every day next week. Temperature in the 60s mold is high allergies are bad & 1000s of mushrooms everywhere. Garden plants are looking good.
Today we had a visitor to the garden I have never seen before. It is a blue bird that is all blue. I have seen other blue birds with brown color breast several times but they are too quick to get a picture. This bird is not afraid like other birds it stayed for 30 minutes going from 1 tomato cage to the next pecking on tomato leaves several minutes at each plant. Bird must be eating something on the tomato leaves. Bird flew away quick it appeared to fly into the bird house on the pine tree but I'm not 100% sure. It is starting to rain again I am going in the house. Click on pictures they get larger.
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I got this picture online it looks like the visitor we had today.
I found this picture online also it looks like other blue birds I have seed. I think this is the Mountain Blue Bird.
Click picture larger look for blue bird near center of photo.
Click picture larger look for blue bird near center of photo.
Click picture larger look for blue bird near center of photo.
Click picture larger look for blue bird near center of photo.
