New England, March 2016

Here in CA I haven't had much luck with the sweet peppers until last fall. After the heat of the summer started fading, they finally started producing. This year they will get the 2' x 8' bed to themselves and with the shade cloth, maybe they will have a good year, Here's hoping.

Too hot... too cold... what's a pepper grower to do?

I had to consult wiki. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_pepper

Bell peppers are native to Mexico, central America, and northern South America, but today China is the largest pepper grower. So what do those climates have in common? Beats me. Sounds like heat and long growing seasons, but I don't know about China.

Soil temps should be 70-84F. Moist but not waterlogged. No extremes in temperature or moisture.

So that gives some clues. I'm thinking that a more controlled environment like a greenhouse covering over the bed might work.

Are hot peppers easier to grow? India is the largest producer (going to chili peppers' wiki). I'm sure not India here. 

Sounds like successfully growing peppers could mean a lot of research, and some experiments. I'm going to read more about it.

My peppers did quite well last season.

Hi camprn!

Yeah, you seem to have good luck with peppers. I've had maybe one good season out of 4, so I really don't know why that is. But part of it is probably slugs.

I believe voles eat slug eggs, or so I've read. I'm really hoping that my overpopulation of voles can help cure my overpopulation of slugs. Now I have to find something to cure the overpopulation of voles, maybe bringing in some cats.

Has anyone ever read The King, The Mice & The Cheese?

I had wonderful hot peppers last year, 19 plants of differing varieties.  Jalapenos, Serranos, and Cayenne.  Green peppers did ok, they never got as big as I would have liked them.  I had 14 green pepper plants and they all grew large, but the peppers never really got big.  They were delicious though.  Hungarian Wax Peppers did great also.  I had a better watering system for the bed with the hot peppers and wax peppers, maybe the green peppers didn't get enough water?

Just came in from planting Yukon Gold potatoes. What a beautiful day! The shallots I planted midwinter have sprouted, as have the mustard spinach seeds I planted 10 days ago. Yippee! 

Can't say I wasn't worried after the uncalled for frost we had last night. Couldn't believe my eyes this morning! But all is well and everything looks happy. Even the seedlings I accidentally left outside overnight are still looking cheerful today.

Indoors,  the tomatoes, brussel sprouts and pink mallow flowers I started on Wednesday have sprouted and are now in the window catching some rays. Looks like ALL the tomato seeds sprouted even the old ones. Pepper's haven't come up yet but they always take longer.

Since we all seem to have the best luck with volunteer tomatoes I'm going to try an experiment this year. I've put clam packs over a couple of squares in the sfg to warm up the MM. I think I will direct seed some tomatoes there in a few days leaving the clam packs on after they've sprouted. Vented of course.  Or do you think I should just go ahead and put the seeds in there now? Since that's how it works with volunteers...?  Hey, I'll do both!  But I'll definitely be sure to stick a couple of baby aspirins down under there first!

Geez this is fun this year!

Yeah, I feel like a mad scientist in my outdoor research lab sometimes.

Some of my onion seeds are sprouting, and these are seeds from last year, so I think onion seeds may be a little more viable longer than one would think.

Its such fun following your garden efforts friends.  Today I went out on dog patrol and found my Snowdrops had blossomed.  They are always the very first flowers in my garden followed by my purple Glory of the Snow.  I guess spring might be here early.  Its a fabulous day out there.  Didn't even need a sweater.

Well, Win10 did it again.  Every time it updates (takes nearly 3 hrs) they change something and this time its how to post a photo here.  Sorry,  I can't share my Snowdrops.  Ugh.


Well, I played around with it.  If I send my photos to my Picturetrail.com account I can then post them here by using the URL that Picturetrail provides.  When there's a will, there's sometimes a way.  Hooray!

Beautiful snowdrops, QB! Thanks for posting those. It proves New England is waking up!!!


Just finished seeding Roma's in the SFG under clampacks. The inside of the clampacks are already covered in condensation. Wild.


Wind's picking up wicked. Time to do indoor things.

The FedEx guy told me he saw a bear at a bird feeder a mile away, so I do think it will be an early spring. The good thing about that is our growing season may get extended this year, so it might be a good year to plant those things you don't think usually have a long enough time to grow. Makes me think twice about my plans to cut back this summer. This might be a good summer to go full steam ahead.

We're changing our clocks ahead tonight, maybe for gardening's sake we should turn our calendars 2 weeks ahead and just assume it's April 1st....

Oh, one other thing, the peach trees that were girdled nonetheless have buds on them. I'm wondering if it's just that they haven't totally died yet, or if they're going to make it. If they make it, I'll be really surprised - maybe the voles that girdled the bark didn't actually go all the way through? Don't know, we'll see.

quiltbea - Win10 takes 3 hours to update? Ouch.

OK, now wait...the bear at the bird feeder is an April thing?


I turned my clocks ahead last night. Being a DST hater I need extra help to get ready.

Turn our calendars ahead 2 weeks? LOL I love that idea! I may have already done that, too, the way things are going around here...

2016 Actual plantings:

I am a DST hater too. It messes with me big time.

That being said, I LOVE the idea of a 2 week reset on FFDs. I am putting out spinach and kale starts, seeding peas, radish, and perhaps turnips. Will be moving quickly on lettuces too.

So nice out there, except, like you said, we had a surprise hard frost here last night.

Scorpio Rising wrote:I am a DST hater too.  It messes with me big time.  

I hate it so much that today this is what I found and did, using my own words in place of what is already there:

http://www.petition2congress.com/6284/end-daylight-savings-time/

Admins, no problemo if you feel this post should be deleted.

Done.

CapeCoddess wrote:I hate it so much that today this is what I found and did, using my own words in place of what is already there:

http://www.petition2congress.com/6284/end-daylight-savings-time/

Admins, no problemo if you feel this post should be deleted.

One more good reason to move to Hawaii.

CC,  Love your plot plan!  Mine is almost as bad good.

I started soaking my peas today. Maybe I'll get to sow them before the storm on Sunday.

Hitting the mid to hi 20's tonite so I threw some screens & windows over the leafy lettuces, potatoes and whatever else was around them.  Guess I'll leave them on thru the 1 to 10 inches of snow we're supposed to get Sunday nite.


Light Frost - Temperatures 28-32 degrees F
Hard Frost - Temperatures below 28 degrees F.

Likely damaged by light frost: Beans, cucumbers, eggplants, muskmelon, New Zealand spinach, okra, peppers, pumpkins, summer squash, sweet corn, tomatoes, watermelon, amaranth, and winter squash (plants).

Can withstand light frost: Artichokes, beets, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chinese cabbage, endive, lettuce, parsnips, peas, swiss chard, escarole, arugula, bok choy, mache, and radicchio.

Can withstand hard frost: Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, onions, parsley, peas, radishes, spinach, turnips, leeks, and sorrel.

It is important to understand that temperature is not the only factor affecting survivorship of plants during a frost event. The further a plant or its parts are from the ground, the more likely it is to be damaged by frost. The ground is usually still warm in early fall and will radiate some warmth to plants that are close to the ground. Humidity can also help protect plants from frost. Humid air holds more heat and reduces the drying effects of frost. Air movement also has an influence on frost damage. When wind blows during cold nights, it sweeps away any warm air trapped near stuctures or the ground, eliminating their insulating capabilities.
From: https://www.botanicalinterests.com/articles/view/26/Frost-Tolerance-of-Vegetables

Oh shoot...forgot to put the pine needles back on the pea shoots that started poking thru today.  Better head out there now...

If you guys are getting what we are in the middle of, it is lasting about a week.

Scorpio Rising wrote:If you guys are getting what we are in the middle of, it is lasting about a week.  

What?!  Oh no no no no no...that just won't do.
I believe that for us it's mostly blowing out to sea tomorrow and we will be in the hi 40's day and hi 30's at nite for the rest of the week.  My garden can handle that.  But not hitting the 20's like it has this weekend.

Well, if it changes I'll just leave the covers on longer.  Thanks for the warning.

The SFG is uncovered and loving this weather.  The radishes have all sprouted and most of the spinach and diakon are up.  Seeded out some pak choi and some more peas, garlic and radishes during lunch today just because I could.  Watered the lettuces.  Inside, the tomato starts are all getting their true leaves.  

Onward ho, into Spring we go!

Wow CC, you're getting a great start! You could start your own youtube channel!  

I tried an experiment where I got a tray of potting soil and dumped all my old onion seeds in there from 2011 just to see what happens. Probably nothing, but if they sprout, you'll hear about it. Johnny's seeds, yellow onions.

I have pretty much all my seeds this year leftover from previous years. I remember spending a fortune on the garden, now that's all in the past!

I hear owls outside hooting. I sure hope they eat a few voles tonight.

The house still isn't on the market so I'm going to put my frame and cover in the flower bed and grow some veggies along with putting in a couple of tomato transplants from the store when I find them.  Those will go into pots unless its one of the mini plants.
I'm getting mighty itchy to grow stuff again.

I bet you are, QB! Spring is always a busy time, so much potential!

NHG, my onion seeds did terrible and they were brand new, green bunching, planted 16, got 3 So will probably go with sets if I want to pursue onions....not sure.
So much competition for my limited SF!

QB, glad you've decided to move forward with your growing! It's hard to plant in the midst of uncertainty, but why not. Not knowing the future keeps me from planting more fruit trees, but really, may as well just plod ahead. 

SR, sorry about your onions! Is it too late to go grab another packet of seeds? I don't know the green bunching, maybe they're harder to grow.

My perennial walking (Egyptian) onions are growing again outside. Something ate the tops off them all the way to the ground during the winter, but they look green and hardy and I'll bet they'll be overcrowding again this summer. Their onions are small, a quarter to a half dollar size (altho you could chop up the greens too), but for the amount of work I put into them (which is virtually none) they're a bargain.

I'm letting the chickens into the garden to scratch everything up and maybe eat some bad things in there and maybe fertilize it a little. They're disturbing my asparagus beds, the strawberries, and they've scratched a little where the garlic plants are popping up, but everything will survive and I think the pluses outdo the minuses. I want them to turn all the leaves and compost materials I've put out there since the fall. 

A project maybe today if it's not raining is to start raking the wet leaves that are in the drainage ditch next to the driveway, those are probably well on their way towards decomposition and I'll add those to my soil. The soil in these parts is sparse, mostly a soggy and rocky terrain, so really, you have to make your own soil here. I've been trying to add soil components for a few years now, but it's pretty hard work physically. When are those new humanoid robots coming out? I could use a few.