Anyone else garden?

I'm not sure if anyone else has started such an off-topic discussion...

My wife and I love to garden. For this year it's peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers. I really wasn't in to eating hot stuff until I met my wife. This year we have cayenne, cow horn, and habanero peppers growing.

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attachment.php?attachmentid=1170&stc=1&d=1311554203

Above is one of the cow horn peppers.

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Comments

Essendon

I think I'd love to garden. I have a new house that the builders didnt do a good job of cleaning up after they handed it over to us. I have been shovelling the debris on and off for 6-7 months now, still havent got the backyard/sideyard/frontyard clear enough to even plant grass. Guess I should probably hire a bobcat and get someone to do it all in a day or two. My other problem is the missus doesnt want to give me a hand with the gardening so I'm on my own.

You are doing well though, that's a good size pepper. Do you change what you plant every season, good for the soil supposedly?

Psoasman

We did a small garden this year, ran out of room. Next year, I am going to build some raised beds in the front yard and go all out. I find gardening very relaxing after dealing with computer issues all week.
We grew some red and green bell peppers last year. One of my tricks is to take some FRESH cut grass and place it in the hole, with dirt on top, then plant the seeds or plants. The grass will break down and get warm= happy plants

mikedisd2

I had a few goes in the garden. Problem is, butterflies infest the vegies in the spring, snails eat everything in winter and every dies in the dry summer heat.

Basil and oregano seem to go well though.

bigmantenor

We grow our own grapes, tomatoes, and strawberries most of the time, with some occasional garlic and cucumbers. We also have a small herb garden next to the back porch. Unfortunately we haven't been able to do much outside this summer in Texas; it's pretty much been 100+ degrees outside for 2 and a half months now. My disc golf game has surely suffered greatly by now

veritas_libertas

Essendon wrote: »

You are doing well though, that's a good size pepper. Do you change what you plant every season, good for the soil supposedly?

This is our first year doing a garden at our place. I'm not sure about the soil yet. I figure I'm going mix up the soil and add some sort of fertilizer before next season.

Breadfan

Hey VL, since you live in SC (like me) I can help you out. I grew hot peppers for many years to make my own hot sauces, etc. but gave it up when we moved into a new house and new job,etc.
For your hot peppers, make sure to not water them much (you want to water them when they are just to the wilting stage). The more stress you put on the peppers, the hotter they will be. the more water you give them, the weaker they will be.
If you like them hot, try chocolate habs (they are the BEST). they taste the best out of all them in my opinion. 2 second close is the white habanero. I also like Thai hot/culinary and/or ornamental peppers too. they are very easy to grow in pots and look great too.
as far as the soil, you can get all technical and get a PH soil checker, but since you live in the low country (not sure what part of my favorite city you are in), but the soil should be pretty good. just add some generic mushroom/peat soil, lots of top soil, and 1/2 bag of black cow manure and you should be good to go.
one more thing, there are lots of bugs down there (I'm sure you know), you dont have to spend lots of $$$ on pesticides. get a cleaned or new spray bottle and put a 2 tblsps of Dawn and the rest water and spray your plant leaves (roses, etc work too). aphids, etc are soft bodied and the dish soap suffocates them and they die immediately. dont make the same mistake i made too though

and kill the ladybugs. they are good for eating the aphids and other bugs when you arent around to get them.
if you have a problem with deer or rabbits you can get a chepa bag of blood meal and spread it around the garden and they wont go near it.
i can give you names of good places that i used for peppers, tomatoes, etc. if you want them. Good luck

veritas_libertas

Breadfan wrote: »

Hey VL, since you live in SC (like me) I can help you out. I grew hot peppers for many years to make my own hot sauces, etc. but gave it up when we moved into a new house and new job,etc.
For your hot peppers, make sure to not water them much (you want to water them when they are just to the wilting stage). The more stress you put on the peppers, the hotter they will be. the more water you give them, the weaker they will be.
If you like them hot, try chocolate habs (they are the BEST). they taste the best out of all them in my opinion. 2 second close is the white habanero. I also like Thai hot/culinary and/or ornamental peppers too. they are very easy to grow in pots and look great too.
as far as the soil, you can get all technical and get a PH soil checker, but since you live in the low country (not sure what part of my favorite city you are in), but the soil should be pretty good. just add some generic mushroom/peat soil, lots of top soil, and 1/2 bag of black cow manure and you should be good to go.
one more thing, there are lots of bugs down there (I'm sure you know), you dont have to spend lots of $$$ on pesticides. get a cleaned or new spray bottle and put a 2 tblsps of Dawn and the rest water and spray your plant leaves (roses, etc work too). aphids, etc are soft bodied and the dish soap suffocates them and they die immediately. dont make the same mistake i made too though and kill the ladybugs. they are good for eating the aphids and other bugs when you arent around to get them.
if you have a problem with deer or rabbits you can get a chepa bag of blood meal and spread it around the garden and they wont go near it.
i can give you names of good places that i used for peppers, tomatoes, etc. if you want them. Good luck

Actually, I'm in the Upcountry

Thanks for the pointers! I was concerned that they were not getting enough water, but I now see that I was wrong about that. A learned a trick for keeping deer and rabbits away. You can put egg shells in your garden, and it seems that animals do not like smell of rotten eggs.

Breadfan

OOPPSS! Sorry about that. See what happens when I post something before the coffee has had time to hit my bloodstream.

Yes, eggshells will work too. I just use the bloodmeal since Im too lazy to remember to save the darn eggshells, plus roses and tomatoes love bloodmeal. keeps the nitrogen level good.

use all the organic stuff like and dont waste money on the miracle grow crap. entirely too overpriced. when you are ready to start the garden stuff next year, just take a bag of manure and top soil and till it with last years soil and you are good to go. you only need to worry about pulling all of the nutrients out of the soil when you have the garden in the same place for 5 or more years without redoing the soil. even then i wouldnt really worry about it.
i always know my garden soil is top notch when the earthworms are plenty in my garden. they work wonders for aerating the soil too so you dont have to.
what other peppers do you have? did you get them from home depot or the farmers market up there?

lochmoigh

I love this site, I learned a ton about gardening just now. I have tried in the past to start a small garden, really a couple of plants, and my wife has repeatedly ( "in helping me") run them over with a mower. so I have given up. with the price of food going up though a garden seems more like a necessity.

veritas_libertas

lochmoigh wrote: »

I love this site, I learned a ton about gardening just now. I have tried in the past to start a small garden, really a couple of plants, and my wife has repeatedly ( "in helping me") run them over with a mower. so I have given up. with the price of food going up though a garden seems more like a necessity.

You need a raised garden, or maybe even some large flower pots would do the job. When we bought our home it already had a raised garden which made it very convenient.

crrussell3

I would love to start a garden, but am afraid that there are too many rabbits that would enjoy it more than I would. Sure, I could put up fencing to keep them out, but really don't want to go through the trouble.

Not only that, but I am afraid I wouldn't have enough room, as there is too much I would want to plant! I have really gotten into cooking the past few years, so veggies are always a must, but so expensive. I try and hit the farmers market, but usually don't have time.

Plantwiz

veritas_libertas wrote: »

You need a raised garden, or maybe even some large flower pots would do the job. When we bought our home it already had a raised garden which made it very convenient.

Raised beds are great for several reasons...

I'll grab some photos since you all wish to talk about plants

We've have a great eco system in our yard, but it has taken a while to build...and it is very cool. Main thing is never try to destroy any one thing (though I was tempted to call my friend who is a Chef and specializes in rabbit for some recipies one year...the next year the hawks moved it...so if you have a good balance a problem is typically short-lived.

lochmoigh

veritas_libertas wrote: »

You need a raised garden, or maybe even some large flower pots would do the job. When we bought our home it already had a raised garden which made it very convenient.

I tried that, sort of, didn't raise it high enough evidently or she thought the mower was a ATV