Garden 2022

[gravitylover]

Well, after a stupid dry couple of months it started raining last month and most things started growing again. I've been picking peppers every few days, tomatoes are doing well even though it's been chilly at night, flowers are going crazy and spewing seeds everywhere and the birds are having a ball with the strawberries, even the celery is edible again.

[skaredshtles]

Finally got a frost... pulled in about 35# of tomatoes the afternoon before. Now I watch them rot on the counter.

[Boissal]

Getting ready for winter. I just bought 25 cu. yds. of shredded mulch for and 1800 sq. ft. section of my property that is covered with grassy weeds. Eventually, I will place 5 or six spruces in this area. Although there are pros and cons regarding the placement of organic landscape fabric as a weed barrier between the weeds/soil and mulch, I will do this. I will spread the mulch the old-fashioned way: with wheel barrow, shovel and rake. I suspect that my back will be hurting for the next few weeks. This will also help me get into ski shape. Pics to follow.

Vibes, I moved 10 cu yd that way a couple years ago and it was... character building to say the least. The truck dumped it in one gigantic pile and I went at it with the shovel and wheelbarrow to distribute all over our yard. 7 yards were moved, the other 3 were spread in the spot they were dumped. Took me a couple days to get it all done and I was thoroughly crushed at the end.

[BCMtnHound]

Ha! At least 10 yards of mulch is lighter than 10 yards of 1” crush! Still character building nonetheless.

Light frosts are hitting most mornings now. Weather is finally turning a corner this weekend hopefully with much needed gentle rain for a few days. Pulled the tom’s, cukes, might get to the sucked tonight. Compost has been rotated, potatoes are out, carrots next. Still need to prune the raspberries and pull the beans. Everbearing strawberries still going, but that will end with the weather change too.
Wife comes home Fri from 2wks down in Phoenix, and will be annoyed that the weather did not wait for her to get her bulbs in, but it will be awhile yet before the frost goes deep enough to prevent that, but we do get freak snowfalls in late Oct/early Nov like 2021 that can stymie the fall work plan.

Overall the garden produced well this year, but everything shifted almost a month later than normal, on both ends of the season. Crazy year.

[pepperdawg]

=skaredshtles;6707961pulled in about 35# of tomatoes the afternoon before. Now I watch them rot on the counter.

^^^Oooh we play this game every season

[pepperdawg]

Carrots:

Still have one more row - will leave them until ground threatens to get frozen



into freezer for soups/stews etc.



Thats it till 2023 thread start anew...

[riser4]

I assume you blanched them?

[gravitylover]

It stayed well above freezing this morning so it looks like things should keep doing well for another week at least. I wonder if that'll be long enough for the tomatoes to actually be close to ready. Garlic going in the ground today.

[climberevan]

^^^Oooh we play this game every season

So do we, but ours almost all ripen eventually. Sometimes we're still eating them after thanksgiving. We have a likely freeze coming in a few days so this week will be the big green harvest for us.

The best setup I've used is one of those wire shelving units. I think having a lot of airflow is key to avoiding the rot.

[skaredshtles]

So do we, but ours almost all ripen eventually. Sometimes we're still eating them after thanksgiving. We have a likely freeze coming in a few days so this week will be the big green harvest for us.

The best setup I've used is one of those wire shelving units. I think having a lot of airflow is key to avoiding the rot.

Ours only rot after they've gotten REALLY ripe. We just can't eat/process that many tomatoes...

[stapes]

Veggie garden was not good this year. Just didn’t put the effort in with life being busy and excuses.

Cacti looking good though…

[schindlerpiste]

Getting ready for winter

Now, in pure boomer form, I need a sauna

[Thaleia]

I assume you blanched them?

Came here to ask as well.. I've got about 16 sq ft of these guys coming up soon.

[BobMc]

Supposed to get a bit cold this weekend, so I figured I’d better get my ass in gear and get some of the peppers picked.

Picked all the jalapenos, most of the ghost peppers and a lot of the anahiems. Gave most of them to the neighbor, but kept a few for myself.

Cut off the tiniest piece of a ghost pepper and ate it. (Maybe 2mm x 1mm). HOLY SHIT! It immediately set my mouth afire and all the way down my esophagus. Ten minutes later it’s still burning and I’ve still got the hiccups.

[climberevan]

Nice haul.

I grew ghosts one year and found them basically unusable. Habañeros are a better use of the space.

[BobMc]

BTW, blanched or not I’d recommend getting a vacuum sealer. We bought a Foodsaver a couple years ago, that thing is the goods. It keeps stuff from getting freezer burned rather well, easily another six months of life for vegetables and meats.

Along with a good dehydrator, (we have an Excalibur), your vacuum sealer will give your garden a much longer seasonal life.

[Boissal]

I grew ghosts one year and found them basically unusable. Habañeros are a better use of the space.

Agreed, anything spicier than the habanero is just fire. You might be able to ferment the ghosts with a bunch of other sweet peppers and get a feel for their actual flavor but it's going to be real hard to beat the habanero on that front.

[Thaleia]

My pepper game has gotten pretty strong, but I have zero luck with habeneros. They never grow more than a couple inches tall, and if I'm 'lucky' I might get one or two peppers off each plant, but they begin to develop so late in the season they're tiny.

I actually really like the flavour of ghost peppers. The hot sauces I make with them usually have a decent amount of filler (carrots, onions, tomato etc). It's still pretty hot but the ghost peppers give a very sweet fruity taste.

What are you guys doing with your Anaheim peppers? I have a bunch to play with but no idea how to use them.

[Boissal]

My pepper game has gotten pretty strong, but I have zero luck with habeneros. They never grow more than a couple inches tall, and if I'm 'lucky' I might get one or two peppers off each plant, but they begin to develop so late in the season they're tiny.

I actually really like the flavour of ghost peppers. The hot sauces I make with them usually have a decent amount of filler (carrots, onions, tomato etc). It's still pretty hot but the ghost peppers give a very sweet fruity taste.

What are you guys doing with your Anaheim peppers? I have a bunch to play with but no idea how to use them.

I used Anaheim last year in hot sauces as filler, basically to offset the habaneros and provide a bit of a different flavor. And I fry them up with breakfast pretty much daily, along with any other pepper that grows in the garden. Just froze a huge pile of shishitos for that purpose.

[Thaleia]

Aww perfect, thank you.

[Rideski]

Weather places are of course predicting variable temps but some saying no real freeze this week, then it could warm back up. So I left some of the green tomatoes on but took most of them off. I feel like I left a bunch on after the freeze last year and they did ok. Can't quite remember.

[Norseman]

some of the peppers



Aji Rico



Harvestman w/ Jalapeno



Siberian / "Grandpa's Home"

[Boissal]

Good thing I covered the remaining plants last night:

[Thaleia]

Likely the last good tomato and pepper haul this year, getting a pretty significant frost overnight.

Still have celery, cucumbers, carrots, a very meagre potato plant (like literally a single plant lol) beans, some tiny Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, and herbs out there. Not worried about the carrots or potato, unsure what will happen to the rest.

Oh, and about 4,000 cherry tomato's that we're too lazy to pick at this point. (I will shudder when I reread that months from now when we're used to grocery store tomato's)

[gravitylover]

It's gonna be borderline frosty again here tonight. I'm hoping it doesn't hurt too badly because I have a bunch of stuff doing surprisingly well. I really want some fresh tomatoes but they're a week or two away still.