((Serious Gardening))

[Kassaundra]

My first pepper harvest of the year, I'm soooo excited, this is the best I've ever done w/ peppers, especially the bells.

 

[happyhensny]

My first pepper harvest of the year, I'm soooo excited, this is the best I've ever done w/ peppers, especially the bells.

Whoa! I just put our pepper plants in this weekend, and was cautioned that it may be too early! YUM!!!!

 

[jtbrown]

Beautiful peppers, my plants are starting so small, cannot wait til they grow!

 

[galanie]

I planted my peppers when I planted my tomatoes in Feb. Got tons of tomatoes, and not one pepper yet. However, I do have a basket full of hot peppers from a plant I planted last spring! It never really had anything on it till it overwintered. Has to be our weather or something. I have yet to ever get a decent bell pepper to bear. Best I've done is with banana and hot peppers.

If I plant a hybrid I'll get a few half sized fruits but I want a sweet pepper that is decent sized that I can save the seed from for next year. The heirloom varieties I've gotten so far just don't do in our microclimate I guess. Yolo Wonder is the only heirloom most of the big guys sell and I've gotten a chocolate bell this year to try out. So far, blooms aplenty but no peppers.

Oh, and on the Comfrey:

Ordered 8 roots, got 9. Planted in the late fall and I've gotten an abundant crop of leaves as well. I'm fermenting the leaves with brown sugar as per the korean natural farming way for making Fermented Plant Juice. Only I'm not using their dilution when feeding it to the plants, I'm diluting it more in a 1:10 as is suggested when you ferment the leaves a different way for a high nitrogen plant food. Everything I've fed this to has done really well. I go light on it with fruiting and root crops but heavier on it with the garlic and leafy things.

If interested, here's the Korean Natural Farming way of making Fermented Plant Juice: http://www.naturalfarmingway.org/recipes/fermented-plant-juice-fpj/fpj-introduction

 

[Kassaundra]

I planted my peppers when I planted my tomatoes in Feb. Got tons of tomatoes, and not one pepper yet. However, I do have a basket full of hot peppers from a plant I planted last spring! It never really had anything on it till it overwintered. Has to be our weather or something. I have yet to ever get a decent bell pepper to bear. Best I've done is with banana and hot peppers.
If I plant a hybrid I'll get a few half sized fruits but I want a sweet pepper that is decent sized that I can save the seed from for next year. The heirloom varieties I've gotten so far just don't do in our microclimate I guess. Yolo Wonder is the only heirloom most of the big guys sell and I've gotten a chocolate bell H

This year I interplanted them w/ beans (and later it will be sweet potatoes), they do not seem to like our direct hot sun.

Have you tried pimento peppers?? I was going to try those instead of the bells this year, I did get a couple of plants in, when I couldn't get the maraconi locally I thought about the pimento since they are shaped similar. Yes I am wanting to plant all heirloom for seed saving, but more then seed saving I really want veggies, so if I can't get veggies or seeds from heirloom then hybrid it is.

 

[galanie]

Mine don't like the direct hot sun all day either so I tried planting them where they'd get a bit more shade. Still get plenty of sun for production but not the all day sun beating down on them kind of spot. Pimentos do ok but they're smaller than I want. I might just go for a sweet banana or pimento next year though instead of beating my head against the wall with these larger bells. Luckily I don't really eat a lot of peppers but they're nice to add into things and a great treat for my cockatiel.

Back to Korean Natural Farming, I have a "Cliff notes" version of how you do all that stuff so ask if you're really interested and confused about the directions. Once you get the hows and whys in your head, the actual doing of it can be pretty simple.

 

[Kassaundra]

Mine don't like the direct hot sun all day either so I tried planting them where they'd get a bit more shade. Still get plenty of sun for production but not the all day sun beating down on them kind of spot. Pimentos do ok but they're smaller than I want. I might just go for a sweet banana or pimento next year though instead of beating my head against the wall with these larger bells. Luckily I don't really eat a lot of peppers but they're nice to add into things and a great treat for my cockatiel.
Back to Korean Natural Farming, I have a "Cliff notes" version of how you do all that stuff so ask if you're really interested and confused about the directions. Once you get the hows and whys in your head, the actual doing of it can be pretty simple.

I need to re-do my IMO it was a dismal failure. But I tried making it in the coldest time, when it warmed up I was swamped w/ other garden stuff and kept forgetting to do it, but I do need to get a batch started. I've been using my LAB, and Gary tossed my liquid CA, so I need to start it again. I fermented some comfrey, but just got it finished and haven't started using it yet. The hardest part is to remember to set the water out the day before so it can de-chlorinate.

 

[galanie]

I need to re-do my IMO it was a dismal failure.  But I tried making it in the coldest time, when it warmed up I was swamped w/ other garden stuff and kept forgetting to do it, but I do need to get a batch started.  I've been using my LAB, and Gary tossed my liquid CA, so I need to start it again.  I fermented some comfrey, but just got it finished and haven't started using it yet.  The hardest part is to remember to set the water out the day before so it can de-chlorinate.

IMO (In My Opinion) the IMO did nothing. I made it and used it but nothing decomposed any faster than it ever does nor have I noticed any difference where it was used in the plants.

My tomatoes have very much benefited from the calcium though. Blossom end rot is almost a given here unless you add plenty of gypsum or something to the soil (can't use lime or ashes, soil is already too alkaline naturally). My tomatoes had no blossom end rot at all. None of them. I gave them the water soluble calcium twice. Once when they first started blooming and another time later on just because. I used a watering can and poured it over them. They're still blooming so I might give them a light bit of it again.

I don't set anything out to de-clorinate. I started out using distilled water and just went ahead at one point and started using it straight from the faucet. Maybe there is a difference but I don't see any. It de-clorinates by itself anyway after the first day. I know you'll kill fish that way but after trying that the first time, I just use faucet water.

 

[Kassaundra]

IMO (In My Opinion) the IMO did nothing. I made it and used it but nothing decomposed any faster than it ever does nor have I noticed any difference where it was used in the plants.
My tomatoes have very much benefited from the calcium though. Blossom end rot is almost a given here unless you add plenty of gypsum or something to the soil (can't use lime or ashes, soil is already too alkaline naturally). My tomatoes had no blossom end rot at all. None of them. I gave them the water soluble calcium twice. Once when they first started blooming and another time later on just because. I used a watering can and poured it over them. They're still blooming so I might give them a light bit of it again.
I don't set anything out to de-clorinate. I started out using distilled water and just went ahead at one point and started using it straight from the faucet. Maybe there is a difference but I don't see any. It de-clorinates by itself anyway after the first day. I know you'll kill fish that way but after trying that the first time, I just use faucet water.

Then I may just skip the imo and go straight for the ca. I like the lab for the chicken coop I spray it on the poop, sand, and grass clippings in there and it helps w/ the smell alot, I think. I haven't sprayed any on the planted ground yet but keep meaning to.

 

[flgardengirl]

I threw a handful of layer pellets in all my tomato plant holes this year. They are 6ft+ plus now and bearing nicely. No end blossom rot. I just fertilized them for the first time a few days ago lol. We have terrible sandy soil here full of nematoads..