Ok, so first things first. I guess the place to begin would be a plan of attack for this years pepper garden. Mostly hot peppers will be grown. Other plants will include: Sweet peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, cilantro, most likely some garlic, and other misc herbs. My wife wants to plant pumpkins again this year, but I dunno. They grew so big last year that they took alot of the nutrients from the ground and the other plants suffered.
Let me know if you would be interested in cayenne seeds. I have lots of them, and will send them to you with SASE!
The mighty cayenne powder! This is the final bottle of powder. I think I will be ok til next harvest.
I liked growing the Hungarian Hot Wax peppers. They were my heaviest producers next to the cayenne peppers. I still have 2 of these bags left.
And last, but certainly not least, the Habanero. I really only had one plant that produced real good. I think I started them too late last year. Oh well, I learned. I will make sure I start tese babies earlier this year.
topic: garden
topic: peppers
7 comments:
Where do you get your pepper seeds (how did you get started).
I see alot of people with dozens and dozens of pepper varieties and have no idea where they get all the different seeds from.
Charles
You are the man Pepper Guy!
THANKS SO MUCH !!
I'm a trained Biologist ( just so you can think that what I say makes sense) -- Plastic -- 99% of solids, and 100% of baggies -- let air in and out. Many chemicals in your peppers are highly reactive to oxygen and some are reactive to light. Glass is better and brown glass is better. An exceptional idea is to get the right sized glass jar, paint it black on the outside, and stencil on, or use your comptuer to make a 'pretty' label that you can attach with a wide piece of 'scotch' or 'strapping' tape. One reason you refrigerate things is to SLOW DOWN the OXIDATION process. This way all you need is a shelf -- Some hardware/plant stores or Farm-Ranch stores have MATCHING bottles of various sizes. If they don't you can probably order some from your local Health Food Store -- it might take a few tries -- but I can get a 1 gallon screw cap jar for (2009) $5.50-$6.50 each, and a sub-pint screw cap jar that matches the gallon one in shape and design for Seventy-five Cents. A two gallon jar is about a dollar more and a three gallon jar is about three dollars more than a gallon jar. Use some paraffin on the threads of the jar and lid, or some teflon tape like you'd use for a water pipe to keep it air tight -- the worst enemy of spices is light, heat, and air. But one reason heat's not good is because it speeds up the reaction with oxygen. For some specimens I'll use a double valve system that screws into the lid -- a ball valve that allows nitrogen to go in, and a ball valve that lets the oxygen out when it's pressurizing -- cost: about $2 each plus you tank of nitrogen, a very small tank like you see people carry on wheels will RENT for about $1-$2 a month and the original cost is about $20 including a 3 month rental and a full tank of gas. THAT is going a bit far, but if you keep your jars about half way up the wall on a shelf using the top shelves for things you use far more of - like flours, corn meals, sugars, rices and beans and mixes of the same -- you shouldn't have much trouble with your peppers being fresh after two years or longer -- just make sure you paint the jars black and use the right sized jar -- so when you get your gallon jar half done -- switch to a half gallon jar - there is less oxygen to mess with the oils on the peppers.
pgalioni
Star_circle_star@yahoo.com
Also, Studies show that peppers give a kick in the behind to your immune system - one VERY good reason to keep all the chemicals in the peppers in good condition.
IF you are REALLY curious you an go to pubmed (just google it, the address will have NLM in the address -- it's part of the National Library of Medicine) and search for 'capsaicin and Immune' (without the ' ' marks) and these are one paragraph descriptions of what could be a 20 page study -- so they ARE condensed - just read the first sentence and then the last one where it will use words like 'findings' or 'outcomes' or 'summary' or 'results' --etc. You will find that they prevent many diseases, including some cancers, and if used as a poultice will even act as an anti-fungal - and Fungi are VERY diffiuclt to treat -
pgalioni
Star_Circle_Star@yahoo.com
Hope this helps you-- you can, of course SLOW DOWN the transfer of oxygen between the peppers and the chemical in them by putting the peppers in plastic double zip locks -- I have a friend who leaves a round hole so he can see what's inside - he just cuts a piece of cardboard and spray paints around it - and a LITTLE light getting in is better than a LOT of light getting in - plus the bottle is sealed -- I am switching from paraffin to the white Teflon tape as it seems to work just as well.
Just thought you might want to know that your pepper are very powerful anti-oxidants, boost your immune system, help prevent cancers, keep you more healthy in general -- and you can keep them twice or longer if you keep them dark and air tight -- I have even taken to wrapping Teflon tape around the spices I buy at the store, and have two templates I use to cover the labels and spray them black - and the are now in two cupboards, so they stay between 1/4 and 1/2 the way up the wall and moved them away from the stove years ago -- it's a bit more work in the kitchen to take those three steps to the spice cabinets, but at $3-$8 a bottle or more for some spices, I hate to toss our my home grown and dried herbs and mixtures every year -- and this DOES work.
Good luck, I got to your page while looking for designs of green houses!!!! I think rebar sides covered in 3/4 inch PVC then 45 degree them up to a one inch rafter and a few 1/2 in bracing s into T's and double insulated with about a 2 inch gap made by press- fitting a T into another one above it will give me a very nice green house that can take six or 8 foot plants along the side, 12 foot in the center, hold a few inches of snow and with black plastic on the ground early on give me plenty of heat -- and if I am industrious, which I am not -- a few rolls of black plastic over the top will help keep the snow off when it begins to really dump on us - but I'm just looking around and thought that some of those things might be a good idea for you -- even some old black plastic watering tanks for live stock filled with water and with black plastic over the top will heat up and release heat slowly during the winter even old plastic bath tubs or striped out refers can be painted black and covered with plastic to radiate heat - and drill the back of your old refer with 1/2 inch holes, use it as a compost pile with worms -- and aluminum screen screwed on to the back and you have a raised bed garden that retains heat -- can be closed during the night, opened during the day with clear plastic around it to start - pained black, and facing south with aluminum foil to reflect the sun light to the seedings - and you have yourself a bug proof (at the right time remove the clear plastic and put up mosquito netting -- and get smething green to grow up around the edges of the black so they dont' get too hot - and worms will keep oxygen at the roots, and copper from the motor windings that have been polished with Emory paper to bright will keep slugs and snails out - their slime reacts with the copper and produces a 'shock' for them so they back away -- and I'm even thinking of foam around where the thick clear plastic walls lay on the T to cut down on rising hot air and sinking cool air.
Good luck -- hope this helps!
pgalioni
Star_circle_Star@yahoo.com
THANK YOU FOR COMMON SENSE WORD VERIFICATION!!!!!! I GET IT FIRST TIME EVERY TIME!!! GOD BLESS YOU!!!
pgalioni
Star_circle_star@yahoo.com
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