Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Bio-Ag-Guy

Thanks for the kind words and welcome Ginger. Yeah, Plantation is pretty close. Who knows, maybe I'll make it to the next plant exchange thing.

Cool! We had about 90 people, but only 4 or 5 were Tvillers.It was a lot of fun. Barb came.

[Barb_FL]

Kay - I grew Beauty King also. My first plant (in root pouch) collapsed from the weight of the fruit. I took off the fruit and hoisted it back up and it was definitely thinned out but it has set more fruit, so all is OK.

The 2nd plant (in a HD bucket/bucket) also collapsed from the weight of the fruit. This time, I tried saving the fruit by letting it ripen on the vine. Mistake, better to save the plant.

Both were in cages, but in the first instance, wind pushed the cage so that was somewhat explainable. I didn't have the cage anchored.

I did get a lot of fruit from both of them.

[kayrobbins]

Marsha, I am glad Beauty King gets your approval since you grow so many varieties.

Barb, I do put a heavy duty stake in my SWC with most dwarfs in addition to the cage. Since they can put on such heavy fruit set for their size I have found that really helps. It really is upsetting to walk out and see part of the plant split off from the weight of the fruit.

[ChefBertMor]

I haven't been able to keep warm for two days now, and I was thinking of everybody's garden. How did yours hold up through the wind and rain and cold of the past few days? What did you do to protect your garden?

Stay warm

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by ChefBertMor

I haven't been able to keep warm for two days now, and I was thinking of everybody's garden. How did yours hold up through the wind and rain and cold of the past few days? What did you do to protect your garden?
Stay warm

In Orlando we had one morning which I think had a low of 37 and this morning it was around 40. Not cold enough to hurt anything I have, including tomatoes which are on the way out anyway. Can't even get a little frost this winter. As things are going this could easily turn out to be the mildest winter I ever experienced in Central Florida and I've been here longer than I care to admit.
Keep warm,
Larry

[Fiishergurl]

Brrrrr is right! No damage here. Plants are fine.

This past weekend I made and canned Datil Mango Pepper Jelly and Datil Pepper BBQ Sauce, and a neighbor made Datil Pepper Relish and Datil Pepper Mustard. Yummy! Never made any of those before but they were easy and delicious. The Datil Pepper Mango Jelly is amazing on cream cheese with crackers. I didnt know what I was going to do with all the hot peppers (similar to habaneros) but it was fun and they aren't too hot.



Ginny


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[kayrobbins]

Ginny, do you have her recipe for making the Datil Mustard? I am a big fan of hot mustard and have never used any of my peppers to make it.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Bio-Ag-Guy

Thanks for the welcome Larry. About my soil, it was sod, which when removed, left a couple of inches of top soil over top of white sand. I added 4 inches of compost, soft rock phosphate, gypsum, high calcium lime, and a generous amount of chicken manure. Then I covered it with about 18 inches of mulch and let it sit for a year before I planted anything. This my 4th fall / winter season gardening on this patch of ground, and it produces better each year. I'm not sure if what I started with could have been any less poor than what you described as your native soil.

I stumbled onto some writings of Carey Reams years ago, and have been a fan of his practices ever since. It has been a lot of work, to get the soil into RBTI parameters, but much more satisfying now! I don't think it is fully there yet, but a soil test later this year will let me know what's next. I am in process of reclaiming more of the yard for gardening, and I expect simular results. The heavy mulching I borrowed from the Back to Eden video. If the ground isn't kept covered, you can almost watch the organic material disappear.

I went this direction after years of struggling with bugs, diseases, you name it. Now the only bugs I deal with are caterpillars on the tomatoes. A little BT takes care of that. As far as disease pressure, that is still a work in progress, but seams to be improving also. Disease killed my tomatoes last year, but not before I harvested almost twice as many tomatoes as any of the previous years. Beets, broccoli, and onions have all thrived with no disease or bug pressure.

BTW, I didn't know that Castle Dome was the replacement for Packman which I have been growing for years, or I would have been growing it also. Love me some Paxman broccoli!

That’s some impressive work to your soil. So, I’m guessing you actually transplant into the mulch?
I used to grow Packman Broccoli variety, I liked the fact that it was early, but it didn’t seem hold well in the garden for me. The beads were large and they popped open yellow quickly, at least that was my experience. Castle Dome is also 50 days to maturity, seems to hold better in the garden, the beads appear to be small and it tastes good both raw and cooked. Plus the florets hold together when I cook them, i.e. it doesn’t fall apart easily. I may try a bit of Packman again sometime, to make sure my memories are valid or not.
Larry

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

Ginny, do you have her recipe for making the Datil Mustard? I am a big fan of hot mustard and have never used any of my peppers to make it.

Kay,

Below are the ingredients. Mix all together in a food processor or blender until pureed, then cook for 15 minutes or so.

The datils are with the seeds, just remove the stem. They are similar in scoville to habaneros so substitue with other peppers accordingly. I just start out with less peppers and taste after mixing everything to check heat level and add more if desired.



Hope you enjoy!

Have you made Pepper Jelly and served it on a block of cream cheese with crackers? If not try the recipe below for Mango Pepper Jelly. You can use oj or pineapple instead of apricot nectar. It is to die for. Everybody loves it! I used Datils but any hot pepper would work.

Datil Mango Pepper Jelly
http://www.erecipe.com/recipe/mango-datil-jam-6017

Ginny

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

Ginny, do you have her recipe for making the Datil Mustard? I am a big fan of hot mustard and have never used any of my peppers to make it.

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

Ginny, do you have her recipe for making the Datil Mustard? I am a big fan of hot mustard and have never used any of my peppers to make it.

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[kayrobbins]

Thanks Ginny, I think I would add a few more Datil peppers to that mix. I will check out the jelly recipe. My peppers are all in their 4 inch pots now. I am determined to get them planted out as soon as we have warm weather since it takes so long to mature.

[Fiishergurl]

Kay, just wanted clarify thats 1 and 3/4 cups of datils. I just realized she left cup off. For a gallon of sauce she usually uses 70 to 80 datils.

Ginny

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[kayrobbins]

Thanks for clarifying that. It did sound like that would some pretty mild mustard. I am so tempted to make it with Fatalii peppers.

[Fiishergurl]

Now I need to look up Fatalii peppers. Check out this recipe. It got 5 stars even with over a couple hundred reviews. Going to make it with datils to use some more up and give to friends... :-).

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/57326/b...ckId=simslot_1

Ginny


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[Fiishergurl]

Oops meant to add... i read a lot of the reviews and most say to decrease the yellow mustard and some of the sweetness which I'm going to do and add cilantro and roasted garlic... lol.

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[Fiishergurl]

Kay,

Just checked... the Fatalli is so pretty. Seems similar in heat and citrusy taste to Datil and Habanero. Yummy!

Ginny

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