Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[Zone9b]

My first sunflower of the season. The bees seem to like it.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Hi, Barb. Was picking my Buena mulata hot pepper for cooking and wanted to say thank you for the seeds. They are really beautiful and hot but just the right amount.
Only one Enjoya seed germinated and they are looking big, just not ripe yet. Will let you know. Thank you again.

You are welcome; Buena Mulata was way too hot for me. My Enjoya peppers were large but nothing compared to Yellow Monsters.

Kay was the seed source for Buena Mulata and I got Enjoya seeds from someone here at TV.

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Marsha - any list yet? I sowed a few seeds yesterday for plants that I plant to take to TN. Not many as we won't have the space coming back. I'm sure they will grow much slower up there. I remember last year with the Hurricane and bringing my plants inside - they were HUGE.

I have a huge surprise I found in the yard. I need to take a picture and post.

[ginger2778]

Not yet Barb, working on it today.

[kayrobbins]

Ella, I am so glad to have another Buena Mulata fan. I love that pepper and grew 4 plants this year to make sure I had enough to make hot sauce with it. The seeds came from William Woys Weavers grandfather's seed collection and he posted a recipe that has chocolate in it. It is not too hot but has lots of flavor. I do not remove the seeds from the Buena Mulatas when I make it because it takes too much time.

Salsa Morada

Ingredients
1 1/12 lb. sweet green peppers, seeded and chopped
8 oz. Violet Buena Mulata peppers, seeded and chopped
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 T pickling salt
3 T powdered unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp to 1 T ground cayenne pepper
Instructions
Put the green pepper, Buena Mulata, sugar, salt, chocolate, vinegar, and coriander in a heavy preserving pan. Cover and boil gently for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 2 to 3 hours or until the peppers are completely soft. Puree to a smooth creamy consistency. Reheat in a clean preserving pan and bring to a boil. Cook 3 minutes and then adjust the heat with additional pepper to taste. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. This will keep for 6 weeks without canning but to keep longer use a water bath canner.

[efisakov]

Thanks, that sounds delicious.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

I will be trying to grow the following in the hot months. Most in containers and some in Raised Beds. Arugula (Astro), Egg Plant (Ping Tung Long), Cowpeas (Mississippi Silver), Okra (Stewarts Zeebest) Sunflowers, Swiss Chard.
Good Luck,
Larry

Hi, Larry. Because of your recommendations I am growing some new plants and loving them. Thank you. I was picking leaves of Arugula Astro even when it bolted. Seeded new for fall from my own seeds. Shared it with my neighbor, she loved it too.
How is the Ping Tung Long for you (production, taste, too seedy, none-bitter?).
I am planning to order broccoli seeds for next year and wondering if you found anything new that is better than Castle Dom or Packman?
Thank you again for all your help.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Hi, Larry. Because of your recommendations I am growing some new plants and loving them. Thank you. I was picking leaves of Arugula Astro even when it bolted. Seeded new for fall from my own seeds. Shared it with my neighbor, she loved it too.
How is the Ping Tung Long for you (production, taste, too seedy, none-bitter?).
I am planning to order broccoli seeds for next year and wondering if you found anything new that is better than Castle Dom or Packman?
Thank you again for all your help.

Ella, I like the Astro Arugula a lot also. I may plant some this fall. As well as being heat resistant it is said to be cold hardy.
My Pink Tung Long Egg Plant is growing but it hasn’t flowered yet. It may grow a bit faster soon in that the weather is very close to cooling down a bit.
I primarily tried Castle Dome Broccoli because it was one of the earliest varieties I could find and I was (and am) trying to squeeze in as many crops in a season as possible. Previously I grew Premium Crop and liked it a lot but it is not as early as Castle Dome. Castle Dome turned out not to be just early but also very productive with great taste as well.
All the best, Larry

[efisakov]

Thank you, Larry.

[ginger2778]

Day 7, some of my pepper seedlings are up. On the 9th, I will sow all my tomato seeds, there will be a lot! Then I go into high gear, breaking down the solarizing and replenishing each Earthbox.

I found a great place to buy 18lb Tomato Tone, ordered 3. Even with the shipping it's still about $6 per bag cheaper than the next least expensive.https://www.idealtruevalue.com/store...0aAt2hEALw_wcB

[VictorNovember]

Also have 4 week old seedlings just transplanted into 4 inch pots for the Miami fall tomato season.
My second season growing in Southeast FL. Everybody here told me couldn't be done. But I started seeds last December and had what I thought was a good yield for May Harvest. By June the plants were not happy but I already had done well with the plants. This time we'll see how they do in this season - hoping for December Tomatoes

[ginger2778]

Looks like Douglas, Kurt, and myself are all in danger of getting a good walloping from Irma. What's everybody doing to plan for this storm? I thought about buying water today and there's no way there isn't a single bottle in any store anywhere. No flashlights either I wanted to buy some Led flashlights. Guess I'll just have to make do with the old ones that I still have cuz we have plenty of batteries. We're going to fill up coolers with tap water so that we have drinking water. We're going to fill up our bathtub so that we can flush toilets in case we lose water altogether. Luckily we have one full and one half way full tank of propane so that we can cook and heat water if we have to, on our gas grill.

[Garf]

I have converted most of my flashlights to LED bulbs, plus bought several LED flashlights from Amazon and Ebay. The LED flashlights from China use rechargeable batteries also from China. I bought one powerful enough to start a fire if needed.

Phil Brown

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Looks like Douglas, Kurt, and myself are all in danger of getting a good walloping from Irma. What's everybody doing to plan for this storm? I thought about buying water today and there's no way there isn't a single bottle in any store anywhere. No flashlights either I wanted to buy some Led flashlights. Guess I'll just have to make do with the old ones that I still have cuz we have plenty of batteries. We're going to fill up coolers with tap water so that we have drinking water. We're going to fill up our bathtub so that we can flush toilets in case we lose water altogether. Luckily we have one full and one half way full tank of propane so that we can cook and heat water if we have two on our gas grill.

Lord, I hope this thing goes out to sea, weakens, anything but come to Florida. But I wouldn't wish it on anyone. People here are buying things to get ready. I bought some water and a few cans of tuna. I have so much to do, I can't hardly think about dealing with a hurricane. Everybody please be safe.
Larry

[kayrobbins]

Marsha I hope this thing turns and does not hit Florida at all. You never know with these storms. Last year Matthew was expected to cause so much rain in other parts of Florida but ended up here. They just finished rebuilding the sand dunes a few weeks ago and they think they could survive quiet a bit but the sea oats they planted won't.

Even though we are not suppose to get too much from Irma everyone is stocking up. Some stores are already out of water but I was able to get 5 cases. Since there ae only 2 houses on the electricity feed when I loose power it is always low priority to restore. I really don't like having a pool but it sure does come in handy for flushing commodes.

I bought some LED lanterns from Amazon last year that work great. They are bright enough to read by. They have them on sale as one of there daily deals for less than $20 often. I highly recommend these.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01C5QSE...504626013&sr=1

[MissS]

Everyone down there, please prepare and be safe! Leave if you can and go far away. I am watching this storm and it is BIG. I hope it goes out to sea and leaves the coastline alone.