Bill's summer garden

[b54red]

Tracy the drop lines are working great with the peppers. I give a way a good many but like to chop them up then put them on a deep cookie sheet in the freezer for a few days. When they are good and frozen I take them out and break them loose and put them into freezer bags. That way we can just pour out however much we want. I cut some up in larger pieces for use in some dishes but most are chopped for spaghetti, meatloaf or soup uses.

The pepper sauce sounds interesting. I love all kind of pepper relishes and sauces. The only pepper sauce I make besides just vinegar poured over something like cayenne for use on turnips is a Pappadew sauce that is a fantastic hot sauce. If you like to make hot sauce then you need to grow you some Pappadew plants and make your pepper sauce out of them. Only problem is if you do you will not be satisfied with any other pepper for hot sauce unless you like really hot hot sauce. The sauce I made last year was very mild so I had to add a few really hot peppers to it when making it. I guess all that rain just caused the Pappadews to be too mild; but most years it is perfect for a hot sauce comparable to cayenne but much tastier.

Bill

[peppero]

Originally Posted by b54red

Tracy the drop lines are working great with the peppers. I give a way a good many but like to chop them up then put them on a deep cookie sheet in the freezer for a few days. When they are good and frozen I take them out and break them loose and put them into freezer bags. That way we can just pour out however much we want. I cut some up in larger pieces for use in some dishes but most are chopped for spaghetti, meatloaf or soup uses.

The pepper sauce sounds interesting. I love all kind of pepper relishes and sauces. The only pepper sauce I make besides just vinegar poured over something like cayenne for use on turnips is a Pappadew sauce that is a fantastic hot sauce. If you like to make hot sauce then you need to grow you some Pappadew plants and make your pepper sauce out of them. Only problem is if you do you will not be satisfied with any other pepper for hot sauce unless you like really hot hot sauce. The sauce I made last year was very mild so I had to add a few really hot peppers to it when making it. I guess all that rain just caused the Pappadews to be too mild; but most years it is perfect for a hot sauce comparable to cayenne but much tastier.

Bill I finally have Pappadew success from the seeds you sent me. The plant is between four and 5 feet tall and is loaded...Do you use the red stage or green stage for you sauce?

jon

Bill

[Urbanfarmer]

Bill......pyrethrin concentrates in a pump-up sprayer have been completely effective for us against mites, which hit our cukes hard from time-to-time. The key is to spray the underside of the leaves. Now, stink bugs are another matter......

[b54red]

Jon I use only the very ripe red peppers which are best in the fall. For some reason down here in this heat the peppers don't really ripen as well until the nights start to cool down. I usually get my best crop in November and December. Most of the peppers I get in mid and late summer are kinda leathery and soft and don't turn that beautiful bright deep red like they do in the fall.

Bill

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Urbanfarmer

Bill......pyrethrin concentrates in a pump-up sprayer have been completely effective for us against mites, which hit our cukes hard from time-to-time. The key is to spray the underside of the leaves. Now, stink bugs are another matter......

I have been spraying the undersides of the leaves. I haven't seen any stinkbugs since the second spraying for mites so whatever I did worked to get rid of them at least for now.

Bill

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by b54red

Tracy the drop lines are working great with the peppers. I give a way a good many but like to chop them up then put them on a deep cookie sheet in the freezer for a few days. When they are good and frozen I take them out and break them loose and put them into freezer bags. That way we can just pour out however much we want. I cut some up in larger pieces for use in some dishes but most are chopped for spaghetti, meatloaf or soup uses.

The pepper sauce sounds interesting. I love all kind of pepper relishes and sauces. The only pepper sauce I make besides just vinegar poured over something like cayenne for use on turnips is a Pappadew sauce that is a fantastic hot sauce. If you like to make hot sauce then you need to grow you some Pappadew plants and make your pepper sauce out of them. Only problem is if you do you will not be satisfied with any other pepper for hot sauce unless you like really hot hot sauce. The sauce I made last year was very mild so I had to add a few really hot peppers to it when making it. I guess all that rain just caused the Pappadews to be too mild; but most years it is perfect for a hot sauce comparable to cayenne but much tastier.

Bill

We usually use very hot peppers for our sauce but it will work with any types. I believe my husband used 2% salt by weight. We make a purée out of the peppers and than sprinkle on the salt, put the batch in quart jars or a large crock, stir or shake daily for about 6 weeks. You may get a bit of mold or yeast on top which needs to be skimmed off. The sweeter and more ripe the pepper, the better it ferments.
I'll try to get some Pappadew seeds to grow for next season. We love all sorts of hot peppers and I'm always game to try new varieties!
Oh, in AZ, our jalapeños and wax peppers were blistering hot, which I think is a function of heat and dryness. In the winter, even the habaneros became extremely mild and could be eaten right off the plant. In summer, even my jumbo, mild jalapeño was too hot to eat raw in salads! that same pepper tasted like a bell pepper in cooler seasons!
You can also ferment whole peppers. Just make a brine of one quart water to 3 tbsps of pickling salt. Make sure to put a couple of holes in each pepper to allow the brine to soak in.
I prefer lacto-fermented pickles to vinegar pickles. They seem less acidic ( although the pH is very low) and more complex.
I have a huge jar of preserved sour oranges made the same way. It mellows out the flavor to the point where I can eat a piece, peel and all! Those sour oranges are so sour that I used them as a lemon substitute.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by b54red

Jon I use only the very ripe red peppers which are best in the fall. For some reason down here in this heat the peppers don't really ripen as well until the nights start to cool down. I usually get my best crop in November and December. Most of the peppers I get in mid and late summer are kinda leathery and soft and don't turn that beautiful bright deep red like they do in the fall.

Bill

This always happened in AZ,too. I took those peppers and dried them, which gave our sauce an interesting, almost smoky flavor.
I use chiltepans to increase heat. The tiny peppers are also great crushed and used like pizza pepper. They are such a pain to pick but they thrived in AZ and could tolerate mild freezing weather, since they are native to the southern part of AZ, which gets a few freezes a year. Mine survived 20 degree temperatures one winter in an exposed spot without any protection! They do need partial shade in summer, though. They tend to grow under trees in the desert, I guess.

[b54red]

Tracy since you seem to be the expert on peppers have you ever smoked any and if so what kind? I've gotten a new smoker that works great and was considering smoking some peppers but didn't know whether it would just dry them out and leave me with some leathery things I couldn't use or whether they would be good in salsas and Mexican dishes.

I've never fermented peppers. What I do is start with a big stainless steel pot and when I get some ripe Pappadews I just put them in the pot with some garlic cloves and simmer them in white vinegar for a while then leave them until I get some more and keep adding until the pot is full of cooked down peppers. I then start running them through the blender lightly and then through my Spremy tomato machine. I then add my salt, sugars, and etc until I get the flavor I like. I use Malagueta's to heat it up if the peppers aren't hot. Last year they were not very hot so they needed some hotter peppers added in,but I sure made a lot of Pappadew peppers so I won't need to make any sauce this year. If I did I'm sure I wouldn't need to heat them up any as even my Jalapenos are blistering hot with this dry hot summer.

If you want some Pappadew seeds just PM me.

Bill

[Tracydr]

I'm far from an expert!
I just bought a small smoker and put it together yesterday. Looking forward to smoked jalapeños!
I have about five pounds of smoked, dried chipolte that I bought online about 6 months ago. It makes great chile and tacos. But, what I really use them for is roasted chickpeas. A delicious, tasty alternative to corn nuts!
I use a dried lime seasoning, chipoltes, Korean chile powder and garlic, along with kosher salt. Makes a smoky, salty, tart niblet.
Speaking of which, anybody know where I can find dried chickpeas and other beans in bulk? I'm 50 miles south of Fayetteville and will be working up there.
Bill-I've been enjoying fresh boiled peanuts with the move to NC. I have to not go to the produce mart too often or I'll end up getting fat on boiled peanuts!

[JJJessee]

A plain ol' habanero or Bhut pepper I think smokes real well. I hoping some of my Jalas make it to red this year to smoke up some chipolte.

I have the same problem with bells turning red. But I have just started getting a few King of the North though they are not near as fast as I thought they would be.

Thanks, Tracy, I have a few peppers on tomato cages and they are working pretty good. But since I have over a hundred pepper plants, I'm looking for something on the cheap side. ;-)

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by JJJessee

A plain ol' habanero or Bhut pepper I think smokes real well. I hoping some of my Jalas make it to red this year to smoke up some chipolte.

I have the same problem with bells turning red. But I have just started getting a few King of the North though they are not near as fast as I thought they would be.

Thanks, Tracy, I have a few peppers on tomato cages and they are working pretty good. But since I have over a hundred pepper plants, I'm looking for something on the cheap side. ;-)

Have you tried making cages out of some kind of wire? Since peppers don't vine as much as tomatoes you could probably make shorter cages. I have used short "u-posts" for staking and that is how several of my 3-4 year old jalapeños were supported. I sometimes had to add a second pole but that was into the second or third year. I do much prefer keeping them in a cage,though. Especially the bushier plants like habanero.
I will give the smoking a try next year when I have some habaneros or scotch bonnets growing!

[Dewayne mater]

Dredging up an oldie from last summer to ask questions. I'm taking the plunge with a drop line concept on a bed and it is getting to be time to "string em up"

J-Clips - Did you consider or use "arch clips" for the tomato truss? Looks like they do something similar, support the tomato truss to prevent it from snapping.
Recommended source for Jclips?

Are you using the bottom vertical pipe to get the dropped plants to stay in a specific place? I haven't implemented any system along the ground yet and I am wondering if I'll need to do that. Would moving the top line by retying it in another place accomplish the same thing?

Dewayne Mater

[b54red]

Dewayne, I use the bar on the ground to hold the lines steady when the young plants are clipped to the drop lines. In the spring the winds can be quite challenging and by having the line fairly tight it stops the wind from whipping them around and breaking them. Once the plants get some size and fruit on them the bottom bar really serves no purpose.

When dropping the lines for peppers the bottom bar is less necessary but I just do it because it allows me to make a V from the bottom bar to the top with just one piece of line. I then just add more lines when I need them from the top bars. I also add a bar down the middle so that I have another place to drop from which can make it easier with peppers which are not flexible. I have found that having long stems of peppers unsupported when a heavy rain comes leaves many a branch and most of my larger peppers on the ground. I'll try to post some pics of what I am doing this year.

I used some arch clips especially on some of the early trusses but the J hooks were used the most and were very effective in preventing trusses from breaking off or kinking too badly. The J hooks were really necessary with some varieties of large fruited tomatoes. I found that using them kept a lot of large fruit well supported. Sometimes there is just no way to use a J hook on some trusses so I would use foam wire to support those.

Bill

[brooksville]

Bill, after using cages and the trellis system this year, I have the utmost respect for your dedication and perseverance in your garden. We started out great, good fruit set, nicely pruned, well growing plants. Well they got away and now we have a jungle. The biggest problem we have now is the top of the vines are flopping over in the cages and on the trellis. I have learned a lot though, like spacing. University trial spacing doesn't work for us. We need twice as much space, and probably fewer plants. it is hard for us to manage 65 plants when we live so far away. They grow to much in a 2-3 period for us to keep them pruned properly. Anyway thanks for the time you spend helping people improve their tomato patches while continuously improving yours!

John

[Dewayne mater]

Bill - It is time for me to start dropping down some plants that are at least 7 feet high now. Do you strip any leaves that would be touching the ground when laying down the vines? Also, I've been culling from the beggining, but, allowing 3-4 vines on everything except sungold which has even more. The thought was I'll let these 3-4 strongest vines grow, then when I can tell the strongest two vines fruit set, etc., cull the rest. The plants are trying to make that a difficult decision for me though because they are setting on most every vine. I guess just cull the least strong, least fruit set vine?

By the way, it has been an unusual weather year, so I don't dare draw conclusions from this season, however, so far so good for the string method. I'm managing disease much better with this method, in spite of wet weather and have fruit set that will give us tomatoes through mid July if nothing else sets. Happy camper!


Dewayne