January 2008

1-11: OK, new year but we aren't done yet! The pepper bushes are still loaded with fruit. For example, yesterday I harvested 325 Thai chilies and 330 Red Caribbean Habañero's and there are plenty more on the bushes slowly ripening. January 14 last year the crop was wiped out by a hard frost but the weather channel says that it isn't going to drop below 41 degrees. I might even wind up planting seeds BEFORE I pull up the old plants. They DO have to go though, I'm not going to winter over any of these plants. Although they may well survive, they are spent. The plants I'm growing are technically annuals and to force them to be perennials would be a mistake.

The journal for 2007 has been archived. There is a link at the top of the page just above the Harvest Count.

1-13: Another mid-winter harvest of chilies. Today I picked 311 beautiful red Habañeros. I'm not sure how hot these late season chilies are, I've labeled the bags that I put them in as "Fall 2007" in case they are flavorless or less hot. If so, I know exactly what chilies to throw into the green waste.

1-17: Thai Chilies got picked today. A nice batch of 264 red Thai Dragon chilies. I'm picking these green too, I chop up green chilies and soak them in Thai fish sauce. It goes excellent on rice or any other bland food that needs a little salt.

1-20: Holy cow. I had the mother of all Habañero harvests today! Good golly, I picked 515 Caribbean Red Habañeros, stemmed them, counted them, washed them with a vegetable brush, dried them, and finally popped them into the oven with the exhaust fan running. There aren't a whole lot more on the bushes, some but nothing like there was. This is probably it for the Habañeros this year. The Thai Chilies are still going strong however I only picked 25 green ones to go into my Thai fish sauce.

1-21: Today I've ordered more Jiffy peat pods for the desktop greenhouse and Thai Dragon seeds for next year, although I'm only going to be doing a few chili plants possibly only 3. Just enough to keep me in fresh green chilies. I have two full years of dried chilies to eat, and that's more than even I can handle in one year. Giving them away to friends doesn't help much, nobody is as insane as I am. I'll do my best to eat through my stockpile, I'll probably grow more the season after. I think I'm going to concentrate on growing normal sane vegetables this year. I'm looking at beans, peas, chard, tomatoes, onions and greens. I'll still be concocting new recipes and gathering chili facts as normal, just cutting back on the gardening aspect of it.

1-24: I have the peat pods and Thai Dragon seeds. All I need now is the caffeine and the right moment.

1-29: I got a nice big harvest from the Thai Dragon bushes today. 448 monster hot Thai chilies. Even my oven thinks they are hot! This might be the last harvest other than some green chilies. Oh the chilies are still growing and ripening, but it's time to start the new season's planting. Although the plants can live longer than a year, it's better to start with a new seedling at the beginning of the year.

February 2008

2-08: 50 more green Thai chilies were harvested over the last couple of days. I could go on harvesting chilies but you know, I have 2 full years of dried chilies that are waiting for me. This may be the last time I harvest. I have to start eating the dried chilies or what was the use of going to all of that trouble? The plants are very beat up and have a little frost damage, about a quarter of the fruit is ruined by being on a dead branch or burned from frost. I have my seeds and my peat pods and my mini greenhouse. I think it's time to start pulling up the old plants and replenishing the soil for next season.

End of 2007 Growing Season

Beginning of 2008 Growing Season

2-13: OK, it's official. The new season has started. I've cut down all the Thai Dragon chilies and put them into the green waste. I'm living on dried chilies now! Actually I'm living on dried chilies from 2006, I have a full seasons harvest to eat through before I can start on this year's batch. They will last for YEARS dried and stored in a cool dark place. The official count for the Thai Dragon chilies this year is 8,657 or approximately 8 pounds dried. That my friends is a LOT of Thai chilies!

2-14: Today the Caribbean Red Habañeros were cut down and tossed into the green waste. Both the Habañeros and the Thai chilies had hundreds of chilies on them still. Sadly some of them were frost damaged, or on a wind damaged broken branch and shriveled or prematurely ripened. It's time to let them go and start a new season. I have way more than I can both eat and give away so it's not worth the work to keep harvesting. The official count for the Red Caribbean Habañeros is 3,329, or about 8 pounds dried. You can tell by the disparity of the count and weights, that the Habañeros are much much larger than the Thai chilies.

March 2008

3-8: I should have started the seeds for the next crop of chilies in the middle of February. Your planting time will vary, you should plant your pepper seeds about 6 weeks before you estimate your last frost to be. I didn't plant early, this is going to be a light year for me for chilies. I plan to grow a lot of vegetables this year and only grow enough Thai chilies to provide fresh chilies to eat. I'll not be drying any this year as I have 4 large boxes filled to bursting with dried chilies. Much more than I can eat in a year. I have started the new pepper year today however by cleaning out the Jiffy brand Greenhouse 72 and setting up my florescent sprouting lights. I have a 4 foot shop light with green house bulbs in it set up on bricks. I have it so that it is just high enough that the temperature in the tabletop greenhouse is around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I have aluminum foil taped to the edges of the shoplight that seal the air between the shoplight and the tabletop it is setting on. By adjusting the foil to seal tighter or looser, I can control the air temperature inside the greenhouse. The pods are inside the greenhouse now, soaking in water.

3-9: I planted the Thai Dragon chilies today. I soaked 9 peat pods and put 2 seeds apiece in them. I only plan on having 3 Thai chili plants in my garden this year but I want to make sure that I get 3 pots that have sprouted. Last year my Burpee seeds almost completely failed. I switched brands to Thompson & Morgan this year so hopefully I'll have better luck. Regardless, I plan on giving any extra sprouts to my friends.

3-13: Seeds are still just sitting there, germinating under the soil. Waiting...

3-21: Holy cow. It's another bad batch of seeds. They all should have sprouted by now and instead, there are only two sprouts, both in the same peat pod. I'm going to have to go to a Thai food store and buy a bag of dried Thai chilies then plant the seeds from them. It is too late in the year for this!

3-29: I have prepared the soil in 5 pots today. I forced the soil in each pot through a wire mesh sieve that removes rocks, roots and sticks. Then I added some peat moss, steer manure, Ironite, and Kellogg Soil Amend. This was run through the wire mesh sieve too, you'd be surprised how much junk is in there, especially gravel in the steer manure If you didn't do this than eventually you pots would be full of gravel!

3-31: I did 7 pots today finishing the back row of 12. I planted black-eyed peas and brussel sprouts in the back row. Remember, there is only going to be a few chili plants this year.