2022 Veggie gardens!

I have seeds for Sugar Rush Red, but haven’t grown them yet. I prefer red colored peppers because they keep their color better than lighter colored peppers when making hot sauces, at least the sauces that are vinegar-based and/or fermented. The pickled, de-seeded Sugar Rush Peach hasn’t been liquified yet. Browning often happens after liquifying, when oxygen turns the pretty colors brown.

1 Like

I like Leisure cilantro - I’m on my second sowing this year (zone 10a/b). I buy my seeds split from Kitizawa. Granted, my zone doesn’t get very hot, but the leisure cilantro is slower to bolt than other varieties I’ve grown.

2 Likes

I have zero tolerance for heat but from what I understand these peppers start out nice and sweet and then have a kick at the end.

If the red is anything like the peach, they can be very hot if the septa (“veins”) are left in. Like Aji Amarillo, it’s possible to drastically reduce or adjust the heat level by removing more or less of the core and septa. If one were to split the peppers and just scrape out the seeds (leaving the core), the peppers would be pretty darn hot.

My husband leaves the veins and seeds in and finds them delightfully sweet to begin then a bit of heat at the end.

Another bug ID question. These are on some, but not all of favas. The obvious answer would seem to me black aphids, but they seem to be more like beetles, and leaving more damage. Maybe I have more than one problem.

Western flower thrips?

Those dark pests look like a dark phase of the Western Tarnished Plant Bug, not good. If possible, see if they’re probing into the plants with their “beak”. There’s a similar-looking bug, a Pirate Bug, which eats aphids. My guess is the former, but CA’s insects are different from what we see out here.

1 Like

Pretty sure Bogman’s correct. Those Western Tarnished Plant Bugs are really nasty. look them up on Google.
Good luck getting rid of them.

1 Like

Well they were dispatched with extreme prejudice. Did not look good. No observations.

Thank you both!

BTW, did my class presentation for my Master Gardener class today on Sub irrigation planters! Almost done with training.

2 Likes

@shrinkrap

The MG program requires such dedication - kudos to you for opting in!

2 Likes

Congrats- Now I need to look up sub irrigation planters.

Here are some pictures from my project!







31Ic-TwHQkL.AC_SY350
















Uploading: IMG_20200602_182356.jpg…
Uploading: IMG_20200515_121142.jpg…

3 Likes

OMG! Is this now ??

Ha. Here (PNW) it is early spring, and a cold one, at that. Our fruit trees are just blossoming, and our tomatoes are 4-6" tall in a greenhouse or cold frame. We’re still getting cold-weather greens. Your tomatoes blew me away! Lovely!

3 Likes

I’m sorry; it’s not now. :no_mouth:
I’ve accumulated those pictures in sub irrigation planters over several years.

Here are my pepper seedlings et al today. These are "double cup " versions of sub irrigation planters.

Tomato seedlings are not quite ready for a close up.

4 Likes

I’ve started spraying with a deer repellant after each rain and it’s working.

2 Likes

I live in WA it rains every day lol.

3 Likes

What do you all like to use as mulch in your vegetable gardens?

It’s been raining every day here in Ontario. I’ve been spraying when it isn’t raining.
I planted around 80 bulbs last fall, after only one tulip bloomed last spring.

The deer or rabbits chewed the tulip leaves 3 or 4 weeks ago. I started spraying when I saw the damage , and it looks like I will have at least 40 bloom over the next 3 weeks.

The leaves that were chewe, then sprayed, are turning into plants that will still blossom.

2 Likes

Lol. I’ve mulched with leaves, and they blew all over the yard and had to be re-raked. I’ve mulched with lawn clippings, and pulled grass starts out of the beds for years after. I’ve mulched with hay, and fought hay starts for years after. Still pulling those. I’m open to suggestions (outside of cover crops, not going there).

2 Likes

I used wood chip mulch to keep strawberries off the ground and reduce weeds. I’ve also used thick bats of straw (not hay, which is full of seeds).

Now, I don’t mulch because Voles move in and can devour crops. It’s easier for me to drag a hoe, while weeds are small, than it is to fight the rodents if the tunnels are unseen.

Good quality weed barrier is often easier to use. Dewitt even makes one with a whitish and black side, so you can reflect heat away from the soil, or use the black side up to warm the ground. handy stuff.

2 Likes