Peppers are makin’ Flowers already

I planted my pepper plants back in the beginning of December – the 6th to be exact.   So it’s been a bit over 3 months and flowers are starting to develop.   Since I still have another 3 months before the frost will be gone for good here I may have to take on the task of some pollinating with these peppers.   Normally, outdoors the peppers will pollinate on their own between the bugs, bees and wind helping the situation – indoors, is another story.   I have helped along my gourds the past 2 years since I wanted to guarantee a good harvest.

Once the flowers fully develop and open all that is needed is either a small paintbrush or a q-tip.   Simply swipe the pollen from one flower to the next and keep doing this randomly – you can pretend to be a bee buzzing from flower to flower.

A while back I wrote and published this great post titled Peppers Planted and I am looking forward to making the Red Pepper Soup once again.  It is simply delicious with the Alma Paprika Peppers adding just the right kick of heat and flavor.   A recent arrival in the mail made my day this past week – a new magazine …..

…..looks like some good gardening information for me to read

Transplanting Peppers and Free Seeds!

Last week I promised Free Seeds to those who would like them.   All you have to do is send your name and address to mailbox@therunninggarlic.com and I will send them along to you.   The three flower seeds are pictured below and I will also be planting more in my own gardens this year.   The Coneflower is a perennial and will return each year while the two Marigold flowers are annual and the seed needs to be replanted each year.   The seeds are very easy to save so you will have these flower types for many years to come.   I have to limit my mailing of seeds to the United States since there are custom restrictions with sending seeds to certain parts of the world.

Coneflower – Echinacea purple

Mr. Majestic Marigold

Guardian Marigold with a Praying Mantis.   This praying mantis is about 4″ in length and he was one of the neatest bugs I have ever seen!

I transplanted some of my pepper plants last night to give the roots more room to spread out.   The key with transplanting is to be careful with handling the roots; try not to crush them.   I grab the plant by the upper half near the leaves … gently and repot.

Make sure to label all your pots.   It’s easy to forget at this point and then in a few months you will be guessing what you planted!

The pepper plants I have started are – Alma Paprika, Long Cayenne, Red Mini, Tam Jalapeno and Marconi.   The only one that seems to be having trouble starting is the Jalapeno … not sure why, but started another set of seeds last night.   I think I may need another sweet pepper or two.   I will be starting my tomato seeds real soon also … Amish Paste which are good for canning, Cherokee Purple which are absolutely delicious and Sungold – a first this year!

Garden Talk

I did spend time over the weekend reviewing past garden plans and new seed catalogs and have added my 2010 Garden List to the Gardening page on the blog.  Of course … there may be additions since it is so early in the year!  The list is a combination of new choices along with others I have grown in the past and saved the seeds.  I have a new interest in dried beans and hope to also can some beans if I have an overabundance.  The dried beans and the canned beans will be great pick me ups during the long winter months!  The pepper and tomato choices are favorites and all will be grown from seeds I have saved with the exception of the Principe Borghese Tomato which lists as a great sun-dried tomato – this will be my first year growing these.  I have tomatoes dried in my dehydrator and use them as sun-dried in recipes so this new choice should work well.  Those that have grown the Cherokee Purple Tomato can vouch for its superb taste and wonderfulness as Annica from Roots and Flowers commented in a previous post!  The Amish Paste I use for canning since they are meaty and don’t have an overload of seeds.  There are so many different types of both tomatoes and peppers and it can be difficult to narrow down the choices.  I had great success with the Tam Jalapeno and have some frozen and canned – these were great gifts over the holidays.  The Cayenne I hope to dry and include along with my garlic harvest.  The Alma Paprika peppers are remarkable and Lisa at GetintheGarden commented she plans to grow these this year also.  These peppers have 3 color stages – yellow, orange and then red.  They mellow out a bit as they turn to the final red color.  Little did I know my first year growing these – I was so excited to try them.  I grabbed a nice big yellow Alma off the plant and bit right in ……..Ouch!  They are hot!  My favorite dish with these peppers has been Pepper and Tomato soup – roasting the peppers, peeling off the skin and then blending them in the blender before adding to all the other soup ingredients.  I made this soup up and froze it using all my peppers.  This year I plan to actually dry some and make paprika powder!

 I have an area which I plan to revamp and create a nice herb garden.  Dill is the Herb of the Year for 2010 and you can read more here .   Lemongrass and Stevia will be two new herbs growing in the herb garden this year.

 Flaxseed grew very well last year and Gigi at Plangarden commented on this healthy addition to meals in a recent blog comment .  I hope to grow much more of the seed this year and continue to add it to our meals .

 In past years I have grown Luffa and find this to be an unusual and fun plant to grow for sponges.  Gourds were a focus last year and they are beginning to dry completely now so I will be working on these soon and hope to show all the neat works of art I create!  I found Cotton seeds and will try my hand at growing these – should be interesting!

Thank you for the nice comments and I hope you are busy making all kinds of gardening plans for a great 2010!!!