It is time to start superhot pepper seed which normally need 3 to 4 months growing time before transplanting into the garden. I’m also starting celery, onions, and a few varieties of tomatoes for early plant sales. It will be time to start peas, carrots, and radishes in the garden in 4 more weeks.
This is the time of year when gardening success is either “make or break” meaning that getting the planting time right determines future success.
As a recap, I had a large garden this past summer with beans, broccoli, cabbage, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cowpeas, cucumbers, gourds, lettuce, okra, onions, peas, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, turnips, and watermelons. We ate very well from the garden!
This is good reminder. What is your official last frost date? Ours is April 15.
I do not grow those super hot peppers. But I recall the habanero took quite some time to germinate. I thought the seeds were really old. I can start a few early this year.
The earliest I started my tomato and pepper seeds was in early March. I use those 38-cell deep starting tray and I do not transplant, but directly into garden. If I transplant seedlings to quart pot, then I can start two weeks earlier. I just do not know what my tomato seedlings can be if I start them now.
I work together with a friend who runs a CSA. It will be good to be in sync with someone who is local.
I waited too late to get seeds last year. Due to the pandemic, I think, there was a run on seeds. I barely found okra.
So this year I already ordered some from rare seeds.com.
Excited about 2 new okra varieties- one Heavy Hitter that claims to have as many as 40 new pods form every day.
Then a bubblegum pink variety from Okinawa.
I have an order in for some superhot peppers that should arrive today. Most of my other seed are saved from years past. I’ll try to post a list of the seed I have in inventory later today.
I start tomatoes for local sales on the 15th of February give or take a week. Tomatoes do best with 6 to 8 weeks between seed start and transplant into soil.
The things important to start now are onions, celery, and superhot peppers. If they are started any later than the 15th of January, they usually won’t make a crop.
Yes, it’s late, but considering we have had freezes in May, I thought now would be the right time to start my tomatoes. Here’s what I sowed for this year (and how many of each):
Daniels (2); large fluted red beefsteak
Cuostralee (2); large red beefsteak
Crnkovic Yugoslavia (2); red beefsteak
Cherokee Jumbo (2); larger variant of C Purple
Big Beef (3): beefsteak hybrid
Chocolate Cherry (2)
Omar’s Lebanese (2); very large pink beefsteak
Kelloggs Breakfast (2); orange beefsteak
Orange KY beefsteak (2)
Jaune Flammé (2); ping pong sized yellow
Better Boy (2); hybrid red
Lehrertomate (2); large red beefsteak
Giant Belgium (2); very large red beefsteak
Black Brandywine (2); purple beefsteak
Tsalma (2); red pear shaped
Durmitor (2); large red cherry
Pink Brandywine (2)
Boxcar Willie (2)
Big Pink (2); very large beefsteak
German Strawberry (2); red oxheart
Dr Wyche’s Yellow (1)
Daniels and Crnkovic Yugoslavian are pink, Jaune Flamme is closer to 2 inches diameter. Compare Big Beef and Better Boy head to head and it is highly likely you will never grow Better Boy again.
I got the descriptions from online, no big deal what color they are, as long as they do well here. Both of those look a bit fluted, we’ve had issues canning fluted types, specifically hard to peel. Do you find this to be the case?
Never grew Big Beef, but heard a lot of good things about it. We’ve tried Better Boy before, and liked it.
I never realized how many Beefsteak varieties I sowed. Well, hope we have a good harvest year.
My GB last year weren’t giant, nor fluted, so I imagine my seeds were mislabeled.
Don’t you use a trellis growing system? After working in a greenhouse growing tomatoes in a similar fashion, I’m considering trying that this year. Using about 5-7 tobacco stakes to prop up each of my multi suckering plants gets a bit tiresome.
I’m particularly excited about these fellows in the middle. I collected the seed from a large (5-7’) chile plant growing in tree form in San Diego about 7 years ago. I’ve been back a few times since, and the chile tree was still going strong as of 2019. Not sure the variety, but had pequin type fruits and tiny seeds. Had never gotten around to planting them until now. Despite 7 years of suboptimal storage, they’re coming right up! My plan is to grow it as a potted tree that I bring in for the winter.
What other peppers and tomatoes are you trying? Interesting story about the pepper tree.
My seeds are off to a slow start, it’s been about 8 days since I sowed them and not many have come up (other than 6 or so that become too leggy and damped off, so I had to cut them out and replant).
I had okay results last year, and for some reason I used the same starting mix. It’s just some Jiffy starting mix with peat moss, perlite, vermiculite and some lime, so I don’t know what the deal is, other than the mix is too wet, and isn’t drying out fast enough, even though it’s on a heat mat.
I’ve got principe borghese tomato and an heirloom mix, a Nepali hot pepper, unknown cayenne (some pods from my garden neighbor ended up in my plot at cleanup), jaluv an attitude, Hungarian hot wax (may be duds), and rosita eggplant.
I hope your seeds pull through. Some years I just have terrible luck. This year and last year I used promix and Craig LeHoullier’s dense planting method, and got good results. What I really need is more space under lights and a warmer spot to keep them. I run out of room when I have to move up a pot size.
