Sunday, February 10, 2013

DATIL PEPPER SEEDS AND A GARDEN PUPDATE

The datil pepper seeds are going fast ... so fast that I have to be sure and set some aside for ME and the upcoming pepper season!
Thank you to all of you who have ordered some REAL heirloom datil seeds. I love hearing how they grew in your area ... my goal is to spread them far and wide.

Yes, I know ... it looks like I've gone "all Hollywood" with my fancy store bought labels, but it's what's inside the packet that's the star.

Twenty precious seeds of history and heat.

I still have plenty, so check out the Datil Pepper Seeds for sale links above and to the right on this page.

I think I will start mine today. Our last frost date is March 15, so the time has come.

In other garden news ...

This is in my deer-proofed garden plot. Long time readers will remember the string of FFA Show Pigs who passed through PFHQ. Well, that's the deer exclusion zone now. I raised the fence to a height that bums out the local ungulates.

This is a mini-romaine type. I started a bunch of these, too many actually, for my school aquaponics project so the leftover seedlings went in to my garden.

Meanwhile, back at school, you can see the healthy root systems of the same type of lettuce growing in a raft system that my science students put together. The design of the system is from Meg Stout, so we didn't reinvent the wheel, but the kids did construct it and it runs like a top.

I will be sad to see these go. My little kumquat tree has enjoyed the mild winter and I have enjoyed it's fruit. I snatch a few off whenever I walk by with the pups after school.
For Christmas, I was gifted with a new satsuma and a new kumquat tree. They are still in pots until the winter passes. That way I can run them in if I need to on a freeze night.

I'll put them in the ground next month so they can get established before next winter.
They are two of the more cold hardy citrus and can usually handle the winters here.

This is a tray of "sweet mesclun mix" that I intended to transplant into the ground. When my schedule got too busy and I missed the opportunity to separate them, I decided to just let them grow in the starting tray.

It worked fine and I have cropped a number of tasty leaves for salads.

I have a short row of snow peas that are growing and blooming like crazy in the deer exclusion zone.
We'll be eating fresh snow peas this week.
(I like to just graze on them in the garden, but I am supposed to bring some inside for stir fry.)


Bear and I picked this big colander full of mixed lettuce, spinach, and mesclun mix recently.
The salad was awesome ... especially since it accompanied a beef sandwich courtesy of Guy, from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

(I'll do a separate foodie post on that later)

PUPDATE!

Coquina's sibling Peanut came over for a play date yesterday and they went nonstop for hours. Bear supervised the activities, but he also joined in so the canine trio was completely worn out later in the day.

Coquina has gone from her original 6.8 pounds to 14 pounds and Peanut has hit 17 pounds.
Bear maintains his svelte 100 pound physique effortlessly.



11 comments:

tai haku said...

Coquina is gorgeous and that salad looks delicious. Plus the new datil labels look amazing.

Pro-tip on the datils and the kumquats: you may wanna give this a go with your datils in place of habs if you get enough kumquat fruit: http://rcakewalk.blogspot.com/2012/01/kumquat-habanero-marmalade.html

I made it last year with my habs and storebought kumquats - amazing.

Anonymous said...

You have so much going on in your garden already! The salad greens look delicious.

Nice to see the pups and Bear!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

It appears that Bear is "telling on" the pups for getting too rowdy inside. I bet they are a hoot to watch together.

Love that header photo. Your salad greeens look yummy.

Caroline said...

Up here at 44N 103W, there is jealousy to burn over those lovely greens and peas!

Deb said...

What Caroline said, except at 46 N 93 W. Big snowstorm today, so I'm doing some garden dreaming.

R.Powers said...

Thanks Tai!
I always gobble my homegrown kumquats fresh, never thought of cooking something up with them.
I shall investigate that recipe!

Robin,
I ate my first snow pea today while planting a second round of spinach and lettuce.
Yum!


Lisa,
They are a hoot and a half!
The osprey was hanging out around a nest in a big pine last week on the way home.
I love his dare stare.

Caroline,
Well down here there is snow envy!
Not much, but there is some...


Deb,
Minnesotarctica living up to it's name I see.
Stay warm when you can!
At least you aren't barefootin' it out to the shower anymore! LOL


Floridaze said...

my peppers from last year were awesome...they formed datil bushes...we sent some to NC and they did well also...tell them folks to buy these orange babies!

myamuhnative said...


tai has a great suggestion.
We went to the Kumquat festival and bought a peck of Meiwas.
So we now have Kumquat jelly,Chutney and candied kumquats.
I would have made pepper kumquat jelly if I hadn't used up my share of the fruit already!
hmm maybe we need to make another trip to Dade City...

Dani said...

Wowzers they're putting that weight on quick. We ended up keeping 3 of Maggie and Jiggy's pups. Two of the boys are now pushing close to the 70s. Huge for standard poodles.

R.Powers said...

Thanks Floridaze! Glad to hear they grew so well!

Myamuh,
I have to make it to that festival!

Dani!
You have a real poodle pack now!

Pinto Peanut said...

Nice post. What kind of fruits. You have growth some wonderful vegetables. Thanks.