HOT peppers!!

[kathyp]

i love hot peppers.  i put them in everything.  unfortunately, my husband does not like to sweat over his dinner, so i grow mild green chili peppers and bells for him.

red chili, jalapeno, and habanero are my favorites.  any suggestions for this years garden??  my pepper plot is almost as big as the tomato and corn plot.  i have room to try some new stuff.

[randydrivesabus]

I grow poblanos for stuffing. they also sell very well at the farmer's market. i also grow a sweet variety called Carmen which is very productive and very sweet and good for frying or fresh eating. O yeah... they sell very well too.
so you looking for ideas for peppers only or other stuff too?

[ChickenWing]

I grew some Thai Peppers last summer.  The peppers themselves are tiny little critters, maybe an inch or so, but they are Hot as Heck.      My dog likes them, though..

I would go out with scissors and cut of all the red ripe ones, and new ones would replace it in short order.  They were giving peppers all summer.  I have some sitting on my counter that I have let dry.  I am going to try to start some seeds from them this spring.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_pepper

[randydrivesabus]

go check out this website.
http://www.ecoseeds.com/

they've got a few hot pepper varieties.

[kathyp]

thanks.  i'll have to start thinking about starting stuff soon.  our growing season is not to long and peppers have to be started early.  i'm also going to do more winter squash.  summer squash doesn't do much for me, so i only plant a little.  i love winter squash.  i'm also going to expand the potato patch.  we do lots of tomatoes and lots of corn.  i grow herbs and want to try growing lemongrass this year.

anything that i can dry or freeze pack is good for me.

[Cindi]

kathyp, cool so you are into the vegie gardening too.  It is a wonderful thing to do.  I'm going to try to get the seed for lemongrass too.  Speaking of the squash. Do you grow the blue hubbard winter squash.  I haven't tried it, but I bet it is GOOD.  What winter squash were you referring to when you talked about it?  I love the butternut squash.  But even better loved is the spaghetti squash.  Curious about why you say you can't grow the summer squashes.  How come?

I am not big on the hot peppers, so I don't grow them.  My sister loves them.  So she grows them.  Her preference is plainly the habanero, so she grows them on.  I like the sweet bells.  I usually always plant the red variety, that way I can have green or red, depending on what I want to be eating.

I used to grow corn.  I had a great big corn patch and planted the sh2 (supersweets).  I loved the fact that the supersweet held the sugar content intact before converting to starch for so long, even once picked.  BUT...

The summer before last must have been an extraordinarily hungry year for our resident bears.  They normally do not come around too much in the summertime. But...the corn was almost ready to begin to start harvesting.  Well, we actually had probably three meals from the patch.  One morning I went outside and looked over at the corn patch.  It looked kind of funny.  Of course curiosity got this beast and over I went.

Holy mackeral!!!!  the damage done to this corn patch overnight was beyond your wildest dreams.  Most of the stalks were all knocked over, many stalks ripped out of the ground and just laying over.  Whew.  I walked around and looked at what the bugger had done.  Well, actually, I bet it was a couple of them at least.  There was a pile of corn cobs about the size of a garbage can all in one area.  It must have sat and just sucked the kernels right off.  All the way down the ravine had been made a trail through the underbrush by this monster.  The underbrush was all crunched over and all along the trail was a trail of corn stalks.

As I am typing this recount of this occurrence I am sure that many may think that I am embellishing somewhat.  But I am not.  That put me off growing corn here (for a time).  I do not want to invite the bears and that is exactly what I would be doing if I were to plant in the same spot again.  It bordered the ravine, so no wonder, it was easy picking for the bears for sure.

So this year I have my yearning for the sweet corn brought back.  I am going to change the location and move it to a place that is right beside my daughter's place.  The bears will not venture up there because of the dogs' proximity.  I don't think that a bear would venture that close to the house.  And besides, I haven't grown corn for about 4 years so I am hoping that either the bear that ate the corn has passed on, or forgotten about the sweets he got that night.

Now I grow garlic in that old corn patch.  The bear never bothered the garlic (LOL). 

My husband is going to build a small greenhouse in the southern part of the garlic patch so I can grow more tomatoes this year.  We live in that moist climate wherein the tomatoes get the late season blight, so they generally have to be grown under glass.  That is another story in itself.

I can't wait for spring, it is just around the corner.  Great day.  Cindi

[mabuzzbee]

Jalepenos are my favorite pepper.  My favorite winter squashes are the pumpkin neck squash and the spaghetti squash.  I have trouble with bugs on the spaghetti squash though.  I usually salvage 3 or 4 of them and the bugs devour the others.  Just to warn you, if you plant the pumpkin neck squash they get really large.  So large that sometimes  I need help carrying them in from the garden. 

[buzzbeejr]

i love spicy things i just cant eat much of them (dont tell John its a secret!!!) jalapenos are my favorite    THIS MESSAGE WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN 5 4 3 2 1 BYE BYE

[Cindi]

Now, that pumpkin neck squash sounds like a really interesting one for sure, must be a monster squash.  I think I will check it out with my seed company, it might be worth attempting to grow.  Great day.  Cindi