How are my earthbox gardeners doing?

I am shut-down about now because of the heat. Sun's rays burn all but the toughest plants and it is too difficult for me to work outside with my health problems. Sure glad to be on "Dave's Garden" because it keeps me gardening with ya"ll from my easy chair until the weather cools down in late September. My mini-orange tomatoes gave up last week. Has anyone ever grown sunmaster or its equivalent? They are supposed to bear tomatoes up to 95 degrees? Is this true? Is it false advertising? Would like to hear from anyone about these tomatoes. They were being sold as seedlings at Home Depot for hot weather planting here in Fl.

TPlant, you might post this question on the Tomato Forum. More likely to get a reply there.

But we grow all kinds of veggies! Example: cukes, peppers, corn, stringbeans, melons, strawberries etc. and not just tomatoes. I mentioned tomatoes because it was the last of my crop except for three watermelon plants.

TPlant, I thought your question was just about tomatoes, Sorry.

Well, I have harvested a bunch of baby (pickle) cucumbers, some herbs, celery, and some zucchini, had to reduce # of plants per box to 2, and also hand pollinate the flowers. I'm also growing some hot peppers from Ursula's seeds from chile...Uh, goat horn? or something, they are very happily growing in earthbox. And watermelon which is setting fruit, but now it's marble sized so I've got a while to wait.

Eileen- did you stratify Ursula's seeds? I have them but am a little intimidated.

Sorry is I hijacked the thread TPlant- maybe I should start a UrsulaSelfHelpGroup thread!

Please do not mention HOT PEPPERS. I have sworn off them for life! Leave them for ritchh.

Daisy, I stuck all of the seeds in the freezer except the hot pepper seeds, which I planted immediately. They grew very slowly until they reached a foot tall with several branches, then began to set fruit. One bent over in a rainstorm and snapped at ground level, so I staked the other 2. They grow just like any hot peppers I've ever started - a bit more delicately structured than regular bell peppers.
Yes, we should start an "ursula's seeds" thread!

TPlant, I read about your hot pepper experience, ouch!
Are your plants burned up then, for the season? Or will they revive with cooler weather?

Okay- I will do that later tonight in the Garden Talk forum- Ursula's Support Group!!!!

Eileenlanb: My peppers are still growing, but it is too hot for me to do much at this time of year. Two weeks ago I tried and thought I was going to pass out. Health problems have me limited as to what I can do and heat and humidity, especially very high humidity, really drains me. I will start my tomatoe seeds this week for september planting.

I recently pulled up the two 'Brandywine' tomatoes that were growing in an Earthbox. They had become way too tall and scraggly and were no longer producing. The 'harvest' from the 'Brandywine' plants was skimpy, but the ones I got were extremely tasty.

The EB bell peppers are still thriving and the peppers are delicious -- large, healthy, crisp, and fresh-tasting.

As an experiment, I am going to take the still-small tomato transplants from the spring, and transplant them into several Earth Boxes to see what happens.

Jean

Hi Folks:
So far I've harvested cucumbers, cherry & grape tomatoes, zucchini & yellow straightneck squash, basil and a huge amount of hot to very hot peppers from my earthboxes. I've attached a photo showing 4 earthbox plantings...from right to left Nufar basil, 2 boxes with Arledge Heirloom peppers and one with Jamaican Gold peppers. It's kind of hard to see the boxes as the plants have them completely covered. Now if my Tobasco and Cobra peppers start to ripen I'll really be in heaven.

Rich

Rich, yes hard to see the boxes... my m'gosh, your basil is awesome!

Everything looks great and so clean and healthy! How are your bell peppers doing? Anymore BER?

Wow Rich, they look fabulous. I bet when you brush past the basil the smell is awesome. My Chilean hot pepper plants are huge and have set more fruit than I have ever seen on one plant before. I think it's the basil which is attracting beneficial insects as it flowers. (I also planted basil in my earthbox but put it in the same box as the peppers). Now what do you do with all your basil?

Thanks for the compliments everyone. This is the first time I've planted basil in an earthbox (have grown it for years in pots) and the results are even better than expected. That's Nufar Hybrid basil which is the only kind I now grow. Very vigorous and 100% resistant to fusarium wilt plus great aroma and flavor. Sine I have 7 pots full in addition to the Earthbox most everywhere in the back yard smells like basil Eileen. As I believe I've mentioned before my wife is Italian and is always making a pot of sauce and the basil and flat leaf parsley are absolutely indespensible. If I didn't grow them she'd throw me out of the house (lol). She freezes enough to last her till next summer. We've found that frozen basil retains much more of its flavor compared to dried. Any of you that grow basil should try it in the Earthbox. I have 8 plants in it and have already cut it back twice and it just keeps coming. Also even with the 8 plants I've never had to water it more than once a day. The attached picture gives a better idea of how it performs.

Rich

How does she freeze it?

That was my question too!

Someone else (maybe Herbie) posted to just freeze them plain. I tried that but as soon as they thawed they were brown and ugly but not mush.

Forgot to mention Eileen that you've got me curious about your Chilean hot peppers. What do they look like and how hot are they? Also would it possible to get some seeds? I'd be happy to send you seeds back from any hot pepper I am growing which includes Thai Dragon, Thai Giant, Arledge Heirloom, Jamaican Red, Jamaican Gold, Tobasco Greenleaf, Monkey Face, Cobra, Masquerade and Treasure Red. There are descriptions and pictures of them all at www.chiliplants.com. Despite the cool and very damp summer here in New Jersey all my chilis are growing very well. I noticed this afternoon that my Tobasco peppers are finally starting to turn orange and I should have red peppers within a week or so. They are my absolute favorites and turn an Italian sausage sandwich into something really special if you like hot. Took a picture this afternoon which I've attached.

Rich

She washes it then spreads it out on paper towels overnight to dry thoroughly. She then packs it in zip-lock freezer bags and freezes it. It stays quite green in the freezer bags. Like most anything that's been frozen, it looses its original texture when thawed so it couldn't be used say as you'd use fresh basil on sliced tomatoes, but for cooking the results are pretty much equal to using fresh.

Rich

Rich, The Chilean hot peppers (aji "cacho de cabra") are still a pale green. I believe they turn red at maturity and are "very hot" according to snippets I found trying to Google information about them. I will have many, many seeds after the peppers ripen and would be glad to send some your way. I'll update this thread when they turn red and I find a brave soul to rate the heat.
I chopped my basil leaves coarsely and mixed w/ a dash of olive oil, then packed into ziplocks in the freezer. It's good to know I can skip the oil, which is messy to handle when you remove the basil from the plastic bag.

I'm so pleased I found this thread and that the seeds Eileen planted have grown into beautiful plants!

Eileen, do you have the chance to post a picture of the plant and the peppers? Would be great to include it in the PDB as well as some comments on your experience growing them.

I do not eat much hot pepper. When I do, I prefer a very mild variety called "Cristal" (a greenish/yellow pepper). However, I would think that Cacho de Cabra (Goat Horn) is not as hot as some of the varieties you grow in the USA. This pepper ripens to a beautiful red. I love them as ornament in the kitchen though.

In September I will travel for one week to Arica, at the border with Peru. While there, I will try to get some "Aji Rocoto" (some call them Aji Locoto) seeds. I think it's a Peruvian variety. These ones are VERY hot. Rocoto is rated in this web-page:

http://cosmics.tripod.com/hot/HotChiles2.html

as well as some others.

Anybody interested?

Just realized that Cacho de Cabra is listed as Goat Horn in the above link. However, it's not "our" Goat Horn. Ours is a much larger pepper (12 to 15 cm).

Thanks Eileen. All of the Aji varities I'm familiar with come from Peru, Chile or Ecuador and are all long season varities. The Tobasco peppers I am growing are also long season which is why mine too are barely starting to ripen at this date. That's one of the reasons that I mostly stick with C. annuum varities that are all short season and begin to ripen here in New Jersey usually the middle of July. Right now I'm "swimming" in Thai Dragons, Thai Giants, Arledge Heirloom, Super Chili Hybrids and Treasure Reds. Think I'll take a shot at making my own hot sauce this year.

Rich

Hi Ursula...nice to meet you. I tried both Rocoto Red and Rocoto Yellow 2 years ago (both are available at chiliplants.com), and couldn't get either to set any fruit. I've since been told that they not only need a very long growing season but also need cool nights as they are an Andean variety. Two summers ago here in New Jersey was very hot. They do have beautiful purple blossoms and grow quite tall. It's my understanding that they are very hot, in the 100,000+ Scoville range.

Rich

Hello Ursula, I had planned to email you about the peppers since there is very little information about them online. These are the only seeds I've grown out from the "garden angels" seeds I got from you, the rest are still in the freezer. I will post pictures when I can figure out what happened to the USB port for my digital camera - I can't seem to make the computer recognize the camera all of a sudden. So far, I have taken some pictures of the unripe fruit and will include those & ripe pepper pictures in the PDB. I would definitely be interested in the seeds for aji Rocoto if you get them this fall.
Even if the peppers are "long season", I can drag the earthbox into the garage to avoid frosts, and let them ripen throughout fall.
Rich, do you have a recipe for hot pepper sauce? I am going to be up to my eyeballs in hot peppers this fall! I had thought of just drying them but a tobasco-like sauce would be wonderful to have around.

OK Eileen, no problem.

Here are a few of the un-ripe peppers:

They look great! Will you post them at the PDB?

Oh well. I broke my behind yesterday moving pots and even Earthboxes to more protected positions based on the weather forecast of 40-50 MPH winds and 2-4 inches of rain from the remnants of Charley as it passed through New Jersey last night. It turned out that it veered slightly east as it reached the Maryland coast and we had no wind whatsoever and maybe ¼ inch of rain. Based on what I see on TV I guess I really have no reason to complain as much more than gardens got destroyed in Florida. How did you make out Tplant? Hope all is well.

Rich

Hallo? Tplant, please let us know how you weathered the storms.

Eileen

Hi, Thank you all for your concern. No problem here. All we got was 30 mph winds and no rain. My ex-wife and my son's mother lived in Porta Gorda and he has not been able to contact her. Phone lines are down. Guess we will have to wait and see.

Glad to hear you are OK. Say, isn't it about time to start some seeds for your fall earthboxes?

What are you all planning to put into the Earthboxes for a Fall crop?

Jean

Finally planted my tomatoe seeds friday and placed a heat mat under the flats. They started to sprout yesterday. My original planting of two weeks ago was destroyed in a sudden rain storm. Taking no chances now and started the seeds indoors on top of my dresser with a gro-lite and heat mat and as stated above they are sprouting. Thought I'd go heavy on the beefsteaks. they will require heavy bracing like steel cages and 8' stakes. Some say they are to big to be grown in an EB but I did it last season.
They are: Brandywine(Suddath),Marianna's Peace, Delicious, Giant Belgium, Polish, Zogola.
My specialty tomatoes grown specifically for my area: Creole, Florida 91, Glory, Heatwave and Homestead 500.
Plus some peppers: Red Knight, Marconi Red, and different varieties of Bell's.

This message was edited Aug 21, 2004 2:42 PM