surfpig
The Anti-Tech
A few more (3 1/2 pounds!). Decisions decisions…
The Vegtable Garden Thread (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter rusty_tlc
- Start date
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I'm going to make it official. You can't grow peppers like this in my region of the world. I live in New Mexico, and we are forced us to identify with peppers (chile) as what appears as some kind of local, neo-tribal, psuedo-historical-pagent conspiracy. New Mexico will never be the chile capital of the world, sorry. But, New Mexico politicians have to film their ad campaigns somewhere, so they dress-up as vaquero and pretend to be a farmer for the camera - expensive leather boots are a joke when you are working around / with irrigation.
There is simply too much caliche (Mg and Ca carbonates) in our soil and water, or, too-high of an altitude to get a good growing season. Blossom-end-rot in tomato and peppers results in the bottom of the fruit suffering from deficiency of these same minerals because they are not available to the plant at such a high pH in our soil. Even before being picked, mold begins to form internally like it was physically bruised. Unfortunately, due to mega-corps / micro-salary, a few moldy fruits inevitably wind up in batch processing. I accidentally ate some of it last week - no fun - everything on the menu has chile.
Also, professionally speaking, growers haven't a clue how to deal with the mice problems in our fields / greenhouses / and particularly home gardens - I'm never surprised to see partially eaten peppers still on the plant, and trying to keep mice away from germination trays forces you to work under 1/4"-grid hardware cloth.
surfpig
The Anti-Tech
I'm impressed.
2 years ago I decided to start a small farming operation on my family's land.
It's some great soil and we already have the well to support it, so why not?
I built a greenhouse for sprouting and my first plot was 100' x100' with 25 beds set up with walkways between.
I ended up delivering boxes to friends on Tuesdays due to having no cold storage.
I'd harvest in the morning then deliver at about 3:30. Boxes had everything from tomatoes and peppers to mint, lavender, sage, kale, garlic and onions, squash, zucchini, and broccoli.
Last year I filled an entire wheel Barrow with heads of garlic.
Plus I canned a bunch of pickles, jalapenos with carrots, and pasta sauce.
last year I Also grew 7 cannabis plants, which yielded about 14 pounds of dried and finished herb.
It was a fun way to dispose of several thousand dollars per year.
Now I've got a job and I just raise chickens for eggs. I'll probably leave the plot fallow this year.
Cant afford to spend thousands to make hundreds, but it was fun while it lasted and the chicks really dig it.
It's some great soil and we already have the well to support it, so why not?
I built a greenhouse for sprouting and my first plot was 100' x100' with 25 beds set up with walkways between.
I ended up delivering boxes to friends on Tuesdays due to having no cold storage.
I'd harvest in the morning then deliver at about 3:30. Boxes had everything from tomatoes and peppers to mint, lavender, sage, kale, garlic and onions, squash, zucchini, and broccoli.
Last year I filled an entire wheel Barrow with heads of garlic.
Plus I canned a bunch of pickles, jalapenos with carrots, and pasta sauce.
last year I Also grew 7 cannabis plants, which yielded about 14 pounds of dried and finished herb.
It was a fun way to dispose of several thousand dollars per year.
Now I've got a job and I just raise chickens for eggs. I'll probably leave the plot fallow this year.
Cant afford to spend thousands to make hundreds, but it was fun while it lasted and the chicks really dig it.
^ Great experience and the epitome of non-industrial farming I think! Just finished watching Season 2 of Clarkson's Farm; similar contrast between income & expense all things smaller scale/non-industrial ag.