james keller

Great thread! I also make paprika and smoke some of it. This year I’m using Ajvarski, Lesya, and Gypsy peppers. I also dry jalapeños for chili powder.

I recommend only grinding a small amount rather than the entire batch. The powder clumps and loses flavor more quickly than the whole dried pieces. I store my dried peppers in vacuum sealed mason jars and also use desiccant packs in the jars. I found that the unground pieces really retain the best flavor.

Great pictures and beautiful peppers you’ve got there!!

B J Stal wrote:
A couple of years ago, I tried growing Chayote, and had a poor experience.  A few, but quite small.    I plan on trying it again this year, and now have three plants about a month old and looking good.  These are inside ,  and  are a few inches tall at this time.  I read where people farther north than I am have had good results.  I am located in the SW part of Idaho.    It is basically a desert here.

The Chayote’s  I worked with before, and now have starting, are the smooth skinned ones from the grocery stores.  I have read that the spiky or spiny ones are better for the northern areas.  

Also, what is the story on white ones?

I am looking for someone that can comment on this subject.  Have you, or someone you know, tried various types, what were the results, where did you get the starts, what area and conditions did this happen in, etc.?

Thank You,

While I was unsuccessful in growing them in North Texas, there is a website with tons of good info about growing chayote. They’re called mirlitons in Louisiana.

Check out mirliton.org. And I hope you’re able to get some established!

Sunny Baba wrote:hey Matt,


Our favourite for mildew and squash bug resistance is a moschata called tromboncino. They can be eaten like a summer squash when young and mature like a butternut when full grown. Flavour is mild and kind of nutty when young. Firmer texture than a zucchini. Stores really well. And they grow BIG! we got 8 4 foot squashes from one plant. We let it grow up and over a tree as a kind of trellis.

I grew tromboncino or rampicante this year for the first time and can echo these comments. Very productive so plenty of young summer squash. A little larger and they stay solid in the freezer. A winner for sure.

Thank you for that link Jamie. I will take a look.

Prompted by your post I went and looked at my espalier which is sorely in need of pruning. Being in the dead of winter I surely have plenty of time….but no! It was 85 degrees here today. The buds are swelling on the pear trees already. Started pruning like crazy. Hoping the trees won’t bloom and lose it all in a February freeze.

Jamie Lawrence wrote:

A. Has anyone had success with espalier in the area? If so, with what varieties?
B. Any good eapalier examples or local learning resources to visit/look at/learn from?
C. I have not been finding fruit trees on dwarf stock at local nurseries. I have read that this can be important for long term espalier success. Any ideas for sources locally or at least in Texas that would be appropriate to the area?

Hi Jamie. I'm well north of you near Fort Worth. I am by no means an expert in espalier but I have dabbled successfully. I did my research on the web and decided to start with pears for a couple of reasons. Lower chilling hours, vigorous growth, disease resistance. Fireblight is bad here and there are two pear trees that seem to handle it best, Orient and Kieffer. I've also done a couple of apple trees, one of which is doing well and the other succumbed to blight last year.

I did not aim for dwarf when I started. There's a place in East Texas called Legg Creek Farm. They were responsive when I asked for whips to start with. I have a 3 tree espalier that is now several years old and doing very well. The vigorous growth helps hide my mistakes. I need to be more aggressive in my pruning but I'm not entering my work into any contests so I can live with a slightly unsightly tree.

So I wouldn't let the dwarf issue slow you down. Just prune more aggressively and enjoy the tree.

Best of luck,

James

I echo the use of hardware cloth. In fact i recommend that it extend below the bottom boards to leave sharp edges to deter predators digging under the sides. If your tractor doesn't sit flat on the ground (and even if it does) predators will definitely go under.

Anne Miller wrote:Hi, James

Do you know what kind of sunflowers those are?

I found this on a site called foragingtexas.com:

Sunflower - Wild
Scientific name: Helianthus annuus
Abundance: plentiful
What: young flowers, seeds
How: seeds can be eaten raw, ground into flour, roasted, or crushed for sunflower oil, the shells can be roasted then used as a coffee substitute; young flowers are boiled
Where: Sunny areas, ditches, abandoned yards
When: Seeds ripen in late summer, early fall
Nutritional Value: carbohydrates, protein and oils


The pictures they show are exactly what I have. The roots are not tuberous.

Several have mentioned sunflowers and I heartily agree. Although I didn't plant them, I have a never ending crop of wild sunflowers. Several years ago I fought this like a noxious weed. Then I figured out that it is easy to recognize inside the garden and pull it out. My relationship has now evolved to allowing it to reseed itself outside my vegetable garden, around the edges. It is hardy and attracts so many native bees and butterflies that I just stand and watch the action.

The sunflowers form a fence around my garden so pollinator action in the garden area is continual and robust.

I know that the wild sunflower is considered a weed in crop fields, but I have definitely seen a huge increase in a variety of bumblebees, leaf cutters, squash bees, honey bees, and orchard mason bees since allowing the sunflowers to grow.

I have heard that parts of the plant are edible although I haven't tried it. Given how fast they grow, I suppose I should try eating some--definitely a sustainable, renewable, and hardy source of food.

I found a deal recently on some very solid terracotta pots at the orange box store.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Southern-Patio-Michelle-Large-15-in-x-10-6-in-Terracotta-Clay-Planter-CLY-081654/314096538

They are 15” pots for $4.98 each. They also have a 12” pot same price.  I’m actually surprised they are still in stock.

I have an in ground garden but I’ve started using the pots to avoid weeding issues and to keep crops closer to the house.

I hope that helps.