God I love growing our own

[philat98]

with a name like that it sounds more like a severely hot chilli

No it is a small sweet pepper. I get the first fruit in June compared with July or August for other peppers. I think it would do well in a UK greenhouse or polytunnel.

 

[fian]

In Galicia we have 14 native varieties of peppers and in general they do not bite. The two varieties that can sting are Herbon/Padron and Mougan, which led the Medio Rural department to begin research to develop cultivars that do not sting since they do not generate capsaicin. In general, we usually eat peppers in the green phase except for Padron and Mougan in the initial phase (a few centimeters) or the red Cambados.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If you pick it green it hasn’t got any heat. If you let it ripen it can be as hot as a jalopeno
Individual peppers can vary as well. A bit like playing chilli roulette.

 

[Goran]

Our hot peppers when green are also " hot", less than fully ripe but hot.
At my place is proven that pepper adore greenhouse. In the greenhouse they grow up to top and its fruits grow large , outside same peppers almost strugle to survive and bear small fruits..

 

[fian]

If you pick it green it hasn’t got any heat. If you let it ripen it can be as hot as a jalopeno
Individual peppers can vary as well. A bit like playing chilli roulette.

The spicy varieties come from Mexico (Tabasco state in the south of the country) brought by Franciscan monks in the xvii (Padrón) and xviii (Mougan) centuries and cultivated continuously.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

you forget the Dominican monk saint Jalapeno of Ringburn

 

[Midget Gem]

The war on rats continues. Poison and traps and all kinds of youtube ideas haven't worked, so I have lined the greenhouse with wire mesh. I've spent the last few days moving soil from one side to the other and back, with the help of my 88 year old Dad. If this doesn't work, we'll have to get a ferret!

 

[Erichalfbee]

We’ve lined our chicken run floor with the same weld mesh the walls are made from. We find the odd tunnel underneath which quickly gets stuffed with poison.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

We’ve lined our chicken run floor with the same weld mesh the walls are made from. We find the odd tunnel underneath which quickly gets stuffed with poison.

I remember once pursuing a fox to ground at the foot of the Black Mountain, in a smallholding's yard, when we investigated the sett ran ten/fifteen yards under their chicken run and ended under the concrete floor of their machinery shed. The entrance was in a river bank a few yards from the chicken run fence - they'd never had any significant issues with foxes!

 

[Martimart]

Hi everyone. First post from me.

On the topic of onions, Ive never really put an effort in on them. A bit like carrots, I thought they were so cheap to buy, that they'd not be worth growing. In my mind I had a Venn diagram that has three circles: things that cost a bit to buy, things that my family actually like eating and things that are enjoyable to grow (and actually want to grow). The bit in the middle where all things overlap, was the things I would grow. However I have since realised my folly and the fact that when two of the circles are massive, you can ignore the third and the world wont end. And with onions being super fun to grow and scratching that itch to get started in January and also being something that we eat every day, this year Ive thrown myself into onions with abandon. We will drown in onion! Back on topic, all seeds have been great.

On peppers. They were my first foray into plant breeding. Back then, pre-internet, you had to know a guy who knew a guy. It spawned three decades of plant breeding for me. I never looked back.

My fun project at the moment is squash landracing. The idea is that heritage varieties are great, but they are effetcively landraces from thousands of kilometers away that were arrested at the moment in time that somebody started marketing them as a variety. We should be be growing and promiscously breeding these varieties to suit local conditions and let them continue their journey. My squash adventure has had a few false starts, but now in its current form of a focus on grey/blue curcurbita maxima blends is in its third year.

Super amped for a new season.

I spend about £8 on enough onion sets to last us as a family of 4 an entire year. Put them in the unheated greenhouse for about 6 weeks then gently replant them into the bed where they will grow until they are harvested in August / September.

One that's great is putting 8 / 10 White Lisbon seeds in each cell and succession sowing through the year, lovely fresh spring onions from May onwards, pull them up in bunches like you'd buy in the shops. Beetroot sow in cells of 4 or 5 to a cell, remove a couple when they are golf ball size in the summer and let the last few grown on to a decent size through the summer.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Planted my onion sets in little pots now in the greenhouse. I like to do them in twos so we get smaller onions
Peppers are through and Aubergines sown

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I remember once pursuing a fox to ground at the foot of the Black Mountain, in a smallholding's yard, when we investigated the sett ran ten/fifteen yards under their chicken run and ended under the concrete floor of their machinery shed. The entrance was in a river bank a few yards from the chicken run fence - they'd never had any significant issues with foxes!

Didn't there used to be a saying the rabbits living next to the fox were usually left alone? Maybe the same applies to Chickens

 

[fian]

The war on rats continues. Poison and traps and all kinds of youtube ideas haven't worked, so I have lined the greenhouse with wire mesh. I've spent the last few days moving soil from one side to the other and back, with the help of my 88 year old Dad. If this doesn't work, we'll have to get a ferret!

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Plant mint in pots and place them at the entrances to the greenhouse.
Make or purchase apple cider vinegar, mix it in equal parts with water. Regularly spray the sides both inside and out. That should keep rodents out of your greenhouse.

 

[philat98]

The war on rats continues. Poison and traps and all kinds of youtube ideas haven't worked, so I have lined the greenhouse with wire mesh. I've spent the last few days moving soil from one side to the other and back, with the help of my 88 year old Dad. If this doesn't work, we'll have to get a ferret!

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What are the rats doing? I have them in the greenhouse. The only damage they do is eat tomatoes that are near the ground. I have voles too and they are worse.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Plant mint in pots and place them at the entrances to the greenhouse

definitely doesn't work - had a rat warren slap bang in the middle of a mint bed

apple cider

is there any other kind!?

 

[Goran]

I have at one patch of orchard problem with moles, will have to chase them from property with calcium carbide ( unpleasant smell of gas chase them away - allegedly, will try to see). First I ignored them, now when it became real problem I won't stop until they are gone..

 

[enrico]

I have at one patch of orchard problem with moles, will have to chase them from property with calcium carbide ( unpleasant smell of gas chase them away - allegedly, will try to see). First I ignored them, now when it became real problem I won't stop until they are gone..

They can be a real problem. I am afraid I trap them but always feel bad when I see such an amazing creature dead.

 

[enrico]

The war on rats continues. Poison and traps and all kinds of youtube ideas haven't worked, so I have lined the greenhouse with wire mesh. I've spent the last few days moving soil from one side to the other and back, with the help of my 88 year old Dad. If this doesn't work, we'll have to get a ferret!

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They are a real pain.i get quite good success with squirrel traps and I have a peanut bird feeder which is in a globe of metal, it is meant to keep squirrels out but the rats get in it and because of the shape they can't bend to get out, needs a bit more looking into but I get about one a month caught in there. I have just bought one of those bucket traps from eBay that tips the rat into a bucket but I have 1 percent belief that that will work. Finally stopped them getting into the chicken run at night by using camera traps to find where they were coming in. The chickens are allowed out during day and the rats take the opportunity of getting the food then but I use an air rifle to shoot them if I can. I have caught or shot about six in the last few months but they just keep on coming. Hate the things.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

will have to chase them from property with calcium carbide

just don't strike a match anywhere near the tunnels!

 

[Erichalfbee]

They can be a real problem. I am afraid I trap them but always feel bad when I see such an amazing creature dead.

I’m a hobby small holder. They are welcome to my fields. They even loosened the ground around my hives, so we moved the bees.