16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Maybe they meant to direct you to the Pepper forum rather than the Tomato Forum. Several discussions there (see link to one below). Might also check out the Recipe Exchange forum. It is full of cooking with peppers recipes.
As for the Fish Pepper Salsa recipe, it is one published by Mother Earth News several years back.
White Hot Fish Pepper Salsa
The white bell pepper variety called for in this recipe was developed specifically for its white color, and is available in many supermarkets with specialty peppers. This is an excellent salsa for fish or shellfish, and also ceviche (a chilled mixture of fish marinated in lime juice). It can be frozen for later use.
1 pound white bell peppers
4 ounces white âÂÂFishâ peppers
1 large cooking apple (about 8 ounces), pared, cored and chopped
1 1âÂÂ2 cups white wine vinegar
1 cup sugar
4 cloves garlic
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped (or substitute 1/2 cup lime juice)
1 1âÂÂ2 tbsp salt
Seed and chop the peppers, and put them in a large, non-reactive (avoid aluminum and copper) pan. Add the apple, vinegar, sugar, garlic and pineapple (or lime). Cover and simmer over medium heat for 25 to 30 minutes or until the peppers are soft. Purée to a creamy consistency and return to the pan. Bring to a gentle boil. Stir in the salt, and pour into hot sterilized jars. Seal and store in a dark, cool closet until needed, or freeze. Yields 5 cups.
Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/fish-pepper-zmaz09amzraw.aspx#ixzz3N3oG6rZ1
Hope this helps.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Fish peppers
Sounds interesting, but also the history seems undocumented.
For hot sauce for fish, this "fish pepper" variety is supposedly picked immature, before it blushes, to make a white sauce with a Tabasco pepper equivalent heat.
The pepper seems claimed to be Baltimore's answer to Louisana Tabasco peppers, too, except with no red color to warn of the spicyness in advance, being a mutation of a Serrano pepper that when immature has pale, streaked, or no green color, but maximum heat.
As mentioned by digdirt, try the Hot Pepper GW Forum
These folks seem to have cornered the market on fishpepper recipes:
Best
PC
This post was edited by PupillaCharites on Fri, Dec 26, 14 at 23:29
Love the information and the explanations....I have a little to share, and much to learn! I am trying to not have the maters control me...so I try to limit myself. I replace the duds quickly (the next year). I agree about the EG's. Mine grew well, made OK salsa, and tasted fair at best. I so love my Cherokee Purple's! I am moving slowly from containers to raised beds (containers did well, even with indeterminates). More learning needed....
I grew Porter both here, in Tahlequah, OK and in Edinburg, TX (South border). It does quite well in heat. I just didn't care for the flavor.
Heidi has faired very well here in Tahlequah, OK. We don't have the dryness of the desert. But we often beat their heat. Heidi has that "weedy" growth which often speaks to me of hardiness in extreme conditions. It produces a lot. And, best of all, it is decent both for fresh eating and for cooking.
George
Tahlequah, OK
Here is a link that might be useful: Heidi at Sandhill Preservation Center
I can grow "other stuff" at one end and tomatoes at the other. Other stuff was bush beans, pole beans, cukes, garlic, beets, and other nightshades.
I grew tomatoes at one end for at least 4 years, then planted them at the other end last year for a great fresh start, only to get Late Blight (or was it that grey mould?) I never saw anything that looked mouldy and it wasn't fast-moving, but had patches of black on the stems and some of the fruit looked decidedly Late Blight-ish.
What the heck should I do next planting season????
Linda
I never post here. I just read. I thought some viewpoints were missing in this thread. I have no opposition to drip irrigation, but I think there are a lot of misconceptions about the efficacy of wicking beds in general that are exemplified within this thread in particular.
It's always difficult to play the "which is better" game because it's usually a trade-off of benefits and considerations. So don't take this as an endorsement of one over the other, just some added perspective.
Wicking beds can be made to serve deep rooted plants and even trees:
http://www.waterright.com.au/Wicking_bed_under_construction.pdf
(Note the second photo explanation in this link).
Wicking beds are well suited to arid regions, but this does mean they are problematic in high water regions. All wicking bed designs should include a drain component to them. This can be done in a variety of ways including creating a natural run-off. In fact a high water region would have advantages as the new water would rotate wicking water automatically.
http://www.waterright.com.au/Weather and wicking beds.pdf
Since good wicking design also involves soil with good capillary action and thus proper drainage, it is not likely to prove a disadvantage in high water regions. If a person is having problems with growth due to too much water, they should take a critical examination of their drainage and soil compaction issues, not wicking bed concepts.
http://www.waterright.com.au/newletter march 2013.htm
In terms of water conservation, I don't know that one is over the other. While the value of wicking beds is known for arid regions, dripping is also of noteworthy for the same. Both are noted for advantages beyond water conservation.
If wicking beds boast one major advantage, it is that they are effective in maintaining a self regulating soil moisture conducive to healthy growth. This is done without repeated adjustments or replacement of components.
wicking disadvantages, include the risk the build up of anaerobic bacteria in the water and many first timers, often buying a retail or E-Bay product have experienced this without understanding why. It comes down to good aeration of the soil and the water, preferably the soil.
They also are noted for build of concentrations of calcium, salt and other minerals in the bed. This comes from areas with hard water and high evaporation (arid regions tend to have both). So While they can hold water for extended use, there are times when running water into them and flushing them is wise. I can't say how often, but I start for a once a month period. This is why such beds in high water areas are actually an advantage.
http://www.waterright.com.au/newletter 12 Jan 2014.htm
It also impacts the use of plant supplements that are often surface applied with water, which may also contribute to mineral buildup. So using a wicking bed with inorganic mulch (provided by some retailers) and a surface applied plant food isn't going to bring you joy.
However, there are solutions to these just as there are to drip irrigation problems. As I said at the start, it's not about one over the other, it's about trade-offs and understanding them.
It's also not just about understanding the delivery of water. It's about understanding the soil for that method. All of the alternate methods to traditional agriculture partner with views of soil, and nutrients. that need to be taken into account.
I am working with my first wicking bed implementation now. I am taking a different approach by using a continually moving water flow based on ideas in an aquaponics forum.
http://aquaponicsnation.com/forums/topic/8090-the-ultimate-growing-system/
I am hopeful the disadvantages will be overcome this way. However, I am also going to experiment with a rudimentary drip system in the sub-surface that utilizes wicking bed concepts.
That's more than two cents worth and should satisfy my need to post for a couple of years at least.
This post was edited by tripster2001 on Thu, Dec 25, 14 at 3:06
I don't know anything about PR, but I have seeds ordered for Azoychka and Willamette (both mentioned above) .
Seysonn
EDIT:
@ PC : N-C WA has a totally different climate than we have in N-W WA. They have shorter season, colder winters and hot summers. But here in PNW our temperatures are tamed, We have long frost free season but cooler temperature. 90F is rare around here.
This post was edited by seysonn on Mon, Dec 29, 14 at 7:15
Get your self some 4' shop lights, T8, and put 32W 6500k bulbs in them. Home Despot carries the bulbs for as low as 3.33/ea if you buy a box of 10. Valdemart, Home Despot, and Menards all carry cheap shop lights that will do the job. You want a T8 fixture that will hold 2 32W bulbs, as narrow as possible so you can fit as many as possible on each shelf. Make sure they are T8 fixtures and not T12 - the cheapest fixtures are generally T12.
Get some wire shelves that are 4' long and 18" to 24" wide - it is super easy to hang fixtures from those wire shelves by the chains that (usually) come with the fixtures.
Unless you don't mind wiring in a power cord, make sure the fixtures you buy come with a pre-wired power cord and plug.
You will not believe the difference it will make to your seedlings. Even one dual-bulb T8 fixture will help - 2 of them per shelf (for a total of 4 32W bulbs between them) will solve all your seed-starting woes.
Check out megagreenhouse.com for plant trays that will fit on your shelves - to catch any drips or spills. Also planting flats and pots.
Set up an oscillating fan in front of your grow shelves - to protect from overheating due to the heat from the lights, to keep the air moving so fungus doesn't get a start, and to strengthen the stems of your seedlings.
Get varieties acclimated to your super hot climate. Look for heat resistant varieties and varieties with a short maturation. Cherry tomatoes and paste types allegedly do well in your climate.
Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Tomatoes in Arizona
As noted in a recent posting, just plant them SIDEWAYS. Yep, just lay them down in a trench and cover the stems with decent soil. Leave the leaf end above the soil where you want the plant to be. For the plants growing an inch apart in the same pot, just transplant the whole pot in the middle of the bed, extend the trenches in different directions, and lay each plant along a different trench. If the stems aren't so old that they refuse to root, that'll guarantee survival and probably even production. No cutting.
I've had good luck with tomatoes in January - if I see them at my local HD, I will be tempted to buy some, as I did not plant seeds this year. My growing area has been taken over with chilies, and they are doing extremely well for me right now.
My Jaune Flammee is still pumping out pretty good tasting maters despite the fact that several nights have been at or in the 40s. Also Orange Bell and Joe E Parker pepper plants loaded up late when it finally cooled off a bit and are ripening, slowly, but ripening none the less. I also have ripening fruit on Dwarf Wild Fred and a Hybrid Paste whose name escapes me at the moment. I'm sure they wont taste as good as if ripened when nights were warmer but will probably taste better than store bought!
Really a question for the Harvest forum here - the food preservation forum - and you'll find discussions about it there.
Many recommend using paste tomatoes for canning Stewed Tomatoes. Since they have to be pressure canned because of all the other ingredients it takes a really firm, meaty plum tomato to hold up to it. And since flavor isn't as important because of all the other additives you don't have to be concerned about the lack of flavor in most paste types.
Personally I like San Marzano and Viva Italia for making them and Martino's Roma is another good one. Also consider some of the heart varieties like Bulls Heart or Kosovo as they too will hold up to the pressure canning. I find that leaving them in halves lets them hold up better than chopped or diced.
Dave
No need to apologize!
I looked at the forum a bit before I posted the question but I missed the previous discussion, and actually hadn't even gotten on the computer for a week, so that's why the delay in me asking.
I have security on my computer and I try to be careful about what I open, since I was told that the damage starts when you open it (although I don't know that that is always the case, as fast as things change when tech is involved))
I had a feeling it was bogus email, so I never opened it . Things I have gotten for years randomly end up in my spam so now I just look there first, sort it and then look at my inbox.
Dawn
Dawn, and thanks for reminding me of your name, OK to open it but don't click on any links inside nor respond to it.
I have a picture in my mind of possibly you and some others I used to know well leaning on some pallets in the side yard at Hortus. And maybe you remember my dog and pony show as well as my sitting out near the front entrance sighning copies of my book where there was a canopy and it was hot as H withTom Wagner sitting next to me as he asked to do. LOL
And staff from Hortus bringing out pitchers of icy tomato juice. It's too bad that Hortus had to close but the plant sales still called Tomatomania live on and every season I get an e-mail with the schedule of where they will be held, mostly in S Cal.
Carolyn, who also gets from time to time em's from Mary-Anne Durkee asking me to come back or to join linked in.
I had no clue what :"keyhole gardens" were until I opened this thread. It turned out that it is a concept that has been on my wish list for a few years since the Garden Tower came out (not to confuse with the rip-off Tower Garden), which is in some respects is a supercharged version of the keyhole gardens right here in the USA, undertaken by home gardeners in every US state.
The Garden Tower system dumps all kitchen and vegetable waste into a central worm cylinder, same sort of thing as the keyhole. The worms accelerate the composting and enhance the nutritional value, so it can properly be called a vermicomposting system which is not as passive, making it a cleaner thing IMO as if you don't emphasize the role of the worms and just have fermentation and rotting going on from microorganisms.
The worms then move from the central cylinder aerating and carrying finished poopy fertilizer throughout the rest of the bed pretty fast since they are young and restless. In the plastic small design Garden Tower there is no need to clear a path to walk to the compost tube since the whole thing is small enough to reach.
But I can easily see a tailored setup any home gardener could make if they want to grow larger plants like tomatoes, where a wider garden bed setup would do for greens. For that, I had thought about a central tube that doubled as a support spine from which the vines could be hung. One small version might be to half bury a liner or even do it in a recessed garbage can if you wanted to keep the nutrients from leaching down and put 4-6 tomato plants in each one each with its own vermicomposting factory core, and maybe use it as a cookie cutter design if it gave good results. Something like that might work well in Florida as long as you could keep the nematodes out which seems like it could work.
Garden Tower Project (vermicomposting)
PC
This is not a recommendation But I will grow the followings:
--- Hahms Gelbe Topftomate (German)
--- Polish Dwarf.
I have just picked these 2 randomly and based on Sample Seeds Shop's description. I should mention that I will grow them outside in pots.
The picture below (from internet): Hahms Gelbe Topftomate
Seysonn
This past week my password to my browser was hacked and it's my entree to the net. No way do I want to discuss it here, has been in detail by those who received the bogus e-mails and some of them are computer experts. Just don't think that your ant-virus or malware stuff you have on your computer will stop password problems from happening and what happened is too complicated to discuss here.
My browser informed me of the problem the same day some recipents did and said to change my password, using their suggestions for a high security one and I did.
So no, I am not going to list my em address in my profile.
And I have several long time friends in Belarus, Germany and elsewhere who send me Russian varieties for my seed offer elsewhere. And until recently I was sending seeds to Russia.And of course Tania lists many hundreds as well
I keep no address book online for obvious reasons, but have perhaps thousands of e-mails over time from those who want to participatre in my seed offer since they have to send me an e-mail to request my address so they can send me a SASE. Those outside the US send me an em with what they want and I pay all the postege back to whatever country they live in, which is not cheap, thus lessening the money in my dark bittersweet chocolate budget. LOL
Carolyn
Sorry to hear about what sounds like a description of a hacked email account and a limited list of contacts that were spammed using your online email account.
A month ago, a trojan malware nailed my computer and it was hell. I torched the compromised operating system on the old hard drive which had as many holes as cyber Swiss Cheese (Emmental cheese), then ran triple virus cleaning programs on the old drive, and bought a new drive to reinstall the operating system and now have the old one accessible as a data drive with all the old directory structure and files intact, and a completely new strategy to isolate my main drive.
So, it's a cyber jungle out there and it seems to be a free-for-all with no perfect strategy excpet to be skeptical and vigilent at all times.
Mailing all that internationally on your own dime, the way rates have gone postal ... next time you stick your hand in the cupboard for a chocolate you might only find a bittersweet postage due notice LOL
PC
Thank you Suncitylinda for your reply also. I don't worry about the growing in buckets, we will probably do that as well, just mostly concerned about the pesticides/fungicides, etc.
I've gotten through about 75% though "Epic Tomatoes" and find it very useful for the novice tomato grower. All aspects of tomato growing is covered in good detail and written in laymen's terms that any aspiring gardener would understand.
The layout of the books contents is done extremely well. CL provides charming stories with all of the tomato varieties he highlights and I found his guidance on creating your own varieties of particular interest.
The photos really brighten up the layout of the book (just in case you weren't totally jazzed about tomatoes in the first place) making your eyes open with wonder with every eye popping tomato variety or growing guidance photo CL provides.
I wish I read this book 5 years ago. Many of the mistakes I've made, could have been easily side stepped if I had this book to guide me.
Well done CL! I'm sure this book will make anyone not already addicted to tomato growing at the very least charmed by your experiences and instruction.