An early end to the season (for me)...

Anatomy of a Jalapeno Pepper, from Jalapeno Madness.com

Its unfortunate, but the exceptionally wet season had had a devastitating effect on my pepper crop this year.  Down in Florida, the combination of a very mild winter, and the remanents of Tropical Storm Debbie have combined to produce a plethora of tough little varments, which feasted on my poor peppers.  Instead of attempting to salvage what is left of this year's remaining plant (which was sprayed by the pest company... and has caused my little hybrid to wither), I'm setting for next year - quality seeds, good turned soil, a small green house, et al - I'll document those with time, but for now, I'm just licking my wounds!

Recovering from the mealyworms, and looking at new plants...

After applying a combination of gentle water blasts (?!), a soapy combination, and an insecticide (for fruit plants), it appears that I've been able to defeat this round of mealy worms - thankfully.  I still get a bit of ribbing from the other half from my minute inspection of the little guys, but I refuse to deal with more of this kind of problem!

On the lighter side, a few of my baby jalapenos successfully germinated, so I'll be clearing out an area by the other half's potato plants (she is a Teutonic gem, but some habits die hard... such as a love of potatos).  I think I'll be trying a new batch of jalapenos, and a friend brought me some pequin pepper seeds, so those will be the next little devils up for the garden!

Attack of the mealyworms...!

Been busy with work - apparently too busy to notice an infestation of mealy worms that attacked some of my pepper!  Yikes!  Gave them a good washdown, and applied an insecticide, but lost some of my larger pepper. I believe they migrated from some tomato plants the other half had nearby... so I eliminated the tomato plants (they looked even worse than my pepper plants), and I'll be monitoring them closely for a quick recovery!

Burpee Gardening video on Growing Peppers...

 

Having a heck of a time trying to get my seeds started this year... so I've had to turn to the local garden store to add a few peppers as a segue until my seeds decide to bless me with their presence this year.  In the meantime, I've added the newest Burpee Gardening pepper video, which is actually not too bad (albeit quite basic) - please do enjoy!  For more information, consider a visit to their website, located at : http://www.burpee.com/?cid=ppc

Cult Moo Pepper Show, Episode 1 - Jalapenos & Cooking Tips, Picking Jalapenos

Well, a bit behind on both posting and the article I'm working on, but I did find this little gem of a series from a pair of fellows, titling themselves as "Cult Moo"!  They author a series of works, but of course the ones which are of most import at the ones on peppers.  In episode one, they do a bit of talking about the pepper, and eat one... which is about the extent of the video, but still, an intriguing start to the series.  

For a bit more "formal" information on picking and cooking Jalapenos, I've added the following works on picking Jalapenos by "Cooking Tips".  Its a small blurb, and not quite sure where she gets her "pepper scale" of one to ten, with a Jalapeno being a "five", but a few useful picking tips can be garnered nonetheless.

A bit about myself, and why this blog is here...

I was doing a bit of writing, and decided that perhaps a bit of background on myself and the blog was in order.  I'm Rafael, and I really do enjoy peppers - growing, cooking, and eating them!  Aside from being a pepper fan, I'm also a prolific blogger.  I started blogging about five years ago, and cut my blogging teeth in the Steampunk genre with my "flagship" blog, the Steampunk Tribune.  Over the years I managed to grow the little corner of the internet into a popular location for the genre, even to the point of a few interviews (e.g. on the BBC), and on TV (G4TV).  However, with emergent "real life" demands, and the evolving scene, I decided that after half a decade of writing about it, it was time to "hand off" reporting on it to others.  So I decided to move on to "greener" pastures... ideally greener with peppers!

I stated growing peppers a few years ago, beginning with a small jalapeno plant.  It blossomed amazingly, and it was my first experience with picking fresh peppers... so the next year (last year), I decided to grow my own peppers.. a combination of jalapenos, habaneros, and cayennes.  I was enthralled with the plants, and it was a pleasure to watch them grow, and pick the peppers for what ever concoctions I could devise.  Needless to say, I planted this year, but I believe that I stated a bit too early, so nothing has germinated outside - meaning I'll have to bring the jalapenos indoors for now.

The idea of "Growing Peppers" is to have a central place to find information on ... growing peppers!  I have a long ways to go before I would begin to consider myself proficient at pepper growing, but consolidating information sources is a key part of learning how to grow peppers.  I'll add the status of my own endeavors, even though its likely only of interest to myself.  Still, with a bit of luck, I do hope to make Growing Peppers a nice location where a pepper growing noob can learn to start growing and enjoying peppers!  

An unforeseen challenge with this year's first crop...

Well, it seems that this year is proving to be a challenge, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  My two starter crops of peppers have been absolutely disappointing, so I'm looking to finally build/acquire the small greenhouse to start the little tykes.  More on that to come, needless to say, and I'll post a bit on this new choice that has forced my hand!