This week, I transplanted peppers. Actually, I did a lot of garden-related projects, but it’s safe to say the peppers dominated my time.
Peppers
Peppers have been dominating my gardening articles for some time now because they take so long to grow. I’ve had peppers growing in my garage for over a month and the longest one is about 6 inches tall. Compare that to the cherry tomatoes I planted in November that are over six feet tall and about to be a problem.
As I said above, I transplanted peppers. I should have transplanted them a week or two ago, but I didn’t have anywhere to put the transplanted peppers. If your germination is going well, your transplanted plants will take up more space than the seed starters you start with. That’s a good thing unless you don’t have room.
Previously, I transplanted/thinned my broccoli which made it go from about 1 square foot to about 4 square feet of space. Fortunately, the weather is warmer and broccoli can survive a light frost.
So, I transplanted my peppers. This process was a lot like when I transplanted my basil, except for a few differences.
- My peppers’ roots were much longer than the basil. I had a little bit of root sticking out the bottom of the basil, but every pepper plant had long thing roots that I risked breaking when I transplanted them. I had to be extra cautious.
- Quantity. Because I had 4 10×20 trays of pepper seed starters, I had significantly more things to transplant.
- Moisture. I made the mistake of transplanting these peppers when they were soaking wet. This made the soil hard to pick up as one clump. Instead, a lot of it fell away and I had to carefully move the plant with its roots dangling.
- I had to add fertilizer. With my basil, I had compost in the dirt the basil came with. However, I didn’t add extra fertilizer to the peppers initially.
Other than those few things, the process was roughly the same.
Summer Garden
Aside from peppers, I’ve done a little bit of building. I added 2 planters next to my deck staircase for strawberries, beans, cucumbers, and a few companion plants. Additionally, I’ve started the section that goes along the fence that will have my broccoli, leafy greens, garlic, and chives. It takes a little while, but I want to make sure it is done right.
My summer garden days are just around the corner, so I need to make sure everything is ready in time!
Hops
I planted my hops yesterday, so we’ll see when they come to life. I started with rhizomes. From everything I’ve read, they should be easy. We’ll see.
Beans and Onions
My green beans and green onions are doing spectacularly. Likely this week I’m going to harvest as many beans as I can. Additionally, I’ll be trimming back the green onions, dehydrating them, and making onion powder that is gentler on my stomach.
Muscadine Grapes
I just planted muscadine grape seeds that I got off of Durham Plant Swap. The guy gave them to me with low optimism, but it was worth trying.
Carolina Reaper
Additionally, I just planted Carolina Reaper seeds for a friend of mine. We’ll see how they turn out. For full transparency, I have my doubts these will survive. The seeds were from last year’s harvest and they had become moldy. I planted all of the seeds that were still intact, so we’ll see.
Added Storage
The biggest construction project I’ve done in a while involves my garage plants. I built a large storage shelf above my workbench for storing transplanted plants. I can stand on my workbench to water them or grab a ladder.
Upcoming
Over the next week or two, I’ll be finishing my backyard garden and transplanting my broccoli and leafy greens into it. Additionally, I’ll start my tomato seed starters really soon!
I’m sure I’m not the only one, but even though I have a list of every seed I have plus their planting dates, I still feel the need to doublecheck them all again just to be sure I’m not missing something. So that will be an evening for me.
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