Janurary !, 2015

Good morning, Happy New year!!!!

Long range forecasts are showing next week to be getting back towards seasonal temps. We can only hope. As of this morning I have been unable to harvest. One of those rare occurrences. Monday has been the only day this week I could harvest, and I spent it getting the garden prepared for what we are experiencing. It is forecast to finally get above freezing today and to freeze again tonight. But there is more winter precipitation forecast for today also. I hope to harvest this afternoon or tomorrow. The near term forecast keeps changing and wintry prcip has been extended into Saturday. I will not take orders this week because of all this uncertainty. I do plan on having veggies at market. It is forecast to be in the 40's and clearing It will be very very nice to get outside again. I am beginning to feel like a caged rat. I hope to see everyone at market, I am hoping that it will  be a very nice day to visit!!!

It was a couple of years ago that I discovered a new Chili. It really is a unique one. From what I have read it is one of the most popular chili's in Central and South America. It has been cultivated at least since the time of the Inca and maybe longer. There are no known wild species. It is the only one of it's species in the Capsicum genus. There are a number of characteristics that are unique to this chili and its species name notes one of them, pubescens. The leaves and stems are fuzzy, flowers are purple, and the seeds are black. This chili will not cross pollinate with any other chili. Where it grows best, it will take on a tree form, up to 12 feet and live 15 years. The fruit has a similar shape to an apple, hence its name manzano. It comes in three colors: red, orange, and yellow and has a bit of a fruity taste to it. It does not like the heat of the low land tropics and grows best at a higher elevation in the Andes (it prefers the mid to upper 80's). Cool weather does not bother this chili but it will not take a freeze. It is the tastiest chili I have ever eaten.

Having all this information I set out to try and grow this puppy. The first year I tried to grow it out in my vineyard where several grape vines had died from the 2011 drought (full sun all day). I got it to produce all kinds of blossoms but none would ever set. Apparently in West Texas it does not like full sun all day. A lady that I had given some plants to, managed to get her plants to bloom and bear fruit, thus how I learned that I liked them. This ladies plants were growing in the higher elevations south of Alpine.

This past year I put the plant that I managed to over winter from last year out in my front yard. It was well off the ground. I was able to give it only morning and afternoon sun. Mid day sun and heat was remedied with the shade of a mulberry tree. This plant went to blooming quite profusely. Then the chickens and English house sparrows proceeded to puck off all the blooms. After counting to ten many many times, I managed to protect the plant and was rewarded with several chili's before the house sparrows found another way in to the plant.

Next spring I plan to put the plant into an enclosure with rigid wire. I hope this works. I think that other folks would find these guys to be quite tasty too. I intend to have them for market once I have all the logistics worked out. Oh and two last factoids about these guys: a mature plant can produce up to 1000 pounds of chiles ( I do not think I will be able to grow a 12 foot plant). As for heat, it is hotter than a jalapeno but way cooler than our native chiltepin or the infamous habanero. In scoville heat units it is a 12,000 to 30,000. Jalapeno 3500 to 8000, chiltepin 100,000 to 250,000, habanero 200,000 to 350,000.

This puppy makes a killer quesadilla!!

It is no surprise that the garden came through Christmas weeks freeze / snow shower, but I am surprised to see the amount of frost bite scattered in the garden. The mercury dropped to 21 but the damage I am seeing is what I would expect for temps in the teens. This freeze was a associated with one heck of a blow. My broccoli bed was covered with Agribon 70 that was weighted down with 5 to 10 pound rocks spread every 4 feet along the northern edge of the fabric. The day after the storm, a 15 foot section had been lifted up and placed on the south side of the bed. The plants did not look like they were squashed by the rocks and fabric moving over them, they only looked like the wind had pushed them over. The Fabric seemed to have been lifted up and over the plants along with the rocks. Pretty nice gust of wind. Two other beds had some frostbite, my asian greens and beets. There was no damage that couldn't be trimmed off once there gets to be a less windy and warmer day.

We have had a very mellow fall / winter so far, save for a couple recent episodes. A very pleasant thought is, that it is only 7 weeks until the mid February warming starts and spring planting! Let us all hope for a wonderful New Year with a great growing season along with bountiful moisture. No flooding just pleasant. Or at least we can always hope.