Peppers – as received from ChilePlants.com – 4/10/2008

Spacing them out – 4/11/2008

Day 1 – Planted – 4/11/2008

2 weeks later – 5/1/2008

Tomatoes – 5/1/2008

Tomatoes & peppers – 5/8/2008

Superfantastic Tomato – 5/8/2008

Red Savina – 5/1/2008

Red Savina – 5/8/2008

Saturday is gardening day here in TX – and with the exception of last Saturday when I was in California, I’ve been outside tending to the garden as much as I can on the weekends. As you can see from the pictures above, things are growing like crazy. In fact, today I’m going to have to stake the tomato plants in addition to their cages because they are growing so tall the cages aren’t enough to support them. All the tomato plants have fruit on them with the exception of the 4 I recieved from ChilePlants.com – those are taking a bit longer but they did start about 4 weeks later.

The peppers are taking off – I couldn’t believe the difference in the plants in just a week. The habaneros in particular have seem to become a salad fest for a few bugs – so I’m going to use an insecticide soap to see if that helps. No other problems with bids or squirrels (yet). Only found one tomato worm about 2 weeks ago – and I’m happy to see that the beds are actually getting some earthworm activity as well.

Still have not had a water line dug so that there’s a water source nearby – but it’s been raining at least once a week here and when I need to, I’ve been dragging the hose from the front to the back. I’m thinking of waiting on the water line until the fall before I plant the winter crops – that way I can install an entire watering system at the same time. Anyone have experience with those?

**UPDATE**

Shed in a box – ala Lowes

Before

After

Spent Sunday getting a shed from Lowes and putting it together. This one is a Duraworx 8×6 model – I was originally going to go for a smaller one as we don’t have that much that needed to be stored, but it’s Texas and bigger is always the better choice. Assembly was easy – about 2.5 hours with 2 people. Only tool required was a drill – providing that your space is already leveled.

Pepper Fest is being held at Sand Key Park, 1060 Gulf Blvd., Clearwater, FL on Saturday, June 7, 2008 from 10am til 4pm. Hot & Spicy Foods & Sauces to
Sample & Purchase along with Pepper Plants & BBQ too! FREE Parking! FREE Admission! Call 727-423-8433 for more info or email us at PepperFest@Hotmail.com