A big Hello/Introduction and a list of my veggies =)

[Mostly Weeds]

Hi everyone!

Pretty excited for this spring, a bit of expansion in the works with some new spaces to cram veggies in. I keep creeping more and more planting area into the yard every year while try not to infuriate my wife

I've got a pretty good sized yard for the city with some nice sun exposure and average soil that I keep working away at. What I can't fit into my veggie beds or tuck into my perimeter gardens I do in containers along the patio and walkways. As long as it doesn't look like a tornado blew a dumpster full of old pots and buckets into the yard I'm safe haha. Besides, when the family is happily munching on fresh veggies I don't ever hear any complaints~

This year I started every single plant from seed in a new lighted/heated setup of my own mad scientist design. No nursery transplants. I am growing almost every single vegetable in an heirloom/OP variety. I am expecting to be able to do all of my own seed-saving (and sharing!!) this year as well. I would say that I grow organically in that since even my earliest days as a gardener I have never used chemicals or inputs. My first task when I originally built my garden was to build a fine wooden compost setup. I have been really satisfied with the stuff it churns out. For some reason, compost is a topic that really gets me excited haha, I think that makes me a compst-nerd. It's funny how much knowledge or influence I'm finding I have retained from my grandfather who was a heroic gardener. I certainly spent a lot of time in his garden as a kid but I don't think I ever cared to 'learn' much then. Despite it all, so much has come back to me over the past few years as I've been crafting my own gardens. He was an awesome teacher. I never thought that I would become obsessed with gardening as a 36yr old guy haha, most of my friends think I've lost it!

So here's a list of what I've either already been able to put in the ground as of today, or what is currently happily growing downstairs in my 'Grow-Op' as my wife jokingly calls it

Tomatoes:
Brandywine
Green Zebra
Goose Creek (some gifted seed, was told to expect best flavour ever)
Hartman's Yellow Gooseberry (a cherry tomato)
Black Cherry
Tiny Tim

Peppers:
King of the North (sweet red bell)
Peppadew (mild small plum sized peppers, extremely rare)
Ethiopian Brown Berber (hot!)
Brown Rocoto (very hot!)
Douglah 7-Pot (world's 2nd hottest pepper!)
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion (world's hottest pepper! 2million+ scovilles!)

Pole Beans:
Kentucky Wonder Pole
Kentucky Wonder Wax
Purple Podded Pole
Sultan's Green Crescent
Black Creaseback
Sunset Runner

Bush Beans:
Provider
Golden Wax

Peas:
Golden Sweet
Snow Peas
Little Marvel

Beets:
Albino
Golden

Broccoli:
Calabrese

Squash:
Black Beauty
White Scallop
Waltham's Butternut
Cheyenne Bush Pumpkin (a very compact grower perfect for city garden, and delicious)

Cucumber:
Early Mincu

Turnip:
Purple Top White

Radish:
Easter Eggs

Asparagus:
Mary Washington (might not get much to nibble on until next year)

Leafy Greens:
Oakleaf Lettuce
Grand Rapids Lettuce
Bright Lights Chard
Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach

Potato:
French Yellow Fingerling
Sweet Potato (slips started from an organic roadside farmstand tater)

Garlic & Onions:
German White Garlic (also from the same roadside organic farmstand. Ate half, planted half.)
Long Red Florence Onions

Fruits:
Alpine Strawberries
Heritage Raspberries
Strawberry Spinach
Sunberries
Elderberry
Mulberry

More herbs and companion plants than I can list!

My aim this year is to grow a HUGE amount of BEANS, less tomatoes in total. I'm trying quite a few different varieties of things as I have for the first couple years as we're finding our favourites. I'm going vertical wherever possible this year, with about a dozen 8' bean teepees spread around my perimeter garden. Beans are pretty enough to earn a spot amongst some of the perennials anyways, and the spots I've put them in were waiting for plant choices anyways. My kids cannot eat them fast enough!

Will be keeping my eye open for a chest freezer on kijiji, etc and I have plans to do some canning & preserving for the first time this year. I expect to have more food than we can eat fresh for the first time so I'm pretty excited at the possibilities.

That's all for now! I'll try to set up a photo sharing account or something soon to share pics of my yard. I have appreciated everything I've read here for the past few years as a lurker, and I thought it was time to chime in myself.

Cheers,
Adam

[B_BQ]

Hi Adam .. and welcome!

I loved reading this post and look forward to you sharing pics of your garden growing journey!

Some of us use Photobucket and Picasa to put our pics in, then that site automatically resizes them for posting on the forum. Photobucket has a lot of hiccups lately though and currently I'm not able to access my account!

~B_BQ

[orchidguy]

Hi Adam, and welcome to the forum.
It's great to see a new member, who can share their gardening trials, tribulations and triumphs with the rest of us.
Keep us updated on the progress of the seedlings, and your garden in general

[Dumbo]

Arrr Welcome aboard Adam.

Get the pics up. I want to see your "grow-op".

Now, you may not realize this, but, like everything in this world organized crime have their fingers dabbling in gardening.

A little birdy told me to tell you, "send me 18 seeds of each of these by fall":

Peppadew (mild small plum sized peppers, extremely rare)
Ethiopian Brown Berber (hot!)
Brown Rocoto (very hot!)
Douglah 7-Pot (world's 2nd hottest pepper!)
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion (world's hottest pepper! 2million+ scovilles!)

Or else.

I will then pass it on.

I think I need to address something on behalf of me and Dave.

BBQ, Smitty, Eeyore, Kelly, Laura, CdnChelsea, Liz (and many others) are ours. I realize you must have found this forum via some some "whats hot in female gardening site", but they are all taken. Sad to say. So you can drag your hot shirtless rippling 36 year old 6-pack abs right back to your nagging wife. K? Thanks.

Now that we have our introduction out of the way... Damn! That's an insane amount of stuff you have growing there! Would love to see pics around your house as well to give me idea's!

For some reason, compost is a topic that really gets me excited

We are going to get along just fine.... But, beware of the compost queen, Kelly. And keep in mind... "OURS". Not yours.

Cheers

[Lulu]

Wow, Adam!

Welcome to the forum,,glad you made the transition from "luker" to "poster" and soon to be "picture poster"! You sound very, very enthusiastic, and enthusiasm is contagious!

Your plans certainly sound ambitious! So,,take it this will be a first for the "expanded garden" and, the resulting canning/freezing of the produce you get? Ask any and all questions; there's sure to be someone here with an answer!

I see you're in Hamilton,,so,,zone 6? If so,,lucky you!

Keep us posted!

[Dumbo]

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion (world's hottest pepper! 2million+ scovilles!)

This is how I like them.

When one starts growing these hot peppers one quickly learns to use gloves when handling them... as I found out.

I have a collection of hot sauces. The best tasting i've had was out of the Barbados and I never had the chance to go back there to buy more. Can't even find it here in specialty shops.

Now if you like hot. And I mean stuff that reduces you to tears (and I've had them all), then I think the Blair line of products is likely tops. http://extremefood.com/shop/home.php

I have the "sudden death" one still. When they say to use a micro-drop, they aren't kidding. When guys comes over and they start bragging and popping my garden peppers as if it was candy and they start sweating and bragging how they can handle more, I pull this sauce out and it reduces them to little crying babies. And it's no joke. The hotness of this thing makes you cry for 30-minutes and your mouth only becomes normal again the next day.

I'd buy the other two hotter ones but they were sold out. I only found these products in Ontario.

Now, having said the above... Do you happen to have a hot sauce recipe(s)? I have tried making it once but it was garbage and I had to flush it.

[Mostly Weeds]

Wow, hello back at you all!

LOL @Dumbo, funny stuff. Umm, well I will certainly mark you down for seeds then sir! Like I said I'll be a saving & sharing machine this year - sharing is half the fun!! I actually received most of those frightening peppers from a new friend in Wales just recently, when my brother-in-law ordered a few bottles of his awesome small batch hot sauce. I do love hot stuff, my favourite of his is an evil little vial called "100 Chilli Welsh Dragon Sauce". There are 100 varieties of hot chilies in this damn thing and the taste is amazing. It could peel wallpaper too which is great as well haha! Anyway, my brother-in-law somehow mentioned that I was a bit of a gardener and this guy surprised me with a little care package of seeds that I never would have tried on my own.

@Lulu, yes Hamilton here which I'm pretty sure is 6A. It's a gorgeous day today 24 this aft, I was sweating outside! I have a hunch last night was the last of our mild frosts for the year it apparently dipped to zero but I'll still hold off until May 1st likely for tender stuff. I've got my peas/beets/chard/radish/garlic/onions in the ground already and I will probably sink some potatoes into a tub or pail at some point this week. I don't know where to put them, I don't really want them in my beds messing up my rotations...

I'm working on sharing some pictures, I totally forgot I had a photobucket account, and I've got plenty of last year's pics. Will be exciting to see the big changes this year. I've expanded a bit and I'm definitely planting a lot more intensively this year, there's a lot I've learned.

I spent a bit of time this afternoon monkeying around with a bamboo trellis/arch/support in front of our patio canvas-top gazebo thingy. I had some 8' bamboo lengths left from my bean poles and I thought to myself "If I lash about a dozen of these together I can basically build myself a 2nd room off the front of this thing and grow something like clematis, morning glories or even MORE BEANS up it! BRILLIANT!!" I'll be sure to take some pictures of that too. I found these 8' lengths of bamboo at Rona for about $1 each by the way, what a steal I have never seen them that cheap anywhere!

Are there any forumgoers in my neck of the woods by chance?

Cheers

[Dumbo]

my favourite of his is an evil little vial called "100 Chilli Welsh Dragon Sauce". There are 100 varieties of hot chilies in this damn thing and the taste is amazing.

Just read about it. Damn it's 4x stronger than "Sudden Death".

Normally after just a micro drop there is no more taste for the next 48 hours. After eating these hot sauces you could eat dirty butt for supper and smile since you can no longer taste or feel anything.

I actually received most of those frightening peppers from a new friend in Wales just recently

Aaaah so you're somewhat of a hot pepper plant newb.

Well I have some advice for you. And I seriously mean it. Depending on how you will store these you will be cutting them up. With normal hot peppers, Cayenne, jalapeno, habanero and some a little hotter etc a pair of latex or similar gloves are required, or your body parts that you rub will sting like mad.

BUT, when you start getting into growing stuff like those Ethiopian and Trinidadian peppers, the oils will just go right through the latex. You need aceto-nitrile type latex gloves. Normally sold in the paint area's in hardware stores.

Trust me. I know.

After putting a regular pair of latex gloves on and finishing an hour long job of cutting and seeding all my hot peppers. I figured I was safe. Washed my hands and headed to the washroom for a pee.

It all started with a primal grunt like this, "eugh". That's when the screaming started.

I jumped into the shower with all my clothes on and my "willy" hanging out. It did nothing and the burning just got more and more. and I put it in everything I could think of to neutralize the burn. Milk. Baking soda + water. Baking soda and milk. You name it nothing worked. I had to scream it out for a good 4 hrs. Took 3 days to heal.

This is something you never forget (nor does you wife when she tells everyone at Xmas time, sigh).

So I now pass this info onto you grasshopper. acetonitrile (or nitrile) gloves and nothing else. If not, then I expect to hear about your misadventures this summer and how you cried for 3 days.

BTW, I like to joke around a lot. But, this is no joke. It's pure 100% unbelievable pain and agony.

You have peppers that could land you in a hospital if a micro-drop of its' oil gets on your willy (the eyes are bad, but the willy is agony). Now try and explain that in a calm voice to the nurse sitting at the desk asking why you need to see a doctor while you are holding it, pointing at it, and jumping up and down screaming like a baboon. Bet they call the cops on you.

Acetonitrile. Get them the next trip to Rona or Home-Depot. I would get the thick green coloured ones.

Take the advice, or leave it. Up to you.

[Eeyore]

Hi Adam and welcome! That is quite a list of veggies you have. I'm impressed!

BTW, don't listen to Marc (Dumbo), if he thinks all the ladies belong to him and Dave he's delusional!!!

[kelly_m]

Lyn...he's just masking the, fact that he's a virgin.....

Welcome Adam!!! it would appear that you are Not so much a virgin!! Great list! I have a friend who came from Hamilton...does that help????