Hot Peppers and Other Things

Several days of this mid part of November have been a bit conducive to some outdoor chores.
Bill spent part of one day cleaning out the gutters. 
We can never remember when the last time was. We were at least not stuck doing it on a freezing day. Several trips up and down the ladder were a necessary evil.

The leafy debris seems partially decomposed. Not bad stuff to deposit on the nearest garden bed.

We had a couple of very cold days, but by this Sunday it was a bit warmer, although very breezy. Bill embarked upon the installation of a metal roofing shield to protect our internet receiver from snowy avalanches from the roof of the sunporch. 

No one seems to listen when told snow cascades off the roof periodically through the winter.We did have them come and lower the receiver somewhat so the top wouldn't project above the roof line.
While "watching" this installation, I decided to harvest the Ring of Fire peppers from the planter that has been in the sunporch for the last few weeks. 

Many peppers were nice and ripe, while some were still green. All the fruits can be used, so I sorted them according to their maturity.

The ripest are in the basket and will dry for a time just sitting on top of the refrigerator. When fully dry they can be stored in a glass jar and used when needed. Sometimes I grind up a bunch and use them as pepper flakes. A little trial and error teaches one how much is appropriate for a recipe.

The greenest were chopped and placed in freezer bags. 

It is easy to fetch a sample for any given recipe when a freshly chopped one is wanted. 
These are quite hot peppers, so I was a bit cautious not to get pepper juice on my hands or elsewhere that might prove painful.
That seemed to be the closest to gardening that got done today. I expect I could have done a few more things, but we just had a look .

At least we have "technical" Spring

Not the "springiest" sight on earth. March 20th has come and gone. Spring has to be more of a state of mind than a state of weather here at the Willow Garden.

There has been enough sun and a few moderate days to partly rid the driveway and part of our pathway of treacherous ice.

There is still a heavy layer on the path at the front which never gets enough sun to help in its demise. Time and higher temperatures will have to do the deed.

The snow has receded here and there, so the typical spots where some snowdrops appear are getting uncovered.

I saw a few little crocus shoots in the bed by the corner of the house. 

Inside we have some seedlings emerging, and the various peppers got planted today. The prospect of Hot Peppers should warm us up a bit. 

We always grow a nice hot one called 'Ring of Fire'. They do quite well, but I have been growing them in big pots or planters for several years. I think they get a btter chance at heat than when in the ground. At the end of the season we can bring them into the sunporch where they continue to ripen to a beautiful red. Dried, they can be used as is or ground up to make a VERY potent chili powder.

I have saved a bunch of the seeds from these, and they do grow into a good pepper, although they are a bit different from the parent. If anyone wants to try some, let me know.

This week we gave a "sharing talk" to the local Garden Club on seed starting. While we there we tried to pawn off some seed for some annual red poppies that were sent to us by a seed recipient. He sent us MANY seeds he had collected last season.

I don't usually DO annual poppies, so these were and are still up for grabs.

This week we also attended an interesting talk on Greenhouses given by Henri Steeghs from Pleasant Valley Nurseries. It was the first of a short series of talks to be given. The next is outlined below.

Gardening Workshops - Using Nature in the LandscapeThursday, April 16, 7:30 p.m. at the Town Council Chambers, 274 Main Street.

The Antigonish Public Library will present the second in a three part series on gardening in partnership with Antigonish Sustainable Development and the Fresh Air Society.  Topics to be covered will include comparisons between human built and natural landscapes, plant communities, plant establishment and more.

Our plans to give a couple of classes in the Spring Line-up for County Recreation are getting underway. 

A Computer Basics (The sequel) course is to start March30, 7PM at St. Andrews Junior School. There are still a few spaces open for that one.

The two session Gardening Course is slated for May and will be here at our garden.

There is info about these courses on our website.

November is Ending

All of our complaints regarding the miserable month of November wil have to end this last day of the month. This last week has been a mixed bag with respect to weather with some very cold days and nights, and one very warm balmy day with temperatures of 17C. That day was spent digging a rhododendron for a Christmas present, and stowing the tag-end stray plants, plus a bit if clean-up in the big perennial bed at the front. I had a Birthday this week, so found that day to be quite busy with some nice socializing. My friend Pauline gave me a gorgeous garden book...."The Oxford Companion to the Garden ". It will need quite a lot of perusing as the winter progresses. I harvested some ripened hot peppers that had been in the sunporch since the early fall. Hopefully they are ripe enought to dry properly. We grew these hot peppers in planters, so they can be brought in as summer ends. 'Hole Mole' was a new one this year. They are a Pasila type and produce long green peppers that ripen to a sort of chocolate colour. They are a very mellow "hot". I am not quite sure how to best use them. Our other favourite "hot" is 'Ring of Fire', which is quite hot, and produces loads of small to medium, pointy peppers that ripen a brilliant red. When properly ripe, they dry beautifully. Most years we grew a few Ancho pepppers but they didn't seem to get planted this years. They are another rather mellow pepper, but have a very nice "depth of flavour". There were a few puny little Jalapenos, but they were stray plants that didn't do very well. Bill has been finishing his seed collecting(mostly!), and has many cleaned. We have a slightly more minimal approach to seeds this year, but there still seem to be more than enough. Our online seed list is mostly up to date.