Thankful for my Intelligence

There is something different about gardeners. We love to share what we have. Whether it be Vegetables, Fruits, Plants or Seeds. We love to swap things too. I will send you this, this and this, for your this and this. I have been swapping plants and seeds for years. There are a number of great sites to do this on, Gardenweb, Blossom Swap, Plantswap.net, just to name a few. This is a great way to get rid of your extra seeds of something and get something else that you don't have. I love doing it!
HOWEVER, and this is going to be huge, make sure you know what your plants are that you are getting. Had it not been for my decent knowledge of plants, I could have been in trouble last year.
I was in a Hot Pepper craze last year (still am) and I was swapping for all kinds of peppers from around the world with people. I had been in contact with somebody, and honestly I don't remember who it was, to get some Trinidad Scorpion peppers (Capsicum chinense). These are some very hot Habanero type peppers from Trinidad.
They look something like this:



Well, we worked out the trade, I sent my end and he sent his. No problem. We did this sometime during the Winter, so I had to wait until Spring to plant them and grow my peppers. I couldn't wait!
Spring finally arrived and I eagerly planted all kinds of peppers. I ended up with 18 different types. I am very anal when it comes to tagging my pots, I like to know what works and what doesn't. Things started to germinate and all looked well, at first. Then as my "Trinidad Scorpion Peppers" began to get some height to it, something just didn't look right. The leaves were wrong. I got told by some folks that saw them that I was imagining things and it might just be the juvenile leaves. I wasn't convinced. The plant began to flower. Now, the flowers were wrong. The color wasn't right. They are suppose to be Blue:



Mine were orange. So, I thought, "Okay, I got some other kind of peppers, they aren't the Trinidad, but they should be okay". The leaves were still bothering me though.
After it started to fruit, I KNEW something wasn't right. Check out these pictures from the actual plant:





As you can see, nothing like the Trinidad Peppers. I had all kinds of people checking these things out. Nobody knew for certain what they were. I sent the very pictures you are looking at to a Chili Pepper Expert I know. What he told me scared the daylights out of me. My "Trinidad Scorpion Peppers' were actually Solanum pseudocapsicum 'Cherry Jubilee'. Jerusalem Cherry is it's common name. Fruits and leaves of Jerusalem cherry contain solanocapsine and some other substances which are toxic both to humans and animals. Ingestion of the fruits can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and weakness, supposedly it is not life threatening. They are still considered moderately poisonous.
I do not know how or why that person sent these to me. He could have gotten them mixed up, could have been a psychopath, I just don't know. I unfortunately do not remember who sent them. I would not have been able to prove anything anyway.
The moral, enjoy swapping plants and seeds with your garden friends. Once you are growing something that maybe unfamiliar to you, research the heck out of it! I was fortunate enough to know what pepper leaves should look like. I eat a lot of peppers and the results from eating a lot of THESE could have been very costly.
Happy Growing!
Darren

Proud Chili Head

Yes, I will admit it, I am a major Chili Head!! I love it hot! I have grown some of the hottest peppers in the world, Bhut Jolokia's.....also known as The Ghost Pepper, and loved them!
The Ghost Pepper in all its Glory:



There is an interesting article that I got alerted to from a friend of mine on BlossomSwap.net. It involves the Indian (India) Military using Bhut Jolokia Peppers as weapons. They are wanting to use this pepper in their hand grenades. It could be used to flush insurgents out of caves and hiding places and to temporarily choke and incapacitate them. It has no environmental side effects. It may be the perfect weapon. Though, this would still not be as strong as the US Grade pepper Spray.
The Bhut Jolokia comes in at a record 1,000,000 Scoville units. That's One Million in case you were having trouble reading zero's. What's a Scoville Unit?
Devised by Wilbur Scoville in 1912, a Scoville unit is the measure of capsaicin in a particular type of pepper. Capsaicin is what makes a pepper hot. To give you an idea of how hot a million Scoville Units are, let me break it down for you.
A Bell pepper is between 0-100 Scoville Units....Basically not hot.
A Jalapeno Pepper is between 3,500-8000 Scoville Units....I love these on my Hot Dogs.
A Cayenne or Tabasco is between 30,000-50,000 Scoville Units....Great on Pizza.
A Habanero or Scotch Bonnet is between 200,000-350,000 Scoville Units...Dehydrated flakes are also good on Pizza.
Then you have the Bhut Jolokia at 1,000,000 Scoville Units....A piece the size of a pea can heat up an entire pot of Jambalaya. I admit it, these go on my Pizza too. I have even sprinkled some flakes on my scrambled eggs.
Here is the Full Chart:


The reason there is such a wide space of units in each pepper variety is because the heat can differ from pod to pod and plant to plant. This is just a basic scale.
How Scoville first started doing the tests on the heat of peppers is actually kind of funny. He used human guinea pigs and their tongues. One problem with Scoville’s test is that no two tongues ever agreed, so the panelists’ estimates had to be averaged. Another problem was that the number of tests a panelist could do in a day was limited. Because the tongue would temporarily get used to a given level of pungency, it had to be given rest to cool down before resuming the task. In an eight hour period, no more than 6 samples could be run through the panel. Today it is tested with a machine known as a High Pressure Liquid Chromatograph, it is supposedly as sensitive as the human tongue.
So, the next time somebody tells you that their food is hot. Ask them how many Scoville Units they think it is. Then give them a Bhut Jolokia. A serious note however, the Jolokia peppers are nothing to play with, these things are EXTREMELY HOT and can cause blistering on persons that are very sensitive, so please be careful. I luckily am not and am in the mood for some hot spicy food! I think it's time to go make some scrambled eggs with pepper flakes, Ghost Pepper anyone?
Happy growing!
Darren

Will Spring ever get here?

From the beginning, I've wanted my Blog to be Educational, Inspirational, and Fun. I hope I am obtaining this goal!
There are times as of late however, I don't think Spring will EVER get here!! The first two weeks of January were wicked cold, 12 nights of below freezing, WAY below sometimes.
Then this past weekend we had SNOW in Charleston!! I received about 2 inches or so, I have heard reports of 4 or more in places. If it is not the cold it is the rain, we have had literally 12 inches of rain since January 15th! My yard literally looks like a bog. I have water standing 4 inches deep in places.I am sick and tired of Winter now, Thank You very much!
Well, I decided to make myself feel a little better about it. This past Friday, the day it started snowing by coincidence and I didn't plan it that way, I planted some of my veggie and herb seeds inside. The average rule of thumb is to start them inside 6 weeks prior to planting outdoors. The dates vary according to which website you look at, some say the beginning of March some say the end of March and all points in between. Either way, the window is open.
This is my setup:









I planted 20 types of Tomatoes, 19 types of Peppers and two plantings each of 5 different Herbs. The last picture isn't real clear, but that is the Basil, Thyme and Oregano popping up already. I was surprised they germinated in only 2.5 days. I first noticed them Monday morning, and I planted them late Friday afternoon. Boy am I going to have a lot of Basil! I am more resolved to save, freeze and can up as much food as possible this year.
Now is the time to be planting your seeds indoors. You don't need an elaborate setup like I have. Just a small pot, some potting soil and a little room in a window.
Keep the seeds moist, warm and humid. The best website I have seen for starting seeds indoors is:
http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/vegetables/gardening/hgic1259.html


Spring and Summer will be here soon I HOPE, I am ready for my yard to look like this again:



Happy Growing!
Darren