RE: [CH] Advice for Rael
Scott Ashkenaz (sashkenaz@attbi.com)
Tue, 22 Jan 2002 11:24:17 -0800
What to grow?
It seems that you have good conditions for salsa, even there in
Poke-and-tell-all.
First of all, in the wild backwoods, you can plant two things which may
handle it better (even before you get out the rototiller: garlic (best
planted in Autumn, but Spring sowing can give a reasonable but smaller crop)
and Cilantro, which can self-seed like a weed, and also lend itself to Thai.
Speaking of that, put some Lemon Grass in a pot, keep it indoors in the cold
times, and put it out in the warm times. Just buy some at an Asian shop and
stick it in the dirt.
Good garlic source and advice: http://www.filareefarm.com/ (get a garlic
for temperate climes).
In the front, one tomato plant (Early Girl or Oregon Spring), trellised up
against the wall to enjoy the heat and minimize the space it takes - nothing
like home grown tomatoes (the Guy Clark tune starts runnin' through my
mind...). Avoid long-season chiles like Habs (bummer, eh?). Some are bred
for shorter seasons (best advice from the GBs and Canadians, who will weigh
in, no doubt), like JALAPEÑO EARLY, LIMÓN (one of my favorites), NEW JERSEY
LONG HOTS HYBRID (what exit?), SZENTESI SEMI-HOT, CHIMAYO (the queen of
chiles), COCHITI. You can use a cloche (glass cover) or Wall-o-water to
slightly increase the growing season; just be careful to not torch the
seedlings on a sunny day.
Besides Chilewoman, I have also had good success with plants from
http://www.chileplants.com/.
-s