I was thinking about getting my pepper seeds going. Is it too early?

Nope. Perfect time. I start mine on New Years every year

I had a goat get in my garden, ate our broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, kale, carrots, garlic, onions, shallots…

Garlic, onions, shallots hopefully fine…

Going to try a d replant the rest

Should make for some real tasty birria then.

Narrowed it down and these are my starts this year.

Let’s go!!!

Looks good. I only have 3 types: Giant chocolate habs, KS lemon starburst, and ghost pepper

We ate a lot of okra, eggplant and tomatoes last year. I think I will narrow down the peppers and go with things I know work really well and everyone will eat in my garden.

I might put the peppers in their own pots. Is a 5 gallon big enough?

5 gallon should be good. Bullfrog only uses pots and does really well. Need to ask him what size he's using

Got 55 peppers started. Now I just got to keep the garage warm. Next Mod/Tue will be a struggle.

I hadn't paid any attention to my small garden in over a month, maybe 2 ... I looked at it yesterday to find a couple of ripe cherry tomatoes and likely 2 dozen larger green ones. My pepper plants have bunch of small peppers and blooms. I guess I need to pick the tomatoes & peppers before this freeze.

I planted 36 seeds on Jan 1st and only have 2 plants poking out. I'm warming correctly, using lights correctly, watering correctly, ventilating correctly. Don't know why only 2 have made it and 34 have not yet. I got a lot riding on these 2 plants if they are going to be my only ones.

Edit: All peppers

Did you do any pre-germination like soak them in potassium nitrate overnight then into a paper towel/coffee filter for a week? Are you using any type of humidity dome? I started Jan 1 and had 51 of 60 germinate as of last night.

No to the potassium nitrate, yes to the humidity dome which I am still doing. I let it breathe for a couple of hours each day after watering.

Going to ask a lot of questions and ramble some so work with me on it. And we'll work and figure it out. Assuming you didn't paper towel/coffee filter for a week.

What is your starter mix and how did you prep it? I mix a big batch in tub, add water to make it moist but not wet. Fill 4" pots, put a ziplock on top and rubber band to create a humidity dome.

You mention you take the dome off to let them breathe after watering. No need to do this. If your soil mix is good from the start there is no need to water them again until they germinate. Leave the dome on and if it gets cloudy with moisture, you're good. 2 days ago was the first time I've watered since sowing.

What are your temps?

This is my first year bypassing the starter treys and going from coffee filter to 4" pots with a ziplock/rubber band top. It was a little slow to start, but they are popping off now. 52 of 60 tonight.

These are my initial thoughts. Not proper pre germ process, you're overwatering, let the humidity in the starter pot treys do their thing, temps and AIDS. It always defaults back to HIV/AIDS. Let's get all the info on your starts and bet we can increase your germ rate.

The other thing you might look at is, what seed stock are you using? Is it all fresh seed from quality sources? I started my peppers 10 days ago and have 18 of 25 sprouted already, including several super hot varieties which are known to be harder to sprout. Some of the ones that haven't come up yet are seeds that are a year old. I'm also using a heating pad and humidity dome, and did not do any pre-soak.

I used a bag mix of vegetable garden soil in my trays. I have been watering periodically and keeping the dome off for about 2 hours and I turn the light off because I read that it is bad for the plants and can burn them up.

The heating pad is on low beneath the trays at about 75 degrees; I'm guessing I screwed this up and I am left with 2 plants, if they make it.

Give it some time and see what happens. I planted 3 scotch bonnet seeds and one of the three just germinated last night.

What peppers are you growing?

In no particular order:
Mad Hatter
Giant Marconi
3 varieties of poblano
Bad brains
Death Spiral
Devil's Nagabrains red
Ruby Delite
Mama Mia Giallo
Buena Mulata

I'll also pick up a few plants from Home Depo, like Serrano, Yellow Banana, and maybe cayenne.

I was just at Lowes and they already had some bell, jalapeno and serrano out.Seems early for bedding plants.

Nice list! I think Bonnie fronts the plants to the box stores and once they get scanned at checkout is when they are billed for them so Bonnie is the one taking the gamble of a freeze. At least that's what I've heard before.

Onions went in yesterday.

Peppers and tomatoes are started.

Did your germination get any better? I just had a choc hab and a scotch bonnet germinate yesterday and today, so took about 45 days on those two.

Put in a garden for the first time this year. On Feb 6 I put in 72 onion sets, and 1x 18' row each of turnips, collards, and carrots. Saw my first sprouts on the collards yesterday, and turnips today. The onions haven't grown much, but have healthy, green, flexible stems. No sign of the carrots yet, but the package said they may take up to 21 days to germinate. I had an incredible germination rate on the collards (Alabama blue); I'll have to heavily thin them. I thought the kids would get a kick out of a garden, but I've found I've been the most excited of the group!

When I was a kid, I always viewed Dad's garden as another source of chores (weeding). That was until it came time to harvest. Kids seem to love that part if they have any interest at all.

The thing that really got me interested in growing onions was a series of posts a couple years ago by Derek showing some monsters he had grown. This year I've got 4 rows of Texas Legend planted. I planted a little late this year, but they are looking good after surviving the freeze. This weekend is time for another round of Ammonium Sulfate!

A guy on the TFF gardening thread put me onto the Texas Legends and I have been very pleased with them. I planted a box of Red Creole this year and they are looking really good.