Ow...

This sucks... the doctor made me wear it. It's connected to this.


And now, blog surveys while I whimper in pain.

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What Inuyasha Couple Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Is Your Ideal Sword?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Inuyasha Human-Demon Mix Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Inuyasha Hero Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Inuyasha Villain Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Division Are You In?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Personality Problem Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Bleach Character Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Bleach Character Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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Who Is Your Naruto Fighting Partner?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Darker Naruto Character Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What's Your Naruto Team?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Hokage Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Naruto Guy Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Naruto Character Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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Free seeds, Seed trading and gardening catalogs.

WinterSown.Org offers free tomato seeds and free variety seed packs, mostly flowers, via self addressed stamped envelopes along with growing tips and tricks.

FreeFlowerSeed.com will send you a packet of seeds for SASE as well. This year, they gave me some Sweet Peas, just like my grandmother used to grow on her fence!

Ed Hume Seeds offers free seeds for their "Plant A Row For The Hungry" program. Last year they gave me carrots. I haven't received this years packet, but that won't stop me from donating my extras to our local shelters.

Burt's Bees used to offer free seeds via an electronic form on their site, but due to popularity has run out of free seeds. I feel happy and partial responsible for this, due to my posting their link on wikiAnswers regarding free seeds. I did my part to fight Colony Collapse Disorder last year and I'll increase my efforts this year. They sent me a nice packet of wildflowers while they still had some left.

Biblical Gardens also offers free seeds to anyone willing to send them a letter. The varieties are based on those plants that appear in the bible, of course, however I've never received anything other than Shasta Daisies from them as their supplies seem highly limited.

GardenWeb has an excellent seed trading forum which frequently has SASE seed offers along with rare varieties of plants for trade.

Dave's Garden is another excellent forum for seed trading, growing information and occasional liquidation sales from name brand companies. It's nice to pick up a few seeds for next to nothing when a company is simply trying to clear out old stock, eh?

Last but not least, you could always join the Seed Savers Exchange. Membership isn't required to order from their website or from the catalog they send out for free, but it is to gain access to their seed trading album. Personally, paying a membership fee to gain access to anything "free" isn't worth it. The purchasing catalog is great though, with an excellent variety of heirloom and certified organic seeds or transplants.

Obviously, these are not all the resources out there, just the ones I've personally used and confirmed to be authentic. A note however; most of these people are giving seeds away from their own gardens or from donations, try to send them some of your own saved seeds at the end of the season. Let's keep the cycle going and make sure everyone will have enough seeds next year!

My beautiful seedlings

Planted on 12-11-2007

Row	Variety	Days to Germination	Days to Transplant	Days to Harvest
(1)	Beefsteak Tomato	Unknown	4-6 Weeks	80 Days from transplant
(2)	Baby Beefsteak Tomato	6-12 Days	4-6 Weeks	75 Days from Transplant
(3)	Bush Celebrity	6-12 Days	4-6 Weeks	67 Days from Transplant
(4)	Marglobe VF	6-12 Days	4-6 Weeks	75 Days from Transplant
(5)	Italian Market Wonder	6-12 Days	4-6 Weeks	75 Days from Transplant
(6)	Costoluto Genovese	6-12 Days	4-6 Weeks	90 Days from Transplant
(7)	Nicholson's Yellow Cherry	6-12 Days	4-6 Weeks	75 Days from Transplant
(8)	Ararat Flamed Cherry Tomato	Unknown	8-10 Weeks	65-70 Days from Transplant
(9)	Caribbean Red Habaneros	10-21 Days	8-10 Weeks	90 Days from Transplant
(10)	Biker Billy Jalapeños	11-18 Days	8-10 Weeks	66 Days from Transplant
(11)	Tabasco Peppers	14-28 Days	8-10 Weeks	120 Days from Transplant
(12)	Hot Pepper Mix	14-21 Days	8-10 Weeks	70 Days from Transplant

Alright, I know it's been awhile since I've posted a blog and I've yet to respond to a few of the emails I've received; but in my defense, I've been busy. Please be temporarily sated with this and the slew of pictures I've uploaded to my Myspace account.

I've moved most of my weblog over to Blogger, and hopefully this will alleviate the problem of Yahell eating comments and blog posts. If you find a blog entry where the images aren't working, please message me and let me know. I'll fix it ASAP. I'll continue to blog on Yahoo! 360° until they shut the service down as well as post everything new on Blogger.

My "Biker Billy" Jalapeños. I loved these things!

Monday December 24, 2007 - 03:05pm

Biker Billy Jalapeños: Worden-TN_7A Strain

Scoville Units: 4,000-10,000 conservatively
Harvested on 08/08/2007
+95% germination rate
24 seeds per packet
1^st generation from seed

Full Sun - 11 to 18 days to germination

Start indoors 8-10 weeks before last frost or direct sow in deep south 2-3 weeks after last frost. Sow seeds or transplant seedlings 12-18 inches apart. Harvest 66 days after transplanting. Plants grow up to 24 inches tall with fruits measuring over 2 inches at the shoulder and over 3½ inches long. When fully mature, fruits will be glossy red and extremely hot.

CAUTION: Wear gloves whenever handling peppers or seeds and avoid contact with skin. Discard gloves after use. Failure to follow these precautions may result in serious chemical burns due to capsaicin exposure. Wash exposed areas throughly and soak in milk. If pain and heat persists, proceed to the nearest hospital.

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The following is my record of the experiment used to determine "days until germination" and "germination rate".

Biker Billy Jalapeños (TN Generation 1)
Grown during 2007 from Burpee Transplant

• 08-08-2007 - Seeds harvested from mature peppers and dried.
  
• 12-03-2007 - 24 Harvested seeds selected for germination experiment. Seeds folded into a paper towel. Paper towel soaked in distilled water. Moistened paper towel put into a zip-lock plastic bag. Bag closed and marked with date and experiment data. Experiment placed on top of refrigerator.
• 12-14-2007 - 7 of 24 seeds show germination: Radicle visible outside of seed coat.
• 12-15-2007 - 9 of 24 seeds show germination. +33% germination established 1 week and 5 days after initial sowing.
• 12-16-2007 - 11 of 24 seeds show germination.
• 12-17-2007 - 12 of 24 seeds show germination. 50% germination established 2 weeks after initial sowing.
• 12-18-2007 - 16 to 17 of 24 seeds show germination. Radicles becoming tangled and difficult to visually count. Germination count unclear, between 16 and 17 radicles visible in strong back-light.
• 12-19-2007 - 17 of 24 seeds show germination. Visibly germinated seeds marked with black fine point permanent marker on outside of zip-lock bag.
• 12-20-2007 - 18 of 24 seeds show germination. Additional germinated seed marked marked with black fine point permanent marker on outside of zip-lock bag.
• 12-21-2007 - 23 of 24 seeds show germination. Additional germinated seed marked marked with black fine point permanent marker on outside of zip-lock bag. seeds shifted during marking and radicles damaged. Experiment ended on 12-21-2007, 2 weeks and 4 days after initial sowing. +95% germination reached at end of experiment.

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As many of you may or may not be aware, there was a drought here in the southern states during the growing season of 2007. The plant used for this experiment was the only Jalapeño in my garden that survived that drought. Due to stresses on the plant, the peppers became exceedingly hot and apparently drought tolerant. I had no weed problems, no disease problems and no pest problems on this one plant in my entire garden. It was grown in a mixture of potting soil and peat moss(to preserve the little moisture it did get) within a 5 gallon bucket with drainage holes drilled in the bottom. In the worst part of the heat and drought, I placed this bucket within another bucket to preserve more fluids and prevent burrowing insects from infesting the roots of the plant.

This gorgeous plant died at the first frost. I had intended to bring it inside prior, but my schedule did not permit leisurely digging in the garden. I collected quite a few seeds from this plant which I will be opening for trade in a few weeks. I'm watching the newest batch of seedlings from this plant very closely to determine viability.

Trippy Video

Sunday December 23, 2007 - 08:40pm

!!Warning!!

Do not watch this video while drunk, stoned, high, tripping, etc.