> For sheer volume and total weight of peppers I had a Red Rocoto last year... A 2nd year Red Rocoto (from Reimer's!! & not a PI# from USDA) is my best ever single year (by weight) producer. Maybe a total of 70-80 pods. Doesn't sound like much compared to 15 gal of similar sized pods, but pretty darned awesome when compared to the total weight of any other species of capsicum. I've grown some baccatums that were very heavy producers the 2nd year too, but nowhere near the total weight of the rocotos. > Sure wish I knew what PI number it was as it's one tough pepper. Ditto! Second year rocotos can supposedly survive temps that kill everything above ground and still regenerate from the roots. Two days in a row of 25°F temps have always killed mine. One night of upper 20s & have had plants lose their leaves, but still survive. Mr Dutchman, you have grown the most awesome rocotos of anyone I have ever known. (a pod of 150 grams!) jt

Melissa, Have you read Square Foot Gardening? I can't remember the author's last name for sure right now, but I think he's Mel Bartholomew or something like that. Very nice way to look at space and spacing issues. I'm thinking on my cuke wall I'm going to have two rows, staggered, with a foot spacing in between each plant. On a fifteen foot "row" that'll be 30 plants! MIGHT be too much weight for the netting, but I'm going to give it a shot. Worst case scenario, I can pull plants if needed. That netting has got me thinking of other spots I can go vertically too... for pole beans. My breaded okra is still a work in progress... LOL! When I first did it, I just breaded it like regular and froze it on a sheet of wax paper in the freezer. Worked, but the okra was fairly hard when cooked. Last summer I blanched the okra, THEN breaded it and froze it. This turned out better, but still not what I'm looking for. (I figured out it's better to thaw the okra a little bit before frying it on both ways.) NEXT YEAR, I'm going to pre-fry it in a tempura type batter, cool completely THEN freeze. I like cooking projects... LOL! NOW, on the loofah/loufa/dishcloth/vining okra gourd thing... LOL! Honestly, I have no idea what the "real" name is for these dang things I've been growing. A friend gave me the seed and I just love growing them. When they're young, you cook them like regular ol' okra. Mid size to a bit bigger, I took a steak knife and cut it straight down the length of it and pulled the outer "husk" from the inner fibers. Then I de-seeded it and laid the fiborous part out to dry, and LOW AND BEHOLD, a loofah! This is what I'm calling "dishcloth". I did try to use half as a body scrubber, but it's way too scratchy for me. Works great on dishes tho! It becomes soft when wet, but still scratchy to a point... then dries out nicely and rebounds to it's shape! I loved it, next year I will have many more. I also let a couple get as large as possible and dry out on the vine, with seeds still in them. My little boy uses them as musical "shakers"! I'll try to take a pic of them here today and post it so you can see what I mean. All that from just one plant, I LOVE it. I had them planted along the edge of my carport in a "wall", and the beautiful yellow flowers were a joy to see everyday! The vines were so healthy, they grew all up on the top of the carport. I had a few dried gourds on the top of the carport at the end of the season. THIS will be a regular plant for me, it's just easy and fun to grow! Dawn, I honestly do not think I've run into a cucumber beetle... YET. Watch this year be the year for them... LOL! My wall of cukes might just be too inviting for them not to show up. Yes, I hear of most people around here having either hybrid or wild blackberries growing, so I thought that'd be the way to go for me. Of course, strawberries are also very big around here too, but I don't have the space to devote to a huge bed of just ONE thing (in my mind). If I did, I'd do asparagus first, then strawberries. MIGHT try one of those hanging strawberry bags, but that's another project. :) The trees around my area are pecan and cedar... LOL! I've never heard of ANYONE having luck with apple trees around here. Well, we're having a rainy day here. The St. Francis river is up and we're under flash flood warnings too. I live in a higher part of town, so I'm not too worried about us. The farmers that farm along the river might have problems tho. Just been a wet, sloggy year for Northeastern Arkansas! Planting was late due to the wet spring, and harvesting was hard due to a wet fall! I really need to see what our rainfall averages are for the year, I'm betting we've set a record. But, of course, snow would be nice... but rain is better than ice! LOL! We're off to spend the rest of the day at my parent's house... ya'll stay safe, warm and dry! :) Beth p.s. My DARLING husband gave me an early Christmas present! It's a Veggie Tales t-shirt! On the front, it's got Bob the Tomato and it says "If you like to talk to tomatoes..."! LOL! I laughed so hard! I love that show... the theme song goes like this. If you like to talk to tomatoes... If a squash can make you smile... If you like to waltz with potatoes, up and down the produce aisle... have we got a show for you! Too cute, huh?

It was good. I'm going to add it to our monthly rotation and keep an eye out for other recipes as easy and tasty to make in my clay pot. Nancy any suggestions? I hate cleaning the thing though. Chase if you're lookig, see if you can find one that's glazed on the inside bottom. I don't think it effects the way it cooks but it sure makes it easier to clean. Compumom, DH bought the brown rice flour. I wasn't with him but it either comes from Trader Joe's or Whole foods and is about 1/2 a pound. I'm going to try it on the Chicken picatta for dinner tonight Shellm, what's BSCB?

Chase, you did send me a jar of that chile sauce, my secretary says it tastes just like her late mother's chile sauce, which she's been trying to recreate for several years. It WOULD be good on a hot dog. Here, though, a chili dog has a kind of sweet hot chili without beans, mostly with ground beef. Now that it's been mentioned, I might like it better without the ground beef! Rita, those dogs are very mild, I don't taste any particular seasoning, mostly just a very mild "meat" flavor, if that makes any sense, kind of like a very mild bratwurst. They were good, although I have to admit that I liked the Italian Sausage best of the three that we've made, that was just so good. Shambo, go for it. What's the worst that could happen? You don't like it as hot dogs and then you brown it up and use it in chili or something similar, it's all good. Fun to experiment too. Earl, thanks for that link, I'm passing it on to Elery too. Annie