Communion Of Dreams

Remember this?

The pepper that the idiot bit into – twice – was a Bhut Jolokia.  Widely considered the hottest pepper currently in cultivation, they are rated at over One Million Scoville Heat Units – twice as hot as the peppers I talked about harvesting in this post last year.

So, naturally I had to order some in.

They should arrive Thursday.  And I spent most all weekend prepping the garden for their arrival.  Oh, yeah, I also planted the usual selection of tomato plants (five varieties, this year subbing in a German Green heirloom for the Brandywines I’ve grown the last couple of years) and standard bell peppers.  But really, the thing I am most looking forward to getting in there are my hot peppers, both the Bhut Jolokia and the Red Savina.  This year, in an effort to avoid the problems I ran into with the local deer population (mentioned here) I also put up a light fence around the entire perimeter of the garden.

And since I had the luxury of being able to spend as much time as I wanted in the garden this year, as opposed to the last few years when we were still caring for Martha Sr, I was able to get the ground properly tilled and my landscape fabric down (which I use to control weeds – it’s cheaper than using bales of straw, and more effective).  All told, I spent maybe 12 hours out there working.  And I have the aching muscles to prove it.  It feels good, no matter how much I complain to my wife, the dog, and all my friends.

So, I’m ready.  Bring on the peppers!

Jim Downey