Is there anywhere I can find jalapeno pepper plants? I’ve got some herbs growing on my balcony, but would like to try my hand at some peppers. If not, how about other variteties of peppers other than the usual found at the store?
Find a pepper you like at the market, dry the seeds, then soak them overnight (I know, sounds like dumb waste of time but you get a higher rate of success this way) then bung them in the soil.
I braved customs and brought back a variety of demon chillies from Thailand. All grew well.
Good tips: bigger pots=bigger plants.
better soil=better plants
go organic=better flavour
make your own compost and save on fertiliser
I grow my own salad greens/spinach/chilies/spring onions and tomatoes in a 16 squre meter raised bed I made myself with soil stolen from road excavation, compost and B&Q potting soil.
The flavour of my stuff is a hundred times better than the insecticide/ artificial fertiliser drenched produce at the markets.
Hi,
I myself have tried several times to grow hot peppers… So far, only Harabeno grow well. Mcstrange is right… A local old gardener just suggested me this way yesterday when I was asking about my poor regular TW hot pepper dying! My harabeno already gave me about 8 ultra hot pepper! Geez that’s a hot pepper for sure!
Go simple.!
I have a garden for a bit more than 2 months now… about 25 pings… Lot of work! but my salads. eggplant, beetroots, basil, fennels, … everything taste so much better. and NO chimical added on it!
I recently transplant a Papaya tree… well, it’s about 10 cm high now… ! yeah!
Also have two fig trees…
Be brave!
Philippe
Hi,
I myself have tried several times to grow hot peppers… So far, only Harabeno grow well. Mcstrange is right… A local old gardener just suggested me this way yesterday when I was asking about my poor regular TW hot pepper dying! My harabeno already gave me about 8 ultra hot pepper! Geez that’s a hot pepper for sure!
Go simple.!
I have a garden for a bit more than 2 months now… about 25 pings… Lot of work! but my salads. eggplant, beetroots, basil, fennels, … everything taste so much better. and NO chimical added on it!
I recently transplant a Papaya tree… well, it’s about 10 cm high now… ! yeah!
Also have two fig trees…
Be brave!
Philippe
Hi,
I myself have tried several times to grow hot peppers… So far, only Harabeno grow well. Mcstrange is right… A local old gardener just suggested me this way yesterday when I was asking about my poor regular TW hot pepper dying! My harabeno already gave me about 8 ultra hot pepper! Geez that’s a hot pepper for sure!
Go simple.!
I have a garden for a bit more than 2 months now… about 25 pings… Lot of work! but my salads. eggplant, beetroots, basil, fennels, … everything taste so much better. and NO chimical added on it!
I recently transplant a Papaya tree… well, it’s about 10 cm high now… ! yeah!
Also have two fig trees…
Be brave!
Philippe
I am really sorry for this multiple post
It’s not Harabeno but Habareno hot pepper
Good day!
I had some habaneros but they died out while on a trip overseas, and my subsequent efforts to get the seeds to produce also came up with a couple of plants that died out. Still, I have dreams of getting it going again. I’ve been growing Thai and Chinese chilis for a few years now and have bushes that prolifically push out so many that my wife now gives away strings of them. I’ve also got some mild peppers from the Philippines and another very hot but as-yet unidentified pepper plant that’s producing very well these days. Jalapenos have unfortunately not worked out for me yet here.
My rosemary bush is doing well with moderate watering and can be shared easily with friends via clippings that root fast. I can’t stop my oregano and thyme from producing great big chia-petish fros. Basil comes and goes – have to keep the bugs off them. Fennel has been a big producer. Lots of aloe going on – far more than the number of burns within the household.
One good development for the balcony garden has been those attachments that fit onto standard water bottles sold at the Taipei weekend flower/plant market. I adjust the rate for a drop every few seconds, and then I refill the bottle in about 2-3 days. If you want more time, then just add a bigger bottle with more water or change the rate.
Flowers depend quite a bit on one’s own sunlight situation. I’ve got a west-facing lower balcony, which is not ideal. However, there’s a lot that does well in the shade. Impatiens do very well in the shade, as do dragon-wing begonias. I’ve got some irises that continue to surprise me.
Aah, Philout, you can say I’m right three times in a row. No need to apologise.
I thought I was wrong once. But I was wrong.
As many of my naysayers will discover in their path through the long dark teatime of their souls, Mcstrange is never wrong.
my wife is making our house “green”, so I have to help her…
we bought some inexpensive plants in a huge plantation next to our place that are making the neighbours crazy… they have new flowers every day, incredible stuff… and, because they are all climbers, it is taking me a lot of patience just to keep them in our garden…
An idea, for people who want to have green and no moskitos is rosemary… apparently, the smell is not on their favourite list, so I have to bushes next to the window of my living, making it nice to see from inside, and probably expelling the millions of fliers that happen to be around our place.
If you have a laundry, the best idea is to hang some of those wood fences that you can find everywhere and put hanging pots or climbers on them. We are going to put some roses in the wall dividing the 2 verandas, as they are fragrant and easy to grow…
My first attempt at a balcony garden has failed.
I bought organic planting medium from both B&Q and Carrforre. I planted 4 kinds of bell peppers, tomatoes, string beans, chili peppers and basil.
Everything grew very well into beautiful hearty plants but then never flowered and produced veggies. I got like one small yellow bell pepper.
The basil does do alright.
I think the planting medium is too rich and I need to mix it with plane soil?
BTW, when I was last in Kaohsiung I found an excellent seed shop. They had about a hundred varieties of seeds and everything else you would need for gardening plus a small organic product shop. Known You Seed Company http://www.knownyou.com/
Hi,
I have check quite a lot of place in Taipei and around Taipei, can’t find it!
Anybody know where to find a Spading Fork YardWorks (not so sure about the spelling)
Thanks a lot!
Philou
Great post…
I move to Taipers on Monday…and have a large roof top which I want to use to grow fruits and veggies.
Does everyone just use pots? I was hoping that there was a method of laying the soil on the actual roof so I could plant in rows. Im not sure how this would work with drainage. Im not going to lay the whole roof just little bits of it. I havn;t been to B&Q yet so not sure if they have anything…otherwise I assume just use grow bags laid on the concrete…
We also have a dog who is a bit fussy about where she ‘ahem’ goes…in that only grass will do…
Has anyone tried growing grass? I only need a small patch, say 2 x 2 mts…any ideas? I was thinking of building a tray, dumping dirt in it and laying turf…no idea if it will work, or if you can even get turf in Taipei…
I don’t think turfing the roof would be the best idea in Taipei. Maybe a floating surface of some sort, to ensure you get proper drainage.
Hi
I am loooking fegetables to transplant for my garden in Taiepi-Tamshui area. I alwaready found some in Tamshui but their selection is very limited and the plants don’t look good (a queart of what I transplant died withing 3 days)
I heard there is place where to buy vegetables to transplant near Jiantan MRT station but I can not find it… anybody knows where is it?
Thanks a lot!
My Organic Garden
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Lettuce (many kinds)
- Spinach
- Rockect salad
- Beet
- Radish
- Red cabbage
- Basil
- Coriander
- Chervil
- Mint
- Figs
- Papaya
- Hot pepper
- …
I believe the headquarters of a fantastic seed company is in Kaohsiung, or at least they have a main branch here. Their website is knownyou.com
I would recommend making your own soil mix. You can buy everything you need at the above company, which is located on Zhong Zheng Rd near the intersection of He Ping Rd., I think, near the Da Tong department store. Or you can get everything you need at the flower market at the Lao Gong Gong Yuan near the corner of Zhong Shan and Min Zhu Roads on weekends.
Try a mix of 60% peat moss, 30% perlite, and 40% vermiculite by volume. Or you can try an equal mix of all three ingredients. With that mix, you’ll have to use some natural fertilizer. You can pick up plenty of dried pig poop and chicken blood at the above locations.
The soil is very important! Don’t try to use any of the bagged ‘top soil’ crap. I’ve bought a couple of bags of that junk in the past only to find garbage in it, literally. Plastic, etc. Actually, the above recipe is not soil at all; it’s borderline hydroponics. The vermiculite will hold water, the perlite will allow for drainage, and the peat moss will be, well, peat moss. But peat moss doesn’t readily supply nutrients, hence the need for some sort of fertilizer.
Good luck. I love tomatoes, I live in Kaohsiung, and I have no roof. When harvest time comes, send me a message and I’ll swap you something for some maters.
Oh, I just noticed that that’s a really old past, Taiwan time. If you’re still here, the store I mentioned in my previous post, knownyou.com, used to sell small hydroponic kits. I grew tomatoes in them and they grew like betel nut trees on steroids. So, if you’re still around, you might want to check that out.
Totally unrelated, but I learned today that betel nut tree saplings produce fruit in 4-5 years. No wonder they’re a cash crop. My hydroponic tomatoes actually produced fruit much faster… where’s my beer?
[quote=“groovingfungus”]
Does everyone just use pots? I was hoping that there was a method of laying the soil on the actual roof so I could plant in rows. I’m not sure how this would work with drainage. I’m not going to lay the whole roof just little bits of it. I havn;t been to B&Q yet so not sure if they have anything…otherwise I assume just use grow bags laid on the concrete…
We also have a dog who is a bit fussy about where she ‘ahem’ goes…in that only grass will do…
Has anyone tried growing grass? I only need a small patch, say 2 x 2 mts…any ideas? I was thinking of building a tray, dumping dirt in it and laying turf…no idea if it will work, or if you can even get turf in Taipei…[/quote]
What people usually do is build an enclosure using brick and mortar, or anything that will hold dirt, and fill it up. But, that’s usually only done by the person who owns the top floor apartment. It can lead to leakage. Roots tend to eat through cement, so I doubt your landlord would approve.
Perhaps you can find a hard plastic kiddy pool? You could also buy a large sheet of heavy duty plastic and form it into a container, although that would be pricey. How about scrap? Some large piece of junk that somebody doesn’t want but that would hold a shit load of dirt? I can’t help with our dog, but you can find pots big enough to grow just about anything you’d want. Hit the flower markets.
I’d forget about B&Q. They’ll have basic stuff, tools and such. But for good stuff like quality soil additives (perlite, vermiculite, etc.) you should seek out a flower market. Taiwan has everything the gardener could ever dream for, but you won’t find it in the big chain stores.
I water my plants every week with some of the water I change from one of my fish tanks … my theory is that the nitrates in the water help the plants.
Seems to work…
[quote=“atomicgrunion”]the tomatoes have disappointed. they were growing like weeds till a couple weeks ago. they had just flowered and were about to start sprouting fruit. It has since gotten a lot hotter and stopped raining. they’re still alive but getting kinda brown. don’t think I’m gonna anything from them. The basil and corn are going good though. The new batch of watermelon are doing ok but will probably not do so well when i go on vacation next month. it’ll be survival of the fittest then.
ag[/quote]
Tomatoes are water hogs. They need a LOT of water. Constantly. That’s why they do so well with hydroponics, but if you’re using soil, add a lot of vermiculite. The other problem is that tomatoes absolutely demand good drainage, hence the constant need for water (assuming they have good drainage). Vermiculite and perlite. Hydroponics allows for both drainage and water by maintaining a certain portion of the roots in a rock or other soiless mixture which is not submerged in water.
Basil is extremely resilient and does well in this climate. But, it too needs a constant source of water, just not as much as tomatoes.
Although I’ve never built such a system, it is possible with hydroponics, or any other method of gardening for that matter, to install an automatic watering system that will keep your plants going while you’re away. I’m not talking about sprinklers. A hydroponics setup, even a simple one, automatically adds water when a certain water level (or lack of rather) is reached. It’s doable, and I doubt it would be very expensive.
There’s a huge vacant lot across from my house that I’m lucky enough to be able to plant some vegetables. I’ve got three 4’ by 4’ plots going(Square Foot Gardening), a couple of papaya trees and some open area to grow yam leaves. I don’t really follow the rule of 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat and 1/3 compost though. I don’t want to spend the money when I don’t know how long I’ll be allowed to grow on the lot. Anyway, I mixed in some grass, leaves and kitchen scraps to loosen up the terrible soil that was there before and have raised beds. I also try to incorporate companion planting. I water with collected rain water every two or so days and stick with organic fertilizer. A lot of work, but now the effort is paying off. Coming in now are broccoli, cauliflower, bai-tsai, beans, lettuce, papayas, yam leaves and tomatoes. Unfortunately, I lost all my corn, cucumbers and most of my beans in the last typhoon.