Meet the McPeppersons! The biggest pepper clan in the Hamilton Area!

Naming peppers gives me great joy for some reason. It makes me feel like I am conducting my own Harry Potter sorting hat ceremony, yet with my peppers. I am highly amused and entertained by this. Now on to the naming.

LET US BEGIN THE PEPPER SORTING CEREMONY!

Yesterday we heralded Spicy McPepperson into the world as the reigning pepper overlord. Today we had to name his little brothers and sisters. Since I had a hard time deciding what to name the first born pepper, as the names were so good, I used the hopeful pepper king nominee names to name the rest of the sprouted pepper plants.

The McPepperson Dynasty!

It is with great honour I give to you, the McPepperson Pepper famliy, as of today.

Heppertitis is an Early Jalapeno. Flavourful with a robust medium burn she is wanted at all the hottest parties. No one can say no to Heppertitis!

Purdy Peppa and Groot are both spicy Long Thing Cayenne! Sweet with heat, this spicy little pepper will but some pep in your step! But always remember when you eat this pepper that IT IS GROOT!

Spencer the Sprout is the most direct descendant of Spicy McPepperson as he is an Aleppo Pepper. Fruity yet tangy, he is a delicious taste sensation!

Johnny Peppercorn is a Chinese Five Colour! Perhaps the most colourful pepper grown this year, and I do mean colourful!

Pousse is a Jimmy Nardello Sweet Pepper! A complex sweet yet apple flavour is what we have to look forward to and to be honest, I can't wait. 

Last but not least we have CTB! rounding out the family as a Matchbox Pepper! Fire and fruit all in one! The Matchbox Pepper is a match (heh) for any pepper she faces on the field of pepper battle!

In general I think that the sprouting has gone very well so far and I have had quite a few plants sprout up. While I am still hopeful for many of my seeds, I am happy with what I have as a start so far and I feel that more will come up. I can see a huge difference in the plants from the morning at 6:30 am to when I get back home around 3:00 pm.

They all look a little sleepy still\at 9:30 am!

A little more awake at 3:00 pm!

You can see how the plants have grown in just a short amount of time. I am impressed by how quickly they have been able to grow with just light and water.

A little closeup action!

Till tomorrow, when we may encounter more pepper surprises!

ALL HAIL SPICY MCPEPPERSON, MASTER OF THE PEPPER UNIVERSE!

I can't lie, I had a pretty tough time picking out the winning pepper name. There were some notable nominees such as Heppertitis, Purdy Peppa, Groot, Peppercorn Johnny and Spencer the Sprout. After much deliberation and laughter the winner of our ultimate pepper naming challenge is..........SPICY MCPEPPERSON. The winning name was submitted by Meat Ventures! Congratulations Meat Ventures for having the dubious honour of naming my first pepper plant!

LOOK AT THE BIG LITTLE GUY!

A little bit more information about the newly anointed pepper liege, Spicy McPepperson. He is an Aleppo Pepper which is predominantly used in Middle Eastern or Mediterranean cooking. He is noted to have a round sweetness with substantial spicy kick at the end! Hail Spicy McPepperson, long and healthy may he reign!

To those that came close but didn't quite make the naming cut, rest assured that Spicy McPepperson will be having numerous brothers and sisters all in need of fantastic names and your entries will not go unremembered when it comes to the naming ceremony!

Since yesterday my peppers have really put on a growing clinic. I had a few more sprouts come up this morning when I looked at 6:30 am before I left for work.

The white little dots around the large Spicy McPepperson are little pepper sprouts!

When I arrived home from work and took pictures at about 4:00 pm, my peppers looked like this!

You can see that there are quite a few more small sprouts and some sprouts have grown bigger over the course of the day!

A long angle, long exposure shot of the new Pepper Master, Spicy McPepperson!

In general I am feeling very pleased with the overall growth of my peppers. I am happy they are sprouting, especially after learning that peat might not be the best soil to germinate peppers in. They are popping their pepper heads out of the dirt and getting ready for a long, awesome summer of growing. 

On a personal note, I love to cook. I love trying new recipes and creating new dishes, although my girlfriend will tell you that I overspice my dishes. During my travels today I came across a long lost culinary masterpiece that I believed, until today, was lost to the ravages of time. I found this book at that most amazing of stores, Dollarama. 

If only he could narrate his recipes while I cooked them!

My first thought upon finding this hallowed tome was, "I wonder who his friends are??". I cracked open the pages to discover that Morgan Freeman's one and only true passion in this world is not acting but rather sailing and that he counts Ben Affleck, Kevin Bacon and Tom Hanks amongst his Caribbean Cooking friends. I guess my invitation got lost in the mail.

IT'S ALIVE!!!!

I HAVE A SPROUT!

I woke up this morning to a HUGE surprise. I planted my pepper seeds on March 18th and it usually takes about 7 to 9 days for germination to take place. However I cracked open the lid on my greenhouse this morning and was surprised to find this little guy! 

THE SPROUT!

Needless to say I am exceedingly excited! However, I couldn't dilly dally the day away gazing at my new baby plant as I had to go to a birthday party. I snapped the above picture, packed up the car and drove the fun bus over for the party. I had a ball!

I had a soccer game today at 5:15 and made it back to Hamilton just in time for my game. After a poor showing last week, we came out strong as a team. Their goaltender had a blinder of a game, making numerous point blank saves and rushing off of his line to make several crucial interceptions. However, we held strong, dug deep and on the back of a tremendous hat trick pulled out a deserved 3-1 victory. HUGE WIN BASHERS!

I came home to find my new plant had another surprise waiting for me. By 7:00 pm, this pepper plant has at least doubled in size! Take a look!

We have a grower! 

I feel that to honour the tremendous little pepper that grew, that it be given a name. I am open to taking name suggestions until 8:00pm tomorrow evening, March 23rd, 2015. All names will be considered and I will pick the best one tomorrow at 8:00pm! May the odds be ever in your favour!