Dear Family & Friend
At the start of November, we had two consecutive nights of below freezing temperature. I feel sad to see how some of the plants got completely burnt of extreme cold overnight. Beautiful the day before, and soggy and wilting the next. It's time to move on...season dictates our movement in life.
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| picking some more chili peppers, my last harvest for the year |
I've read that I can bring my pepper plants indoor during the winter and would probably survive and have a head start by spring time. I always plant my peppers from seeds as annual...but since I didn't have enough time to do a lot of things I planned to do, I will have to experiment this next year.
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| our last harvest of basil from the garden for this year |
Herbs such as basil is a 'must-have'. They are very handy for kitchen use and really brings up the level of deliciousness to any simple dish...it's also nice to eat raw. I have to collect their seeds and sow them again next spring so we can enjoy them once again. When basil starts flowering, it is also a great attraction for the bees - same with mint flowers, it send the bees frenzy!
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| got to have more hosta planted for this beautiful white fragrant flower next year |
This year, I reminded myself to propagate my hosta plants so we can have more of these beautiful and very fragrant white flowers around our garden. Hostas dies back once our cold season arrives, but they will grow back in spring. Thus, before they disappear I must divide the plants by digging up the roots and subdividing it.
These are just some of the chores I need to do in the garden at this time. Life gives us a variety of interest as we go about out daily work...each day and season is unique...it's never really the same...so do enjoy each day:)
Yours
When you get around to bringing in a bell pepper plant or 2, please know that you will need at least a spot with bright light to a sunny situation, and that damp soil is death to them! When I had appropriate spots at my previous home, I'd re-pot them in mid summer with tons of roots, get them adjusted, and then loaded with buds bring them inside about 10-14 days before turning on any house heating. This way they adjusted and continued producing inside. Just watering sparingly. The reason this works at all (you may know this) is that peppers are perennials in their native central America.
ReplyDeleteAnother way that I accomplished the same thing (almost!) was to re-pot (from the garden itself) in mid summer, wrap with cloth and plastic layers, leave on a plastic wrapped back porch, near the door to the house, which leaked a little heat. And maybe pulled them inside when the temps were slated to drop below freezing. Given the plastic layer (to break breezes and hold moisture in) I only ever watered them 1 or 2 times a winter, before setting them back outside in early Spring. This was also successful for a few years with absolutely huge eggplant (aubergine) plants,
I found that I averaged 80 peppers per year per plant with this system! Really hope you get to try this out, even tho your climate is more extreme that here in Louisiana. When I lived in New Jersey (Zone 6 in our climate zone system) this method also worked.Best of luck! ldc
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience. It's well appreciated:)It all makes a lot of sense the way you do it...so, I guess, at this time - it's just too late for me to pot my peppers to bring indoors. But I'll do my best with some of the plants I've already managed to pot up, with the very useful tips you shared on how to care for them overwinter. Wishing you a happy weekend!
DeleteYour produce always looks so healthy and fresh Annie.
ReplyDeleteThe Hosta blooms are gorgeous - similar to Epiphyllums that I have blooming here at the moment... entirely different leaves but I thought that's what I was seeing at first.
Cheers as you great the colder months :D)
The chili pepper harvest are so fresh and plentiful! We don't have winter but plenty of rain and my chili plants are not doing well in this rain.
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