Gardening Gardening

I give some of my ashes to friends thsg have vegetable gardens.

The rest, I broadcast over the yard in late winter. It gets spread over whats left of snow, which helps the sun to melt whatever is left.

 

Well, any illusions I had about my peppers holding until November are now shattered. 34F at the moment and snowing steadily. It's been a good run this year. Here's the last of my peppers in varying stages of ripeness. Jalapeño, Thai hot, Ghost, Carolina Reaper, sugar rush peach, and cherry bomb.

 

Are you forecast to go below freezing? My peppers are covered in snow now but I may still dig them up this afternoon to pot them and bring them inside. This is the first time that I can remember that we received snow before our first frost. I don’t know. Maybe they won’t survive this. Thermometer says 29 now. Tomatoes on the left. Peppers on the right.

 

We're supposed to be in the low to mid 20s overnight tonight so that should be the nail in the coffin. If it was to stay in the low 30s I'd cover mine too and take a chance. I did the overwintering thing last year and had mixed results.

 

I overwintered 5 pepper plants last winter.. 2 jalapeño, one each cayenne, habanero and Serrano. They were hit hard with aphids due to no natural indoor predators.. I was able to limp them through the winter and plant them in April. We had peppers by the middle of June, Going to try that again this winter by bringing them inside this afternoon. Hopefully they survive til this afternoon.

 

I just recently heard about overwintering peppers. Not sure i wanna try it.

 

When I overwintered mine they were attacked by bugs as well. I had put some neem oil into the soil but it was an uphill battle. Towards the growing season the plants were taking off fast and actually produced peppers indoors due to the bugs pollinating the flowers. When I transitioned them outdoors in mid May, in spite of doing it slowly over a 10 day period, the plants got shocked, dropped a lot of foliage and were slow to recover. Maybe that's where I went wrong.

 

I'm surprised that you haven't had frost yet. I had frost several days in a row 3-4 weeks ago, and a couple of hard frosts since then.

 

Guessers here are calling for a killing freeze but temps are in the mid 30's right now. I gave the pepper patch a one more time pick Wednesday and got 3 bu. Only thing out there now is cabbage,cauliflower, brussel sprouts and romanesco and the should be ok.

 

I am as surprised as you. I was outside one morning in September at 4Am before work watering my garden to fend off a frost. I don’t think the conditions ever came.. pulled the same 5 pepper plants in last night. The snow has melted off of them and they appear to be healthy. Need to find the right size pots for them, get them pruned and find a sunny window for them.

 

The garden is just about done for the year. Forecast lows in the low 20s later this week so I’m pulling out my carrots and the last of the cilantro. I couldn’t believe how fat this one was!

 

Are carrots short and thick like that, preferred over longer, narrower ones?

 

I prefer a compromise somewhere between a long root and a short and fat one. Over the years I've had mixed results growing them. I know you need to make sure the soil is loose pretty far down or the root won't grow long like the ones in the grocery store. Having the right combination of nutrients in the soil also factors in big time. I remember having too much nitrogen on my first attempt and growing these huge carrot tops with almost no root development. A little bone meal in the soil helps with this. Also thinning out the rows once everything sprouts helps too, otherwise they get too crowded and you end up with small carrots.

 

I have had a good sized garden the last couple of years, but the year 2021 is going to. E the year of firewood gathering.

 

Short, thick carrots are for heavy soils and long thin ones are for loose - and that loose has to be a long way down. I wonder if the longs ones in the stores are grown in sand or hydroponically.

 

Hardest freeze of the season tonite. Went thru the patch and cut the nicest of the Cole crops. Looks like some stuff for the freezer. Brussel sprouts and turnips will be ok.

 

farmer steve AMAZING! Really nice.

 

What time of year did you plant those Steve?