I only planted little tomatoes (some heirloom varieties purchased at Teatown) and they have been doing amazing. For a couple days I was having some issues like you, Gwenn, with what I thought was an infestation but it turned out to be a false alarm. Like bio, this has been a real learning process. Kale was a dud. Our zucchini plants produced about six zucchinis and then died (a master gardener acquaintance says squash borers). Our lettuce has been doing amazing, and so did our sugar snaps earlier in the summer. Parsley, basil, rosemary, mint, rosemary, and thyme all did wonderfully. Our sage died and cilantro did so-so. I didnāt get a ton of carrots but those that grew were delicate and delicious.
In midsummer I planted some lettuce and carrot seeds to fill in some gaps and boy did two months make a difference in how fast the seeds sprouted. It took much longer and some never sprouted. So the garden has had more empty squares than I would have liked. Not sure what I could do to fix this.
I ordered some seeds to plant for fall harvest-- some robust lettuce and spinach. I may try radishes again now that it seems itāll be cooler. I also bought poppies to plant once everything is done.
Iād love to make another two beds on top of the three we made this year but it may take some convincing to get my husband to go along with it.
I interspersed a lot of flowers in the beds and weāve been getting a ton of colorful butterflies and hummingbirds to the garden as well.
Definitely need to make some notes for next year. Overall Iāve really enjoyed it and think for first-timers we did pretty well!
It is going to be in the 70s for the next 10 days with lows in the 50s. Does anyone thing maybe I should pick tomatoes and ripen inside? I hate to lose them!
That should be fine. The last two years I was getting tomatoes and hot peppers right through Thanksgiving, fully ripening outside. Last year I finally got exasperated and cut back the plants the day after Thanksgiving and re-potted them and brought inside. The tomatoes didnāt make it, the peppers did. Even though cut back to 6" high they started growing again and produced peppers all winter and only stopped when I replanted outside too early. They are producing some of the longest cayennes I have ever grown now.
The year before the same thing happened in early December, but I didnāt cut back the tomatoes too much and they produced again inside in January for another few weeks before dying.
[/quote]I will have to try this. Did you put them under grow lights over the winter or just leave them in a sunny window?
[/quote]
Read up on over wintering. I think I have mentioned it before several times. It works really well with hot pepper plants, which can live for several years.
But the bare facts are: just before the first frost, cut back the plant to an inch or two above the lowest set of forks in the plant. Dig up, cut back roots, and re-pot into a small pot around 4-6" diameter. Keep in a cool room (60-65F) in the house without too much sunlight. Water every two weeks. This will keep the plant alive but dormant and it will slowly grow until Spring. Then replant or re-pot in a full size pot in Spring when night time temps are above 60F.
OR, if you want to produce peppers all winter. Cut back to about 18"-24" tall, re-pot into a 8-12" pot, cutting back roots as needed. Water as needed, but every week or two, donāt over water. Wait until the soil is dry to 1"-2" depth. Make sure it gets sunlight or use grow lights. Keep in a warm room, 68-80F. Gently fertilize as needed, every 3-4 weeks. It will grow like crazy and flower and produce fruit. Then replant in Spring when night time temps are above 60F.
Also, I read you can make bonzai pepper plants. I plan to do this with some of my peppers that produce small sized fruit, like my Lemon Drop/Aji Limon. Although this one may not be the best since it likes to grow tall. http://fatalii.net/Bonsai_Chiles_Bonchi
My Aji Limon / Lemon Drop hot pepper plant has hit 8 feet tall and has hundreds of peppers, just starting to turn ripe yellow. I have already started fermenting quarts of sauces. Mixed Cayenne, Zavory, Fatali, etc. and dried a lot of mixed Cayenne, and just started harvesting Aleppo and Urfa Biber for drying.
