What did you do in the garden today?

[Ascholten]

I took on a second job at a garden center and this is one of the many reasons . Theres no way id get this amount and variety of exercise going to a gym. And, I get paid to do it. Now, if i Could just save this money (the whole point) and buy my "dream" property i would be all set. More animals, more garden, more expenses (bleh!), but more fun AND more rewarding.

Oh I know that feeling, I 'volunteer' at the farm, so I can learn, bla bla. I end up spending more money on plant stuff than I save / earn Getting a 'discount' is NOT helpful either hmm?? But enjoy it, and stop saving for your dream property, you'll die .. almost there !! just a little more !!! Get the property and live your dream. Your part time job WILL go away though, . you'll be putting that extra time into keeping your 'dream' property to being your dream property and not turning into a nightmare property.

All this gardening we want to do when we 'retire' takes a lot of time, .. Retiring and then having to work what essentially is an 80 hour a week job, to pay for it, keep it up, second job, ooftie booftie.. neither is retiring OR fun.

I honestly don't know what to say about property prices. Right now they are stupidly high, and I have a feeling in a year or two, that world bubble is going to pop and it's going to all come crashing down spectacularly. If it does you could very well not only be getting your dream property, but getting it at a dream price too !! Or, depending on where you planned on getting it AT, find that the prices just keep steadily going up.

Personally, I'd say F it, Im getting it, Id buy it, bite the bullet, and no matter what happens, it's MINE, I OWN IT. and I actually HAVE it now. Now matter how badly they destroy the prices or the cost of things, you still own the LAND. You don't care what someone says it's worth, YOUR value is the physical LAND to plant your garden in. The GARDEN is your money pot, the eggs, the chickens, etc.

Aaron <-- the person who is seeking a full time maid, an overtime cockatoo babysitter, and part time chicken rustler! with the occasional OT picking taters, maters, and bagers

 

[BullChick]

Has anybody here ever attempted to remove a pepper plant from outside in the garden and have it over winter inside the house so it can be planted next spring? I have heard that this is possible, and that the plants grow faster and stronger the second year. If anyone has info on this, I would love to hear about it. Most of my money for the garden is buying new pepper plants every year. I would love to cut down on that cost if possible while at the same time getting stronger pepper plants and peppers ready to eat earlier in the summer. Thanks for any help.

I did it the one time I grew peppers in a bucket.

 

[Ascholten]

When I was heavy into the pepper thing. I had up to 30 different types growing.
ALL of them growing, basically, in the equivalent of a 5 gallon bucket. They all did very well TBH. As said before, some species are very touchy, while others.. it's hard to kill them.

Overwintering works perfectly, just remember as they get older, they get more I guess you could call it woodier or pithier, the peppers are fewer, not as pretty, as coming from a fresh young plant, they get what would be the equivalent of stretch marks on them, and they can be hotter.

After 2 seasons, the quality of them generally, really starts to decline, the plants themselves also can become more prone to diseases, infections etc.

I got this BIG BEAUTIFUL Chineese Tongue Torture Mideval Anus Incindeary Pepper that's just absolutely beautiful. I really hate the thought of it dying at the end of the season. Well, no it does not have to but, its beauty is NOT going to follow it year after year after year.

Just like us, they tend to age over the years and don't perform as well as time goes on.

1 Human year = about 25 pepper years.

Aaron

 

[pennyJo1960]

Good morning Gardeners.

 

[gtaus]

Yes it is very possible. It depends on the plant how well it will do. Some don't care and will keep growing inside, outside etc. Others like a Habanero for example will tantrum if you just look at wrong. Do know that on the second year, it's been my experience they don't often produce as many peppers, their pulp gets more woody, the peppers may get stronger as well, and their texture can get more 'fibrous'. Usually about year 4, most peppers tend to just fizzle out on their own, they get very stringy, not the healthiest anymore and you'd be better off just growing a new one from one of the seeds of the peppers you got from them in years past.

Aaron

OK. From what I read on your response, I might be better off just transplanting new peppers next spring. I live in northern Minnesota, so my pepper plants would not survive our winters outside. I thought maybe I could cut them back to the main stock and cut the stem down low and let them sit in a pot in the basement over winter. But, it sounds like the pepper plants do not produce as well in year two as they would in year one. I don't have garden space to waste. So, I will look into saving some seeds from my pepper plants and potting them up late winter/early spring so they are ready to transplant about the first of June where I live.

Thanks for the response.

 

[gtaus]

Overwintering [pepper plants] works perfectly,..

Well, you live in Florida and I live in northern Minnesota. I'm sure if I were to overwinter my peppers, they would have to be repotted inside pots in the house until they could be replanted back into the garden in spring. Sounds like saving seeds might be a better option for me based on your previous post.

Again, thanks for the info.

 

[Ascholten]

Cutting them back, not sure how that would work, I don't think they'd take too kindly to that, they wouldn't go into hibernation, IF they survived that, they'd just start growing back, and like a tree when you cut it down and it starts to regrow, it comes back more shrubby etc.

Given your fairly short growing season, why don't you just grow them IN buckets. I did peppers for years in planters, and yes, some of them in 5 gallon buckets and they did very well. I said 'the equivalent' of 5 gallon buckets because they basically were nursery pots, the fancy ones, the not so fancy ones etc. In your case when it starts getting too cold, move them indoors and keep them indoors, winter them over, Id have a growlight on them, when the threat of frost is gone, move the pots back outside and let them continue into year 2.

To be totally honest, IF you gave them enough light down in the basement, I don't see why you couldn't even just grow them PERIOD down there,... or keep their productivity running (although at a lesser extend) until go back outside.

Another thing. Ok lets say you decide to start from seed, start them indoors, heck, start them in march..by may they will be pretty big already, then you can just plop them outside, and with luck, within a month they are flowering and producing, if they have not already started that in their pots.

Aaron

 

[TJAnonymous]

I did it the one time I grew peppers in a bucket.

I'm so tempted to try this.... The only thing is that my DH says we already have TOO MANY peppers. I still have a half dozen gallon sized bags frozen from last year. I have 3 tobasco plants that I gotta figure out what to do with and one pepperoncino.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Currently trying to create some more basil plants from cuttings. This is my first time trying this.....

 

[WthrLady]

Raining just enough to make it annoying to work outside, but not enough to matter or even get anything but me damp. OC the tinkle of rain on the barn roof has the alpacas staying inside, and pooing inside. The dorks.