Over Wintered Plants looking good

A while back I posted a few blogs about my quest to overwinter some of my veggies in containers. As with everything it was all experimental and I had no idea what the results would be, with the exception of a few actual accounts posted from other bloggers about their success.

Well, spring is here and my Japanese eggplant which I love and pepper plants are doing great. They don't look like much but the fact that they are growing new foliage is a absolutely fabulous. Overwintering veggies plants is a great idea for those who want to jump start their growing season and who want to utilize their garden for veggies that don't do well in containers and need more room. As of now, sweet and hot peppers seem to do well being overwintered along with eggplant and tomatoes. I say tomatoes but I don't actually have any. That's a another bitter story that me and the lady fuss about, to this day. Anyway, moving along...... Tomatoes are a bit finicky, real cold temps put them out, so any place in the house with a good light source and temps comfortable enough for a human should suffice. I had some beautiful tomato plants growing during the winter, but a weekend away here and there and being extremely busy left them to vunerable. And I also have this amazing cat that loves to chew things on spite. I would be one of those kids that told his teacher that my cat ate my homework, because it really did. So know tomato plants. I will start again this year. As for now we are enjoying the plants unfold and sprout new growth. Spring is awesome!!

I can't wait to see what type of harvest we will have this year. speaking of which. My wife and I are splitting up our seasons for the garden. She has went from not wanting to garden to wanting to garden her way. So because GA has two growing seasons she will take the first season and I will take the next. The first step I had to take was get rid of my twig fence;( She absolutely hated that thing. She has sinced replaced it with some Martha Stewarty thing. So oh well, I guess gardening as a couple has turned into this big competition. I must admit we have different gardening styles. Hers is a bit more manucured and mine tends to look like an unkept jungle. But I really love my jungle, for me it's and adventure, but for her she feels like the plants want to eat her;)

Transplanting Peppers To Overwinter in Containers

Today was a busy day; I made some shelves for my sun room and for a guy with virtually no carpentry skills I kind of did alright. I really want to utilize my sun room this winter to overwinter my pepper plants, tomatoes and eggplant. So today I jumped off that cliff and decided to pull the Harbanero plants out of the raised beds and transplant them into containers. My main concern was damaging the root system. I understand this is always the risk for transplanting, but it is either now or never; so I gently pulled the Plants out until they separated from the earth. I was cringing every time I felt a pull and then a tear. But when it was all said and done I was able to gather the majority of the root. With the plants out I prepped two containers by layering the bottom of the containers with heaping amounts of compost, then with another layer of soil I layed the plants in the container and finally filled the container with more soil until the plants were able to be supported by the soil and some stakes. Im crossing my fingers on this one. As expected I see some drooping of the leaves, there are still several peppers attached to the plant, whether this was a good idea or not only time will tell. After the plant was set I watered them and placed them on my porch. Over the next few weeks I will be looking for signs of a perky plant and hopefully signs of new growth.

Overwintering Pepper Plants

This is a photo of my prized habanero plant. This plant grew to an enormous size and is producing flowers at an alarming rate. I have two other Thai Chili plants that are starting to flower this week and are starting to produce peppers. They are currently growing in containers. I have been doing alot of research on overwintering pepper plants. From what I understand peppers are really perennials, but most people plant every year because they allow the cold to destroy them. But to the contrary if you take your peppers indoors during the winter you can actually preserve them for years to come. I don't know how true this is but I think its worth a try. After all I can't wait for another season to try this when I have peppers now.

Overwintering pepper plants require that I take the plants indoor into comfortable surroundings. As subtropical plants they can not tolerate any freezing and therefore they need to be in a situation where they can receive warmth as well as light. It is recommended that you place them near a window that receives ample light from the sun but doesn't get cold. Unless you have windows that do not get cold the other alternative would be to use grow lights. Either way the plants will go dormant until spring. However it is not unusual for pepper plants to grow and produce more fruits throughout winter if conditions are right

As fall approaches and then winter "tis the season for soups and chili" and peppers are where it is at.

Growing habanero peppers

Alas my first HOT PEPPERS EVER!! My Habanero plants did extremely well this season. The plant itself was waist high and is still producing many peppers. These things are ATOMIC!! HANDLE WITH CARE!! I mean literally. Don't do what I did several years ago; while cooking some amazing venison chili and chuggin a few coronas, I had to go to the bathroom and Habanero residue was still on my hands. I need say no more.........

So while picking these grenades I was so excited to test them out. I picked one up, smelt it and I could literally smell the heat. My mouth started to water, my brain new that I was about to do something stupid and I did. I bit right into it. I thought...... not so bad....... WOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That bite was a delayed reaction for the heat that ravaged through my mouth. OMG!! HOT, HOT, STUPID SERIOUS HEAT HOT. But sooooo Goood!!

The peppers thrived off a good mixture of compost and regular feeding of fertilizer. With all of this Georgia heat the peppers are in nirvana. To give you an idea of the type of heat habanero produces, I will compare them to jalapeno peppers. All peppers are rated on the heat index in scoville units. Green peppers are obviously Zero; jalapenos are between 2000 and 5000 scoville units and Habaneros, "the devils candy," run at amazing 200,000 - 300,000 scoville units. HOT AS HELL!! BUT UMMMMM SOO GOOD!! But please before cooking with these WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE HEADING TO THE BATHROOM!!!