still no frost!

[garden5]

We had two nights of light frost a few weeks ago here. I covered my bells and jalepenos, and they are continuing to bloom! I'm almost thinking about transplanting a jalepeno to a container and bringing it inside. It would be so nice to have fresh jalepenos all winter. : ) Anyone know if this will work?

The rest of it I just let go. I'm so sick of canning and freezing. I think I wore out my favorite chefs knife this summer! We had an awesome growing season this year!

MG, here is a thread we had going on about [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29493&highlight=growing+peppers+indoors]Indoor Peppers[/url] not too long ago. Some good info in there.

[mansgirl]

Thanks!

[sheeshshe]

welp, we had our first frost!!!

[garden5]

That stinks, She. Did any of the plants make it through. Please tell me that you didn't have any tomatoes still on the plants uncovered.

[sheeshshe]

oh my tomatoes have been toast for over a month nwo. I thought we were going to get a frost in early sept and so I let the blight just go and have at it. all the tomatoes are covered in blight and are useless for over a month now. so yeah. and I haven't had time to pull them up. so I'm sure I'll be paying for this next year.

[mansgirl]

Well, you maybe just get a few good volunteers! : ) I had a grape tomato escape my notice while I was weeding this summer. He snuck right in with my cherries and I had a bigger selection than I bargained for! : )

My tomatoes have been cashed too. We actually didn't get hit by blight this year *gasp* but I was so sick of them, I just kind of let them go. Isn't that terrible of me?

[applestar]

Oh, I'm right there with you! Pretty tired of picking tomatoes and then them staring accusingly at me in the kitchen to eat them or process them somehow.

I did a walk through the garden this afternoon since a couple of upper 30's nights are in the forecast (of course after that, it's supposed to go back up to the 50's ) When I came back, I had my shirt front lifted into an apron *piled* with green~blushing tomatoes and peppers. "WHY DID I PICK THESE? WHY AM I SAVING THEM?" was what I was saying as I poured them into a paper-lined cardboard box. Ah well.

[TZ -OH6]

I'm harvesting unripe peppers now. The forecast is for possible frost followed by warmer rainy days before another frost warning. Its not worth it to wait. They will either turn red in the house or not. The remaining tomatoes are sickly but edible...I'm just waiting for frost to kill them so I don't have to deal with them.

Then I have to dig up the garden and plant garlic.

[stella1751]

I think I will pick everything today. Right now, it's 33 degrees outside. Yesterday's low of 28 finished off everything but the peppers, peas, and portions of the beans. The peppers were covered, but even with the tarp, the tops of the Habaneros were badly burned. Like TZ, I will let the peppers finish maturing in the house. It's just not worth trying to squeeze one more day out of them, what with a frigid system moving in on Sunday.

It's hard to see them go, but I think I'm ready to take a gardening break for a while

[garden5]

Stella, remember by soup-can of boiling water under a bucket trick? Well, I checked out my plants, and all the leaves on my one chili pepper plant are wilted, and it was one of the two that were under the buckets. The other one was fine, however.

I'm not sure what happened. My best guess is that the steam from the hot water in the cold air put too much humidity around the plant and caused it to suffer as the water cooled and the cold nighttime air cooled down all of the moisture around the plant.

Next time, I'll keep the hot water in a sealed container.

[stella1751]

Garden5, I use large plastic laundry detergent jugs, the two-gallon ones, filled with hot water. If you are really determined to keep plants alive, taking a couple of these outside at 1 or 2 AM will generally do the trick down to say, 25 degrees. However, getting up that early can be a pain, so this is a trick I reserve for the spring, when either my enthusiasm is high or I did not plan ahead for that last May snow

[soil]

use salt water in a sealed black container, it holds more heat than un salted water. we toss a few 55 gallon barrels filled in the greenhouse in winter to help with the cold. but the concept works down to 1 gallon milk jugs around the plants.

[applestar]

GREAT TIPS Soil and Stella!
I think I'd have to write SALT WATER in big bold letters on the jugs though, to make sure not to pour them around the plants by accident....

[soil]

GREAT TIPS Soil and Stella!
I think I'd have to write SALT WATER in big bold letters on the jugs though, to make sure not to pour them around the plants by accident....

yes lol, or you can spraypaint the jugs/buckets/barrels black. which helps them with heat even more and lets you know black = death water.

[garden5]

It looks like the death of my chili pepper plant was not in vane as it as spawned these great tips frost Stella and Soil .

How much salt has to be in the water?

Do the plants have to be in an enclosure for this to work? That is, if I just put these jugs around a plant that's out in the open, wouldn't they radiate their heat off much too quickly?

Great information, all.

[stella1751]

It looks like the death of my chili pepper plant was not in vane as it as spawned these great tips frost Stella and Soil .

How much salt has to be in the water?

Do the plants have to be in an enclosure for this to work? That is, if I just put these jugs around a plant that's out in the open, wouldn't they radiate their heat off much too quickly?

Great information, all.

Oh. I should have mentioned that. Yes, the plants need to be covered. Sometimes I will leave seedlings out in the grow rack in the spring rather than tote the trays in and out of the house, using it like a miniature greenhouse. The top three shelves will be seedlings; the bottom shelf will have two or three of these two-gallon jugs. When I zip up the cover after placing the jugs in, steam quickly clouds the inside. I think the plants like the hot moisture, too!

[garden5]

Thanks, Stella. I kind of figured that even if an enclosure wasn't required, it would still be a good idea.

Be careful with your seedlings because too much of that moisture will increase your chances of damping-off, a fungus that kills seedlings by making them look pinched-off at the base.

I'm sure more established plant's wouldn't mind the humidity, though.

[mansgirl]

Oh, I'm right there with you! Pretty tired of picking tomatoes and then them staring accusingly at me in the kitchen to eat them or process them somehow.

I did a walk through the garden this afternoon since a couple of upper 30's nights are in the forecast (of course after that, it's supposed to go back up to the 50's ) When I came back, I had my shirt front lifted into an apron *piled* with green~blushing tomatoes and peppers. "WHY DID I PICK THESE? WHY AM I SAVING THEM?" was what I was saying as I poured them into a paper-lined cardboard box. Ah well.

lol! That's exactly what I was doing right down to the "shirt apron" and the wondering why. Thankfully I managed to get most of my peppers either chopped (bells) or ground (for drying in the oven on a cold winter day) and frozen. And I actually JUST finished with my tomatoes. I let them sit and sit in the garage thinking I would make more salsa. By the time half of them were bad I bagged that idea and just canned the good half of the tomatoes instead.

How'd you end up doing?

[mansgirl]

Now I have a bushel of apples that I bought from the local orchard on closing day sitting in the garage giving me the guilt trip. Thought it would be SUCH a good idea to can applesauce. It was such a good deal! Grr.. I'm all canned out! I keep saying to myself.. "Suck it up Mans and get to canning!" But I still keep walking by those apples. Thankfully they'll last a while.

[applestar]

If applesauce is what you're after, you can always peel and core then freeze them. That's what I did with the bruised and imperfect apples last year when my apple tree produced a huge crop. Depending on the variety, you can also slice them for apple pies and cobblers and freeze, though that can be a little softer than fresh. Apple cake too. I suppose another thing to do is bake the pies and cakes first then freeze. How about individ. sized ones to give away as holiday gifts?

I continued to "pick" ripe tomatoes out of the boxes. All the good sandwich sized ones and fresh eating ones. Cooking them into omelets and making salsa, etc. Twice weekly clean out of the boxes to cook up iffy ones and toss out bad ones. I've already made 3 large pots of chili and curry, and Once I toss the bad ones out, I think I'll be down to 2 boxes from the 4 I started out with. Even when you're a eating fast food sandwich, being able to sub out the tasteless excuse of tomato with your own makes it seem less unhealthy.... . Ah, I'm going to miss my cardboard box tomatoes when they're all gone, however much I grumble.