Tag: peppers

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30s next few nights

I put towels, newspapers in pots, glass jars, and plastic jars over the tender plants (peppers, tomatillos, tomatos, ground cherries). The unplanted ones will go in the garage or house.
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Another night, another earwig

I put petroleum jelly around the bases of the four test plants. I took pictures of two. I also covered the Brunswick cabbage again with a jar since it got eaten a lot last night when uncovered.

You can see the messy petroleum jelly right near dirt, at base of ground cherry stem. I took care to make sure no other parts of the plant were touching the ground.
Here’s the poblano. Its seed leaves (cotelydons) were touching the ground so I put the petroleum jelly above them.
While I was finishing up the other two plants in the earwig battle zone (raised bed 7), I noticed the newly planted William’s pride apple has flower buds. Wow! It might even get pollinated as the neighbors have a crabapple tree in bloom…
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Quick checkup before work

I need to put a cover back on the Brunswick cabbage.
Briar very interested in oil traps. 🤦‍♀️ Can’t see in them well but there were earwigs last night.
Salvia greggii started blooming yesterday.
One leaf got chewed up a lot on tomatillo.
Likewise on tomato. I’ll try petroleum jelly on stems tonight.
Pepper seems ok.
Peruvian ground cherry also seems about like yesterday.
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Testing summer plants in the land of earwigs

I set out some of the tomato cages today. In the raised bed with the worst earwig depredations, I put one each of poblano pepper, Rio Grande verde tomatillo, Tommy Toe tomato, and Peruvian ground cherry.

I put out these four plants to see if the earwigs attack them and if so I’ll try petroleum jelly around the stem. I have other plants of all these so if any get completely consumed it won’t be the end of the world.

There have been fewer earwigs out in that bed since I’ve started putting out diatomaceous earth. However, in the adjacent bed, they have now moved onto a lettuce that was less dusted. So, maybe it’s helping?

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Pepper potting

Paula rightly pointed out that the baby peppers needed more room to grow.

Thanks to some extra pots from Elyse and containers that Paula and I saved up, we were able to put all the big peppers and Peruvian ground cherries into larger containers. Now they are hanging out with the tomatoes and tomatillos all in their big containers.

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Insulation power of snow

We only made it to -8°F (-22°C — I only really comprehend cold in celsius because of my time in Canada being the previously only time I experienced cold this low) when I got up this morning around 7am.

The gallon jugs in the makeshift faucet boxes were both very cold but unfrozen so I have hope for the pipes in the adjacent walls.

I was really fascinated to see the frost on the window this morning. There’s frost right down until the snow that’s piled on the sill. That snow is only an inch or two thick because of the depth of the window sill outside. Gives me hope for the strawberries buried under the snow! (At least if the cold before the snow didn’t kill them.)
I left the plant window completely open to the house this morning: no curtains or cat shield plexiglass. It only got to 50°F but ice still on bottom metal and on lower glass surfaces.
Amazingly, yesterday’s affected eggplant and peppers have not died. I wonder if it was just ice at the very bottom of the pots, where it touched the metal? Fingers crossed they will continue to recover. The Salvia cuttings also seem hopeful.
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Unexpected freeze

One corner of the plant window froze!

The Salvia greggii cuttings and one set of seedlings got frozen. You can see how the dirt is expanded out! Seedlings lost were eggplants, bullnose pepper, and Craig’s grande jalapeño. You can see the plants just to the right appear to be fine with no frozen soil.
Juncos getting this morning’s sunflower seeds.
This one junco hopped around with snow on its back, presumably from overnight.
The heated bird bath is holding up well!
Several outside window sills show this neat layering from each round of snow yesterday.
The inside of several windows frosted. The blinds did a good job insulating in both directions! It all melts after I open the blinds.
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The big freeze: an outdoor stratification event?

Supposed to be really cold (with highs not above freezing) later this week, so I figured I should get my lately acquired native and wildflower seeds in the ground. These included desert globemallow, blue flax, Liatris mucronata, and mystery Aster sp. (the latter two from Mom, thanks Mom!!). The first three I also put some seeds in the fridge for manual stratification and the first two I saved a bit to try planting in the fall if the spring planting doesn’t take.

I also had a few indoor seedings to catch up on. Judy kindly sent me some Chimayo chile pepper seeds, my Jimmy Nardello peppers never sprouted, my ground cherries only had two sprouts, and the poor Tommy Toe tomatoes died of cat and damping off.

Seeds before I put their 1/4″ dirt on them.