Back in October when I brought in all my potted tomato and pepper plants and dug up two super hot pepper plants to stick in a couple more pots for winter, my dear friend Mrs. Micawber asked about aphids. You see, pepper plants are among the garden pests' favorite dining establishment.
Well, I finally surrendered over the weekend. I've been tenderly cleaning my pepper plant leaves daily, sometimes twice a day, with dish soapy water, then rinsing them, and I don't have the time to continue investing in that icky activity any longer. I put the pepper plants (and a beloved infected basil plant) outside. We were 12 degrees and 11 degrees respectively overnight. Bye bye aphids! Probably see you next year, unfortunately.
Alas, not all is lost. I had planted four breeds of peppers in one of my empty pots prior to bringing in the outdoor peppers. It will be a while before they bloom, but no longer will they be a temptation for one of my least favorite garden terrorists!
Two of my potted tomato plants did not survive the transition to indoor living, specifically the beefsteaks. I didn't have any more beefsteak seeds, so I ordered more. Oh, boy, did I go seed crazy! As much as I love crocheting, quilting, photography and cycling, oh, my goodness, my gardening addiction is sometimes out of control!!!
I planted some tomato seeds right away in new, fresh soil. The seedlings are beginning to appear.
The tomato plants I started indoors from seed in about April never produced any blossoms until after I brought them indoors. The tomato plants my neighbor started indoors last winter and then shared with me in June (because there were too many for my neighbor's raised-bed garden) have been my primary tomato source since then. I'm still getting about three little tomatoes every week. If I save and quarter them, they are enough for a salad. I mean, I would LOVE more tomatoes in every salad, but I take (and enjoy!) what I can get.
About a week after Thanksgiving, I plucked all the rest of my salad greens and made the yummiest southwest turkey salad ever.
The first "salad bowl" terracotta (I now have three) in which I grow my greens (and replant my onion cuttings) was sporting some depleted soil after more than a year of indoor sprouts and seedlings. So I put fresh soil in that, too. The new seedlings are just beginning to poke their heads out.
And now, my first amaryllis of the year has bloomed! I wasn't sure I'd have flowers for Christmas, but one of my little butterfly bulbs has spread its wings!
Oh what an exciting post! (Except for the aphid bit.) Seedlings are always a miracle.
ReplyDeleteAnd you have JACOB'S LADDER seeds!!!!! One of my very favorite wildflowers. I've only seen them grow in one spot here and I look for them there every year.
Enjoy all those plants and flowers.