Fresh Peppers in December
If you remember, I told you about the ‘Pizza my Heart’ pepper that I grew in a container by the front door this summer. When cold weather threatened, I decided to move it indoors for the winter (more on that here). I hasn’t set any fruit, but the small fruits that were on it have grown and ripened.
Yesterday, I harvested a nice batch of peppers to cook up with onions for breakfast. I’ll keep watching the plant, monitoring any blooms and fruit. It is under a grow light in the warmest part of the house.
There are other edible things growing indoors during the winter, most are potted perennials herbs. Greens and cilantro are two other things I start from see and grow under lights, I haven’t gotten around to starting any of those yet. Hopefully this week I’ll get arugula, lettuce, and cilantro seeded and growing for harvest around the new year.
What are you growing indoors for the table?
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The Basement Garden
Each year I seem to end up with more and more plants that get overwintered in the basement. This year is not exception. In fact, about a fourth of our basement is currently housing pots of all shapes and sizes.
There are post of edible herbs under grow lights for winter seasoning and large terra cotta pots filled with hydrangeas and other tender plants. I also always seem to have a dozen or so trees, shrubs, and plants that don’t get planted before the cold weather hits. I find overwintering them in the basement works quite well.
Do you have any tender plants that you overwinter in a shed, garage, or basement?
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Indoor Citrus
I’ve been growing citrus in containers for years, I think my first little lemon tree was purchased 18 years ago. Currently, I have three citrus trees, a variegated lemon, a lime, and a meyer lemon.
For a while my citrus trees struggled indoors during the winter, then I read in ‘A Year at North Hill‘ that they prefer being pretty cold during the winter months. I started keeping them in the dark basement (with a window nearby) and they started doing very well. For more reading on keeping edible houseplants, read ‘Growing Tasty Tropical Plants‘.
My citrus trees will bloom and set fruit while overwintering in the basement and they have much less issue with scale, spider mites, and the other common issues that plague houseplants.
I’m pretty excited, because my little lime tree is 10 years old this year (I got it at Monticello back in 2010 when it was 3 years old). I harvested three limes already and it set about 50 this summer while outside.
Have you ever grown citrus as a houseplant?
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Needing a Trim
I have had a potted rosemary in the house for years, this particular plant is probably 5 years old. I keep meaning to plant it in the soil during the summer, I always seem to forget. Instead it seems happy on the back porch during the summer.
When I brought it in last week I noticed it was getting a bit unruly! I’m amazed that it’s so large since I frequently cut branches for cooking. When I prune it this time, I’ll definitely be taking cutting to have another plant or two for myself and perhaps a few for gifting. With this, I have quite a collection of indoor herbs, more about the rest tomorrow.
Do you have any herbs as houseplants? Which is your favorite?
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Zipping it Up….
If you’ve been following here for a while, you know I’ve been making zipper pouches for charity. Last summer, a friend and I made 100 to send to an orphanage in Indonesia of girls affected by the tsunami a few years ago. After that project, I decided to make 400 *gulp*, one for each child in the school I work with in Colombia. It was definitely a lesson in perseverance, many times I thought I was never going to finish. But I am finally finished!!!!! This bag is filled with 200 of the zipper pouches, the other 200 are already back in Ohio.
I have been collecting school supplies and raising funds to purchase additional supplies (stickers, erasers, small toys, etc). to fill the bag. So far I have quite a stockpile going. In February, a group of 15 is heading down to the school and they will be taking them to the kids. I’m looking forward to seeing photos of them receiving the pouches. Most of these kids are so poor they can barely afford clothing, let alone good school supplies. The charity I work for runs a sponsor a child type program where we raise scholarships to pay for their education.
This project was not only a lesson in perseverance for me, but also a great lesson in the value of small pieces of time. I very rarely sat down and made large quantities of these pouches. Most of the work was done in 5-15 minute segments when I had a few minutes here and there. Over the course of a year, a lot can be accomplished in seemingly small chunks of time.
Now that this project is finished, I’m moving on to make more zipper pouches for my marketplace. Yesterday I made the one pictured above, which is probably my most favorite of any I have made. These pouches will be slightly bigger (9″x6″), many of them will have metal made in USA zippers, and there will only be a few made in each pattern. I will most likely make different sizes as well. For each zipper pouch purchased, I’ll make another zipper pouch to donate somewhere in the future. No doubt I’ll find another charity that can use them, when I have enough, I’ll send them along. If you’ve been looking for a few gifts for friends/family, check out the market when it launches.
What charitable projects have you been working on recently?
