Yea, I'm gonna set something up in the garage under lights to bring stuff into on the nights where it dips below 30. I really don't want to risk losing the white pitcher, or really even the boob tube since they're both mature plants (and the white pitchers are native to warmer climates). I have several sets of 4 ft fluorescent fixtures and some spare mirrors that should make it fairly easy to keep something going indoors. As far as the rest of the pitcher plants and sundews go, I'm going to leave them out unless we get a bitter cold streak. The purple pitchers should be good regardless. I kept what I believe was S. alata 10+ years ago, and they thrived through years of neglect. I think that plant finally died simply because it went dry for too long, or perhaps watering it straight from city water finally caught up with it after a few years. We'll see how it turns out.

But yea, the fall UNCC plant sale was a little on the skimpy side as far as other stuff they put up. Even though a good amount of stuff should be planted in the fall, they just don't sell as much since everyone wants to plant in the spring. I just wish I had been there early Friday to see what I missed out on. I want a red leucophylla, and I know they have them!

10/22/2013 1:37:04 AM

Should I pull up my potatoes? They've only been in the dirt for 7 weeks but the leaves are still green. Wondering if the cold temps tonight will kill them off. They are in a container.

10/23/2013 8:30:11 AM

So it's supposed to frost tonight. I planted my Lettuce, Spinach, Cabbage, Broccoli, Arugula, and Carrots from seeds on 9/17. Everything has come up and looks great, and I thinned them all last weekend. Is a frost this early going to totally fuck me?

10/23/2013 10:38:43 AM

I've got all my winter plants still in pots. I've been meaning to get them in the ground but just can't find the time. Maybe that's going to be a good thing tonight, I guess I should bring them all in.

10/23/2013 11:10:33 AM

Wow, my garden is really flipping me the bird. My poblano plants, which are four feet tall but never produced a single fruit (the flowers kept dying? or the buds? probably not pollinated) just started growing their first two peppers. Fuck you poblano plants.

10/23/2013 11:34:09 AM

haha, did the frost get them last night? I've tried twice to grow pineapple sage here and had buds one or two days away from opening when the first frost came both times.

10/24/2013 8:36:59 AM

Mine look like they survived the frost, but it's looking like we're expecting frost the next 3 nights. So I am definitely going to cover them with plastic tonight.

10/24/2013 9:44:49 AM

Survived the frost thanks to the plastic. I did go ahead and harvest all the rest of my bell peppers the day before the first frost just to be safe. I was waiting on them to turn colors, but I figured I better go ahead and grab them before I lost them.

10/28/2013 9:17:38 AM

nice harvest. I just let all my stuff go and did not care. I had hoped to be out of this house by now, sigh

10/28/2013 12:17:04 PM

The asshole poblano plants I mentioned have not earned enough respect from me to warrant a plastic cover. I am going to let them die a horrible death for drinking my water and never once bringing a flower to fruit.

10/28/2013 2:05:02 PM

killing frost last night. gardening season is officially over for me.

[Edited on October 29, 2013 at 10:51 AM. Reason : except cleaning up dead stuff]

10/29/2013 10:51:26 AM

I'm still getting peppers. And I finally got my cold weather plants out of the pots and in the ground! Collards, Broccoli and a few kinds of lettuce. I'm having a salad tonight (and probably every night or two for at least a few weeks, until the cold weather kills the lettuce. my collards have lasted through the winter the last few years, so hopefully i'll be getting those for months.)

[Edited on October 29, 2013 at 10:57 AM. Reason : ]

10/29/2013 10:57:05 AM

Pulled up my potatoes. The sweet potato was about the size of my pinky. I pulled 4 russets about the size of a cue ball.

11/2/2013 2:29:22 PM

So an old lady told me yesterday that I should "trim" my spinach with scissors to make it grow faster and fuller. Any truth to this?

11/4/2013 9:42:37 AM

i don't know exactly what you mean by 'trim'


they don't really bolt in the fall, so just pull the outer leaves to keep the center growing. frequent harvesting is really what keeps them going.

11/4/2013 1:40:15 PM

I finally found the PVC clamps I was looking for.

http://www.veggiecare.com/clips.html

11/9/2013 8:17:03 PM

did you order some? that's to protect your fruit?

11/12/2013 1:05:42 PM

I had a delicous mess of collards this weekend

11/12/2013 1:12:03 PM

I ordered 2 sets of the jumbo clips. It's to build my mini-greenhouses so I can break them down in the spring.

11/13/2013 8:56:31 PM

I put plastic over my lettuce the last couple nights, i think it survived.

Collards and Broccoli look fine

11/14/2013 2:16:41 PM

Winter garden giveth.....romaine, spinach, and arugula.



[Edited on December 3, 2013 at 6:47 PM. Reason : pic]

12/3/2013 6:46:13 PM

that's so awesome. the only thing my place is growing is icicles


i might take some pictures of my indoor plant setup and post them. the problem is that it looks better from outside, but i don't have a good vantage for a shot on most of my windows.

12/4/2013 1:13:59 PM

my lettuce pretty much died even though i put plastic bags over them when it got down to freezing. collards are doing pretty well, although something keeps eating them (a rabbit, I assume). The same rabbit completely destroyed one broccoli plant, stripped the leaves entirely off another, and a third is doing fine.

i've been spraying rotten egg all around, i think i read that it's supposed to keep deer and rabbit away, but it's not working

12/4/2013 1:42:11 PM

I think frost got my broccoli. The plants are all still nice and full, but the leaves have turned partially white. Hopefully it'll make it, but it's supposed to get down into the 20s again next week so I'm not very optimistic.

12/5/2013 8:26:36 AM

I decided to fight the wintertime blues by purchasing two small Nepenthes. I've dragged almost everything else to the garage to keep under lights until it warms up outside, except for a sweet pitcher and some of my pink/roundleaf sundews. The tropical pitchers were a tad yellow when I first got them, so we'll see if I can get them to look a little better. Only posting about it because there is no houseplant thread.

12/6/2013 6:21:37 PM

Can't wait for this snow to kill the rest of our struggling plants this winter.

1/27/2014 1:20:59 PM