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This year we planted a veritable container garden full of veggies and herbs. We have two banana pepper plants, two tomato plants, one green bell pepper plant, one habanero plant, thyme, rosemary, basil, lavender, and a lime tree. Well, and also the "ancestral cactus" - a cutting from a cactus plant that came from my great-grandparents plant in Italy. Or so the story goes (Italy --> NJ --> NC --> various pieces all over the place).
How long can I expect my vegetable plants to do well/produce stuff? I figured once it gets cooler, they'd die and I would just uproot them/dump them out and start over next year. None of these will come back, right?
Second - is it possible to get my herbs through the winter? I'm pretty sure the basil won't last, but what about thyme? My rosemary moved with us from NC and is thriving, though this past winter seemed to just about kill it.
And while I'm at it - any experience with lavender? Does it just grow slowly? It hasn't seemed to blossom or anything at all, but the green leafy parts have grown substantially and seem healthy. Just no purple flowery parts yet (I'm a novice gardener, can you tell?)
And finally - a fun fact: we have a banana pepper plant in a large pot, which as been sitting next to an habanero plant for the whole summer. The banana peppers have come in wonderfully and DH cut one off to slice up in a salad. Thinking that banana peppers are mild, he threw all the slice in to the salad. A few minutes later he was practically choking from the heat - and this is someone who LOVES spicy food. He had to pick out the rest of the slices and toss them because they were too hot to eat. He was really confused about why the banana peppers were so hot and did some research. Apparently, pepper plants that are in close proximity can cross pollinate, so because the banana pepper plant was right next to the habaneros, it seems the BPs became SUPER hot! I thought that was really interesting.
How long can I expect my vegetable plants to do well/produce stuff? I figured once it gets cooler, they'd die and I would just uproot them/dump them out and start over next year. None of these will come back, right?
Second - is it possible to get my herbs through the winter? I'm pretty sure the basil won't last, but what about thyme? My rosemary moved with us from NC and is thriving, though this past winter seemed to just about kill it.
And while I'm at it - any experience with lavender? Does it just grow slowly? It hasn't seemed to blossom or anything at all, but the green leafy parts have grown substantially and seem healthy. Just no purple flowery parts yet (I'm a novice gardener, can you tell?)
And finally - a fun fact: we have a banana pepper plant in a large pot, which as been sitting next to an habanero plant for the whole summer. The banana peppers have come in wonderfully and DH cut one off to slice up in a salad. Thinking that banana peppers are mild, he threw all the slice in to the salad. A few minutes later he was practically choking from the heat - and this is someone who LOVES spicy food. He had to pick out the rest of the slices and toss them because they were too hot to eat. He was really confused about why the banana peppers were so hot and did some research. Apparently, pepper plants that are in close proximity can cross pollinate, so because the banana pepper plant was right next to the habaneros, it seems the BPs became SUPER hot! I thought that was really interesting.
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