Easy steps on how to overwinter your chilli and capsicum plants to have mature plants and bigger harvests for next season. If you have grown chillies, peppers or capsicums over the summer months, you may be able to overwinter them to keep for the next season. Around this time of year, in Autumn, you will notice your chilli and capsicum plants start to die off, lose their leaves or stop producing full-sized fruit. Chilli or peppers are warm-loving plants and do not like the cooler days of autumn and winter. It is around this time that aphids and other bugs will arrive and attack your plants when they are in a vulnerable state. Rather than ripping them out and starting again next season, you can prepare to overwinter your plants.
What does “Overwintering” Mean?
“Overwintering” is a term used when you prepare your plants to keep them alive/ semi-dormant through winter, and then they will be able to be planted out during the warmer spring months. Some plants are classed as annuals because they die off in cool weather, and then you need to replant them in Spring and Summer. But if you overwinter them and keep them somewhere warm, you will be able to convert them into perennials and grow more food without spending any extra money next season.
Why do you Overwinter Chilli Plants?
There are some great benefits to overwintering your plants. They already have an established root system, and this means the plant will be able to start back up again when the conditions are right and will produce quicker and in more abundance than a new young plant. This means your second-year chilli or capsicum harvests will often be earlier and much more fruitful! Which is definitely something we want!
How to Overwinter Chilli Pepper plants?
There are a few ways to overwinter your chilli and capsicum, and most of it comes down to how cold your climate is. Here in Perth, we get very little frost so I leave my plants where they are over winter. If you live in a colder climate where you get dramatic drops in temperature and frosts, then you will want to pot up your chilli and bring them into a warm spot in your patio, greenhouse or inside. I grow mine in my pallet planters, which, in winter, I move so they receive sun nearly all day. They are also in a sheltered spot close to the house and fence, so they seem to do well overwintering in situ.
The two chilli plants I have in this planter have been here for 2 or 3 seasons and produced so many chillies this summer!
To prepare them for winter:
1. Prune Your Plants
I cut the plants back to around 50% or about 20 cm high. This can seem brutal, but it means the plant has fewer branches to feed and can concentrate its energy on staying alive. Make your cuts at “major intersections”. This is where multiple stems shoot out from one node.
2. Keep Them Frost Free
If you live in a colder climate that gets frosts, then carefully dig your plants out of the garden and plant them in a pot. Keep your potted chilli plant somewhere warm and sunny until the last frost has passed in Spring before planting them back out.
How to Prepare Overwintered Chilli Plants for Spring?
Once spring arrives and there are no more frosty days, plant the potted Chilli plants back into a warm, full sun location. Give the plants a good feed of organic seaweed fertiliser and they will shoot off lots of new growth. It won’t take long until they will have new growth and will start producing flowers and fruit.
If you have any questions on how to overwinter chilli pepper plants, leave me a comment below 🙂
Links included in this post might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my blog so that I can continue to provide you with free content.
Composting is a great way to reduce waste, build soil and grow healthy thriving plants. Part of a naturally occurring cycle that feeds an ecosystem. Urban composting may mean smaller systems need to be used but they can still be very effective. I have a tumbler compost bin and now I have made a DIY worm tower to go in my Container Gardens. This tower is made from recycled PVC pipe we had left over and a recycled plant pot was used for the lid. The worms love it and so do my plants!
Urban Composting
You don’t need to have a large garden to start composting your veggie scraps at home. There are some great urban composting solutions including Tumbler Composts, Bokashi and Worm Farms. There is even an app called Share Waste that connects people to others that have composts in your local area. Whichever solution you choose it is a fantastic way to reduce your waste and stop it from going to landfill. Food scraps that end up in landfill do not break down in the correct environment so they produce methane emissions that contribute to our climate change crisis. The more scraps you can use up or put back into the earth the better!
How to Make a DIY Composting Worm Tower?
Using things you already have at home is a great way to recycle and get the most out of everything you use. Left over PVC pipes are great for turning into worm towers. The worms can go between the garden and the worm tower to feed and help break down the veggie scraps. This will in turn provide natural fertiliser for the plants to thrive. Creating a balanced and diverse ecosystem is so import for healthy gardens.
To make these I used a 6 inch PVC pipe and cut it down so that it was the height of my pallet plants.
We then drilled holes around the bottom half of the pipe approximately 10mm in diameter. Big enough for worms to fit through.
I then dug a hole in the centre of my pallet planter and buried the pipe with the holes at the bottom and covered the sides back up with soil. Try to bury as much of the pipe as you can as to reduce it’s exposure to the sun.
A lid is important to stop any flies, rats, mice or household pets from getting in and eating the scraps. It will also keep any smells away so your gardens don’t give off a bad odour. The lid we made from the bottom of a plastic garden pot we had spare. I tested out a few for size and chose on that fit tightly over the pipe. It needs to be secure so that the wind won’t blow it off or animals cant easily overturn it. If your pot has drainage holes in the bottom cover them up too.
Once the pipe and lid are secured in place you can start adding your veggie scraps. Use only scraps that will break down relatively quickly and do not place any meat or dairy scraps. You can also add a sprinkle of soil on top of the layers to reduce odours if it is a concern.
IMPORTANT
Make sure your recycled materials are food safe and haven’t been used previously with any chemicals.
Healthy soil grows healthy vegetables!
Holly 🌱
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
Are you growing Zucchini but the fruit seems to shrivel and die before being ready? If so, you may have a pollination issue. Hand-pollinating Zucchini is super easy to do once you know how. Today I will share 4 east steps with images so you can maximize your Zucchini harvests! This also works with Pumpkins, Melons, and Cucumbers.
Step 1: Identify a Male and Female Flower
Firstly, to hand pollinate Zucchini you need to know how to identify the male and female flowers. The best time to do this is early in the morning when the flowers are open.
Female Flower
The female zucchini flower has a small fruit at the base.The centre stigma of the female flower has multiple parts to form a circular shape.
Male Flower
The male flower has just a plain stem and flower with the centre stamen a single point covered in pollen.
Generally, the plant will produce a bunch of male flowers first which is nature’s way of attracting pollinators to the garden. Then it will alternate between male and female. I like to plant a few of the same variety as sometimes you can have female fruit but no male flowers open. Early mornings are best because the flowers will be open and then they will close up to capture the pollen.
You can either use a paintbrush to simply transfer the pollen from the male stamen to the female stigma but I find it easier to remove the male flower and use that to transfer the pollen.
Step 2: Pick a male flower
Pick the male flower and remove the petals.
Step 3: Dab pollen onto female Stigma
Then you are left with a pollen-covered stamen to transfer onto the female flowers.Transfer the pollen onto the female flowers to hand pollinate Zucchini.
This will make sure your zucchini are getting pollinated so you can enjoy the abundant crop!
This method can be used for other fruiting vegetables such as pumpkins, melons, cucumbers. I tend to use a small paintbrush for the melons and cucumbers though as the flowers are much smaller and delicate.
It is also important to try and attract wildlife to your garden for natural pollination, to find out what flowers to plant, click below.
Do you hand pollinate in your garden? Leave me a comment below.
Holly 🌱
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
I much prefer offering natural and sustainable solutions rather than a pointless list of negative things not to do. But this topic is something I am very passionate about and something new gardeners often get caught up in (including myself when I first started growing food many years ago). You will find my list of natural pest management remedies below 🙂
When you first start growing food you will get slugs and snails eating your new precious veggies and will want to INSTANTLY fix the situation. I see some newbie gardeners pour on huge amounts of snail bait to combat the hungry predators. This is POISON, not only will it kill the slugs and snails but is also deadly to cats and dogs. Now, if it can kill dogs, having it covering the soil and getting watered in and absorbed into the soil that your vegetable will feed on, especially those root vegetables, cannot be good for us.
If you’re reading this and thinking…I do this..you are not alone. It is something that has been a “norm” for way too long. But the first step you can take is safely throw out your poisonous slug bait. I would place it in something that animals can’t get into in case it crosses paths or they get into the bins. Even better, contact your local council to find the best way to safely dispose of it.
Watch my latest video
There are plenty of ways to naturally combat pests and have safe and nontoxic vegetables for your family.
Eggshells – Save your eggshells and dry in the oven on low. Then crush into small pieces and place in a jar. Sprinkle this around the base of your vegetables and the slugs and snails do not like the surface so will stay away. It also adds some beneficial calcium to your soil.
Plant extras – Plant a few extra plants in different areas of your garden so that if one gets attacked you still have plenty 🙂
Encourage beneficial insects – Plant diversity and flowers to create habitats and attract beneficial insects. You could even make an insect hotel using lots of different sized sticks and logs for them to live 🐞🐝
Manually remove – Go out and check your garden and remove the pests by hand. I often do this when I am on the phone, its a great way to multitask.
Beer Traps – Cheaper the better, there is no need to use up any fancy craft beer. Place little containers around your vegetable patch and this will capture the slugs and snails before they get to your precious veggies 🍺
Coffee grounds – Often your workplace or local cafe will be throwing these out anyway. Sprinkle around the base. Only add a small amount as it will change the PH of the soil ☕️
Companion Plants – Often very fragrant plants will repel pests. These are plants such as: Marigolds and Rosemary 🌼🌿
Soapy Water – this is great for aphids. All my dishwashing liquid is non-toxic and greywater friendly so I just mix up some diluted in water and paint it on the new growth that is affected by aphids. This is the last resort though as it may harm beneficial insects too. Try and isolate the coverage.
Chilli spray – Mix up some chilli powder in some water and spray on your affected plants. I have read crushed garlic as well but that is bad for dogs so I would avoid.
Healthy Soil – growing healthy soil by composting and mulching helps keep your plants strong and healthy 💪 this means that if they do get bugs they can survive and thrive after an infestation.
Sacrificial plants – Usually one plant will just get attacked and I just leave it. It usually means the bugs will only eat that plant and the rest will be fine! Sorry for that one plant but it’s feeding nature…🌿
Chickens and ducks are also a great way to integrate natural pest management into your garden. Win-win 🐛🦆
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
Planting Flowers for the Bees is high on my current list of gardening goals. Bees are such an important element in the garden and it wasn’t until I really started trying to grow my own food that I realised just how important they are! Previously, although, I knew they were important for pollination, I had mixed feelings towards bees because my dad is deadly allergic. One Bee sting will quickly send him into anaphylactic shock and growing up this was such a scary reality. Today, I continue to learn more and more about bees and I am amazed at how incredible they really are.
Trying to grow food without pollinators can be hard and sometimes impossible without intervention. If you have ever tried growing pumpkin or watermelon you will understand what I mean! It is so important that we try and look out for our bee friends and provide them with healthy, organic, pesticide-free gardens. I am constantly planting flowers for the bees and also letting things go to seed, so there is always an abundance of flowers and bees in my garden.
Having water available for the bees is also another great idea, especially in Perth’s warm climate. If you have a bird bath you can place a flat rock in it so that the bees can stop by for a drink. Below are some of the plants that I grow and the Bees love!
Top 5 Flowers for the Bees
1. Rosemary – This is my number one plant for the bees. There is always a hive of activity on my rosemary plant and I love seeing so many bees in my garden. Of course, it is a staple in the kitchen as well!
2. Borage – Bees love borage flowers and they are so pretty and edible too! They are usually blue, pink or white but often you get this fantastic tie-dye effect!
3. Lavender – is such a great fragrant addition to the garden and you can make natural perfumes, beauty products and it is also edible! Lavender is so easy to grow from cuttings so you can just cut off a stalk and plant it in other areas of your garden or pot up and give as a gift to your family and friends.
4. Sunflowers – These have to be one of my favourite flowers! The bees love them and they are an absolute show stopper in the garden. Sunflowers are also known to be soil remediators and extract any toxins in the soil.
5. Zinnia – I am new to growing zinnia but I absolutely love them! They come in so many amazing colours (even green!) and the flowers are also edible! These are now a much-loved staple in my garden. I even grew them down the side of a fence with very poor soil and they thrived.
Bonus – The other thing I do let some of my veggies go to seed. Diversity in the garden is important and you will see different types of bees like different flowers. Radish flowers for example, always attract our native Blue Banded bees which are amazing to watch! Having a diversity of plants and insects in your garden will help create a thriving ecosystem.
Take the time to slow down and observe your garden and you will start to recognise which flowers are attracting beneficial insects. You may even find some you have never seen before! Most weekends I have my morning coffee in the garden and just spend some time observing without any distractions. We are often so busy trying to do something that we lose sight of all the little things going on.
This weekend I challenge you to give it a go! Make a coffee and spend just 10 minutes or so sitting in the garden or nature and observe. And if you can plant some more Flowers for the Bees.
Holly ✨
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS //
Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t
Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo
More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
