Microgreens sounds like a great idea. I’ve been looking into grow lights to at least have a 4x4 area to grow greens indoors through the winter, but finances are the limiting factor this year for that. I brought a few of my potted peppers inside to attempt keeping them alive through the winter, as they are perennials. Other than that though, I’m just going to hunker down and try my best to enjoy the stillness of my northern winters. Once February comes, the seed starting begins and there’s something to look forward to!
I started sifting through the online seed catalogs today. There are a few new varieties I want to try next season.
I saved a few pepper plant a few years back. Gave me an aphid infestation on the house plants. The saved plants did worse than the newly seeded ones. New York is not a pepper friendly climate.
Yeah, it’s just an experiment, there was still a lot of unripe fruit, I wanted to ripen as well. I’ve never had any aphid issues with peppers, but I’ll keep an eye open.
This is rather random, but semi related, I must have had a preying mantis lay eggs somewhere in my house because little ones keep popping up in my house. I’ve had to take at least 4 outside this year. Just this week another one showed up but it’s too cold to pilot outside so I left it on my pepper plant. If there are any bugs that show up, I’m sure it’ll take care of them 😁
Sadly, I can’t remember the last time I saw a preying mantis. I live in a small city and garden on about a third of an acre. The last few years the elderberries have had poor fruit set from the lack of pollinators. Insects are never a problem in my garden because so few people take the time to grow anything. The insect population is greatly reduced in my neighborhood. That’s good for me but bad for the environment as a whole.
It's great that you are creating an oasis for the creatures. It may take time, but they will come. Unfortunately, usually the pests will be the first to arrive.
Believe it or not, I didn't have much insect activity gardening surrounded by forest. This was the first year I saw a preying mantis on my land, and it took about 3 + years before I saw a single lady bug. They are really starting to explode in population now, and it's encouraging to know I'm creating a more diverse ecosystem.
I do have a few projects in mind to get me through the winter. Microgreens is one of them.
Any plans?
Microgreens sounds like a great idea. I’ve been looking into grow lights to at least have a 4x4 area to grow greens indoors through the winter, but finances are the limiting factor this year for that. I brought a few of my potted peppers inside to attempt keeping them alive through the winter, as they are perennials. Other than that though, I’m just going to hunker down and try my best to enjoy the stillness of my northern winters. Once February comes, the seed starting begins and there’s something to look forward to!
I started sifting through the online seed catalogs today. There are a few new varieties I want to try next season.
I saved a few pepper plant a few years back. Gave me an aphid infestation on the house plants. The saved plants did worse than the newly seeded ones. New York is not a pepper friendly climate.
Yeah, it’s just an experiment, there was still a lot of unripe fruit, I wanted to ripen as well. I’ve never had any aphid issues with peppers, but I’ll keep an eye open.
This is rather random, but semi related, I must have had a preying mantis lay eggs somewhere in my house because little ones keep popping up in my house. I’ve had to take at least 4 outside this year. Just this week another one showed up but it’s too cold to pilot outside so I left it on my pepper plant. If there are any bugs that show up, I’m sure it’ll take care of them 😁
Sadly, I can’t remember the last time I saw a preying mantis. I live in a small city and garden on about a third of an acre. The last few years the elderberries have had poor fruit set from the lack of pollinators. Insects are never a problem in my garden because so few people take the time to grow anything. The insect population is greatly reduced in my neighborhood. That’s good for me but bad for the environment as a whole.
It's great that you are creating an oasis for the creatures. It may take time, but they will come. Unfortunately, usually the pests will be the first to arrive.
Believe it or not, I didn't have much insect activity gardening surrounded by forest. This was the first year I saw a preying mantis on my land, and it took about 3 + years before I saw a single lady bug. They are really starting to explode in population now, and it's encouraging to know I'm creating a more diverse ecosystem.
I think the only hope is more people realizing lawn care is an evil practice. Embrace those dandelions.