By Jasmine Shi
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Alex brought over his pepper plant in a container yesterday. He had planted these from seed earlier this year and now is the time for them to be taken indoors for the winter.
We learned that although we grow peppers as an annual plant, they are actually a perennial that can live for up to five years. Bringing them indoors in the fall is a way to protect them from the winter frost so that they survive the next year.
Alex said that to avoid having insects from the plant getting indoors, he places the plant in a cardboard box and adds diatomaceous earth (DE). DE is a sedimentary rock that is organic approved and can be used as a pesticide. It kills insects by getting into their exoskeleton and drying them out. This is a great option when bringing outdoor plants indoors!
Alex’s pepper plant
Cardboard box with DE
Many of us worked on cleaning and cutting back the herb bed yesterday as it had been mostly neglected during the summer. We actually have so many precious herbs here such as lemongrass, pineapple sage, rosemary, oregano, thyme and catnip, to name a few.
Many volunteers at the herb bed
The first of our watermelon and daikon radishes were harvested!! We were all amazed at how long the daikon radishes were. Pulling up root vegetables is sooooo satisfying.
Our new volunteer David with watermelon and daikon radishes!
We had an impromptu feast after the work party. We got chips and salsa from the field house. Emily brought strawberry turnovers, and Linda brought vegetable spring rolls and these amazing plant-based brownies. We also snacked on some fall raspberries. I felt so full after!!
A feast 😋
