Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I spent the early summer away from home, where I was gifted pepper seeds from lycophyte. They were planted in early August and are now several inches tall and darling. It's starting to get cooler at night here (in the 60s) but they have good sun during the day and a good amount of sunlight. I can't bring them inside because I can't keep my cats from them and my cats have very poor decision making skills.

How do I keep my little plants alive this fall and winter? Is there such a thing as a one-plant greenhouse? Would that even help?

Hoop house!


Cold frame!


When is the first freeze where you are? Peppers like it hot- what is your weather like in the next few months?

I expect 70s to 80s for another month, then cooling off for fall. First freeze is usually at the very end of October

I second Abbie, get a cold frame.

I'd never heard of them! Okay, I'll look into it.

Should I put some kind of heater in it?

Nope! The plastic heats things up during the day and keeps the babies warm at night. You'll want to plant cold friendly crops like cruciferous and root veggies.

Okay, so since peppers like it really hot, you might not get them to bear fruit this year, even with a cold frame. But that doesn't mean you can't try! You could build a cold frame for them, and put in some cold weather veggies with them so the whole thing's not a total bust if you don't get peppers.

I mostly just want to keep them alive through the winter, not expecting any fruit! I will plant something more suited to cold weather too, thiugh

You know what, I learned something here... Truly!!!

I have mind just before but I didn't know about the cold and hot frame which it dies for it. Never heard it before just like now.

So someone told me that peppers are perennial in my neck of the woods. I'm going to build a cold frame just in case, because last winter it actually snowed for one whole day.

and my "hoop house" which was made of hardware barkcloth (like chicken-wire) staple-gunned to the sides of my raised bed did protect from the snow, but it took a long time for the plants to recover, since no sun could get through the cloth I put over the hoops.

See, dino kale looking sad, but it did pop back up after a few days. carrots and root crops were unaffected.

Jewy, should I (can I) buy a cold frame from you?

Invicktypants, I'm going to have to say no. We used to carry them many years ago, but we were ahead of the time for that product, they didn't sell well, so we stopped carrying them. Shoot. You can find a plastic zip-up one at a home improvement or hardware store. There are nice ones online you can find for $75 or under:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001922JKM/ref ... B001922JKM

http://www.nextag.com/cold-frame/stores-html

Here's a DIY on how to build your own. If you go this route, we want pics!

http://sustainableharvest.blogspot.com/ ... frame.html

I'm sure there's a Youtube tutorial out there on teh interwebz.

Good luck!

Okay! I just wanted to make sure I got it from you if I could. Thanks for all your help

Cold frame is here and assembled!* It's not cold enough to need it yet, so the top is up and the plants are sitting in it. I am very excited.




*with just a minor arcing spray of blood. Scissors are sharp, kids!

You could spray paint some juice jugs black and fill them with water to be heat sinks once it gets cold out too, so that they can continue to keep it warmer all night long.

You could also try keeping some of the little peppers in a pot under some sort of uh, animal cover? Like, a screen netting? Or, hang it in a hanging planter from the ceiling if you don't have overly ambitious cats. I don't know if any of them are super jumpers.

Your cold frame will probably be fine. You should plant some fall greens and lettuces in there too!

Good ideas! I'll definitely try the heat sinks. I have one super jumper, he is also the least intelligent cat I've ever had. Ever. But if worse comes to worse and we get an unusually cold winter I may bring the cold box inside. That way he won't be able to get in.

I normally have a total black thumb, so I'll be thrilled just to get them through the winter!