by Miranda Sehl
Brrrr, dig up your plants and bring them inside! You could benefit from tactfully bringing some of your garden plants indoors: peppers, tomatoes, basil, oregano, parsley, chives, etc.
Your pepper plant will have a serious head start when the weather gets warm again if you dig it up and keep it alive during the winter months. It will begin producing peppers much earlier than brand new plants. The best method I’ve seen is to pick all the fruit off, dig it up by the roots carefully, plant in a 5 gallon container, and trim the foliage down significantly. Keep it watered and give it adequate light. Then replant outside when the weather warms up in the spring. By doing this, you’ll be sure to keep getting the same delicious peppers you love year after year! No cross pollination concerns that you’d have with seed saving.
With tomatoes, you can take cuttings from your most delicious tomato plants. The part of the tomato plant which will root and turn into a great new plant is called a “sucker,” (see image’s pink circle). You just put them in water and let them grow roots. Change the water every week, and give adequate light. You can move the rooted plant into some potting soil after a couple weeks when your roots are looking great. Then in the spring, you’ll have little tomato clones that you know will produce great tasting tomatoes! For a more in-depth walkthrough of this process, visit this website: https://gentlysustainable.com/how-to-over-winter-tomato-plants/
All sorts of herbs can be kept alive in containers. I highly recommend bringing some in and keeping them watered so you’ll have fresh herbs all winter long. You can take clippings and root them in water then move to dirt after a healthy root system has grown. Plants that will grow well from cuttings are: mint, oregano, basil, rosemary, lavender, marjoram, thyme, parsley and sage. Take cuttings from the newest part of the plant, towards the top, those will be the most likely to grow and root successfully.
Chives have a better chance by digging up by the roots, but I’ve struggled to keep them alive all winter indoors. They are a perennial, and will return in the spring if you leave them outside in the garden.
With any plants you’re bringing in from the garden, you’ll want to check them over carefully, looking for any pests or fungi. You wouldn’t want to have them spread something to your other indoor plants. You’ll want to isolate new plants as they come into your house. Two weeks isolation and looking them over again will help you make sure they don’t have any issues. Good luck with your new edible indoor plants!G