Here at Zen Tower, we were excited for our plants that started to bloom and bear fruit towards the end of summer. We are all new to gardening and experienced an interesting evolution with our jalapeno plants. The seeds were obtained through a grocery store jalapeno, and overplanted into a small pot. It appeared as though all the seeds sprouted within two weeks. Before we had a chance to transplant any of them, a squirrel came and made a mess of the pot. He dug out most of the dirt, and when we tried to salvage it, only 4 plants remained. But those four plants grew very awkwardly, and we used chopsticks for them to lean against.
The jalapeno plants eventually strengthened and grew flowers, and soon we had a handful of peppers of equal quality that you’d find in a grocery store. Autumn came, and we decided to winterize the plants and bring them indoors. We simply trimmed off all of the leaves, and left the four twisted stems in the same pot they sprouted in. An online video had extra steps, including washing the roots and re-planting into fresh dirt, but we did none of that. This was back in late October, but here now in January, under the energy of a grow lamp, the plants have new leaves, buds, and flowers.
It might be premature to expect more jalapenos to grow out of these plants, it is still the middle of January, but a few buds have appeared and they have bloomed, and now its only a matter of time to see if they bear any fruit.
We also started a tray of Habanero seedlings. It took them almost a week to germinate, but they are now starting to poke through the holes. There is a metaphor here somewhere, about the circle of life and the impermanence of winter. It is, after all, -8 here at Zen Tower, and hot peppers feel like the perfect balance to the brutal cold.