Bringing Our Garden Inside

My all time favorite type of hot peppers

It is always a sad day when I dig up some of our outside plants and try to overwinter them. I also bring in our house plants that have enjoyed the summer outdoors. I am a little worried this year because I have several Christmas cacti and an orchid about to bloom.
This is the first year that I am going to try to keep basil and lemon peppers alive. I also brought rosemary, lemon grass, and parsley inside. I am fairly certain that they will overwinter well with the grow lights. In past winters I have kept lemon grass alive over the winter in a sunny window.
I also collected seeds for next year. I have tons of lemon pepper, basil, okra and marigold seeds. Soon I will be planning next year's garden.

Part of the plants I brought inside

I also brought our garden markers inside. I made them with our neighbor, Gail, artist extraordinaire. Gail kindly lent me the use of her art studio, materials, and most importantly, her expertise. Also she took care of all of the firing in the kiln. The result was these amazing garden markers.  They will be back in the garden in the spring. For the winter, I think I am going to put them in a vase to remind me that spring is just around the corner.

My garden markers ready for next year

The next big project is grow lights. There is not enough light in my office for the jungle of plants that are now inside. I am trying to decide between LED and florescent. If anyone out there has any brilliant ideas for great but inexpensive grow lights, I would love to hear them.

The final plant project will be to set up our hydroponics set. I found one on the clearance rack last year. I hope it works.  I think it will be a great science project for Katie. Hopefully I can tie it in with a biology lesson.