Mike Barkley wrote:I suggest picking the best beans & peppers before the freeze. Same with basil too. They die fast once they get good & cold. A clear plastic tent might keep them alive a little longer. This cold snap isn't expected to last too long or be too severe.

The green cayenne will turn red once it dries.

Mike Barkley wrote:You might want to save some of the cayenne seed to start indoors late winter. Then transplant outside in spring for a longer growing season. A large fully mature cayenne is a thing of beauty.

Mike Jay wrote:I have parsley still alive in the garden and we were in the teens last night.  Basil dies on me when it gets below 40.  This year my pole beans died immediately but the lima beans handled a few frosts (both were on poles).

Pearl Sutton wrote:Parsley is a biennial, so will overwinter, basil is an annual, and will not. My parsley bed at my last home was planted once, and allowed to self sow, I took some seeds one year and gave them back to the bed on the off year of the biennial cycle so there was always parsley going that was not reseeding that year.
Basil will also self sow, it just all dies back every year, and comes back up in spring if left alone. I started my basil bed with mixed seeds, so I always had all kinds of odd flavors of basil to pick.

The purple beans are a LOT easier to pick, I love them. I wish they stayed purple when cooked. If you pick them fairly young they are purple raw in salads. When they get older they need cooking.

Lucrecia Anderson wrote:

Kind of sad to say goodbye to the cayenne pepper, it is even covered in flowers. That one plant gave me lots of dried pepper flakes and I am grateful to it for that.

Tyler Ludens wrote:

Lucrecia Anderson wrote:

Kind of sad to say goodbye to the cayenne pepper, it is even covered in flowers. That one plant gave me lots of dried pepper flakes and I am grateful to it for that.

Can you pot it up and keep in a warm window indoors?  It may lose its leaves from the cold tonight but not be dead.

Mike Barkley wrote:Grew a few of the purple pole beans last year. They were excellent. Need to do those again.

Used to live & play around many poisonous snakes. Always carried one of these. Just in case. snake bite kit It's still never far away.

Lucrecia Anderson wrote:

Tyler Ludens wrote:

Lucrecia Anderson wrote:
Kind of sad to say goodbye to the cayenne pepper, it is even covered in flowers.

Can you pot it up and keep in a warm window indoors?

I hate to see it die but I live in a really small house and don't have the room (it is nearly 5' tall).

Lucrecia Anderson wrote:The only plant coming inside will be a small  Ephedra Sinica.

Lucrecia Anderson wrote:
A few years ago someone gave me a odd flavored Basil plant (possibly lemon pepper) and the smell was repulsive, I thought I hated Basil as a result. Then last winter I got a free pack of Sweet Basil seeds with an order and started a couple of plants. They smell absolutely heavenly! Surprised two different varieties have such a drastically different scent.

The purple beans sound so neat, I think I will grow some over the chicken coop (it has netting on top) so they hang down through the netting for easy picking. I heard they can produce all season long.

My native pepper plants (Chiltepin) are a couple of years old now.  They died to the ground last winter, but grew back completely and set a huge number of peppers this year.  I wonder if in a colder climate the roots could be kept alive over winter by covering with mulch and protecting from excess moisture.  [/quote

I have yet to keep an outdoor chili petin alive through TN winter. Not for lack of trying. Only a few have lived long enough to have fully mature peppers. This year I plan on keeping a few in containers. Every time I make enchiladas or salsa my TX seed supply dwindles. Sooner or later I WILL get a chili petin & a fig tree capable of surviving winters here. Doing my best to also teach the 'billies that tamales don't belong in paper wrappers. Seriously folks? Papel no tiene sabore. While I'm on the subject ... ketchup is NOT enchilada sauce.

John Weiland wrote:
If you don't mind my asking, where does one get seed or stock of this plant?

Lucrecia Anderson wrote:

Ebay. Be sure to read the ads carefully though, half the sellers list it as Ephedra Sinica but then put Ephedra Nevadensis/Mormon Tea in the description (and Mormon Tea does not contain ephedrine).

John Weiland wrote:
Thanks for the source and the extra concerns!.....

wayne fajkus wrote:We are getting a freeze tonight in Texas. Sadly, i didnt get any vine ripened tomatos in fall garden. Had to pick them.

Michael Moreken wrote:Left my Jade bean bush plants with there withered leaves right where they are.  :) Chives are happy.  Lemon thyme plant 50% might make it.