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HORT THERAPY
Dear Readers:
HORT THERAPY is a weekly column where our team of professionals will answer your gardening questions.
Email us your garden questions at AskDIGIT@dig-itmag.com. We love a challenge.
Dear DIG IT!
I'd like to start a chili garden, but I need to know: will chili peppers grow here in NJ? If they do, what kinds will? And where can I get the seeds?
Thanks very much.
Charlie,
Newton, NJ
Dear Charlie,
No problem growing chili peppers in New Jersey, even Tabascos (famous in Louisiana for their Tabasco sauce).
The trick is to have them started 6-8 weeks before they are ready to be planted so you have healthy transplants 3 weeks or so after your last frost date and the weather had warmed. By following these simple steps you should have plenty of chilis.
If you were able to find transplants now, you may be able to plant chili peppers in your garden this year. Make sure any transplants you buy now are not root bound. If they are, cut the roots and make sure they are not girdled. They still might not be "happy" as they will be under stress as they should have been planted weeks ago.
Seeds are available in a wide variety of garden catalogs. Transplants may be found at various garden centers. Since it is late in the season, you may find them difficult to find however.
Start planning for NEXT year and get your seed order in during late February. Since you are local in New Jersey, you may want to consider visiting Lafayette Village in Lafayette, NJ Memorial Day weekend next year to buy transplants there. We will be holding our 2nd Annnual Heirloom Tomato Transplant Sale & should have pepper plants next year too!
Also, at the Sussex Farm & Horse Show this year, peppers are the featured vegetable at the Open Vegetable Show located in the greenhouse. The Fair runs from August 1 to10 in Augusta, NJ. It may be a good opportunity to meet other growers who may be able to share some seed.
Any further questions on either of these events you can contact us at:
ssisti@nac.net
Hope this helps,
Farmer Rich
Dear DIG IT!
I collect and draw/paint wildflowers I find when traveling and when at home. On my recent trip north to New Hampshire, I spent a few days with family in Skillman, NJ. I found a plant that looks like the illustration in Newcomb’'s Wildflower Guide (pp369/70). This plant is listed as Oyster Plant or Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius), but the flower is yellow, not purple as this is described. The plant is identical to the drawing, with "long pointed bracts." The foliage is the same. There is another Tragopogon on the preceding page without the long pointed bracts. I would like to properly identify my colored illustration. Can some one of your Wild Flower folks help me identify this flower?
Thanks.
Sylvia E. Jones
Dear Sylvia,
I too have had trouble identifying these two plants since they are closely related, look the same (when not in flower), inhabit the same locals and unfortunately like to hybridize with each other. So I try to find them in flower since they have different color flowers. Based on your information I would go with the plant being Yellow Goat’s–Beard (Tragopogon pratensis). In my walks in northern Vermont I have found that this plant always puts on a good show of yellow flowers followed by large round seed heads, which remind me of dandelion seed heads on steroids. - Jeff Van Pelt
- Jeff Van Pelt is horticultural supervisor at Colonial Park, Somerset, NJ.(Somerset County Park Commission)
Dear DIG IT!
I collect and draw/paint wildflowers I find when traveling and when at home. On my recent trip north to New Hampshire, I spent a few days with family in Skillman, NJ. I found a plant that looks like the illustration in Newcomb’'s Wildflower Guide (pp369/70). This plant is listed as Oyster Plant or Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius), but the flower is yellow, not purple as this is described. The plant is identical to the drawing, with "long pointed bracts." The foliage is the same. There is another Tragopogon on the preceding page without the long pointed bracts. I would like to properly identify my colored illustration. Can some one of your Wild Flower folks help me identify this flower?
Thanks.
Sylvia E. Jones
Dear Sylvia,
I too have had trouble identifying these two plants since they are closely related, look the same (when not in flower), inhabit the same locals and unfortunately like to hybridize with each other. So I try to find them in flower since they have different color flowers. Based on your information I would go with the plant being Yellow Goat’s–Beard (Tragopogon pratensis). In my walks in northern Vermont I have found that this plant always puts on a good show of yellow flowers followed by large round seed heads, which remind me of dandelion seed heads on steroids. - Jeff Van Pelt
- Jeff Van Pelt is horticultural supervisor at Colonial Park, Somerset, NJ.(Somerset County Park Commission)
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