This year we have decided to try something new: overwintering pepper plants in our solarium. Because of space considerations, we decided to stick with Jalapeño peppers. They are moderate in size. The fact that we love them helps, too.
Each year we are surprised by how well some Sun-loving plants do in the solarium. Those less familiar with gardening may think that sounds like a strange thing to say. It is, after all, a solarium that faces South and West. It gets about as much Sun as we could hope for in Minnesota.
On the other hand, summer Sun loving plant generally like to have many hours of direct, full Sun every day. In Minnesota winters our days get really short and the Sun goes very far South, meaning that the only plants in the solarium that can get much direct full Sun are those that are right up against the glass. Even still, our lemon and tangerine trees have made it through a few winters. Our Rosemary is going on 5 years old now and keeps getting bigger and bigger.
This year, to increase our winter growing capacity, we have added a high-powered LED grow light and several weeks ago we began bringing plants in. Our pepper plants were the first to come in and they are LOVING it in the solarium. They are producing many beautiful peppers and more flowers are coming all the time. The only trick is that with no insects to pollinate them, they have to be pollinated by hand, which is easily done with a little paintbrush. Hoping this will be our first year of having fresh, hot peppers all year long!
