The Farm on PI
6 Treasure Trail v9r6r1 Nanaimo, BC, Canada

Capsicum Flexuosum has always been rumoured to be cold hardy... I suspect it’s a little more than just a rumour.. we’re still harvesting fresh hot peppers in mid-January. Such a fascinating and useful plant!

Woah! I’ve been aware of the rumours that Capsicum Flexuosum is the only chili pepper species that can tolerate frost and temperatures down to -15C, however, I hadn’t witnessed it myself until now. The last few days have given us nighttime temperatures of -3C to -4C, with daytime highs around 3C to 4C, and today it even snowed for a small portion of the morning, but the outdoor planted flexuosums still show absolutely no signs of stress. The first two photos show that t...he leaves were frozen solid in the morning, but by noon, the frost had melted away, and to my excitement the leaves remained undamaged by the frost. This can be seen in the third photo. In the next two photos you can see how the frost made the Brussels sprouts and celeriac bow their leaves to the frigid air, but the flexuosums didn’t even flinch. Every other outdoor pepper plant on the land is very very dead by now, but not the flexuosums. I’m so impressed by these chilly chili plants. #capsicumflexuosum #flexuosum #capsicum #coldhardy #frosttolerant #hardy #chili #pepper #pepperplant #hotpeppers #hotpepper #chilipeppers #homesteading #farming #farm #urbanfarm #agriculture #gardening #garden #vegetables #plants #plant #planting #greenthumb #gyo #pnwgardening #growyourown #vancouverisland #protectionisland #thefarmonpi

The broccolis are still sending out side shoots. Although they aren’t the largest shoots, they make up for their size in numbers. These 14 plants are producing about a pound of broccoli every 5 days or so. They’re due for another feeding of fish emulsion. #broccoli #brassica #brassicaoleracea #flowers #vegetable #homesteading #farming #farm #urbanfarm #agriculture #gardening #garden #vegetables #plants #plant #planting #greenthumb #gyo #pnwgardening #growyourown #vancouverisland #protectionisland #thefarmonpi

We tried growing some mangel beets for fun, and they sure did get large. These things are notorious for growing too fibrous to eat when mature, but we’ll try them out in a few days or so, and report back to you. Worst case scenario, this was a fun experiment, and we may save the largest beets to get some seeds. I reckon there’s some farmers in the region that would like to get their hands on some locally grown mangel beet seeds, because they’re excellent for producing a lot of food for livestock. #betavulgaris #beet #beets #mangelbeets #giantvegetables #rootvegetables #livestock #fodderbeet #homesteading #farming #farm #urbanfarm #agriculture #gardening #garden #vegetables #plants #plant #planting #greenthumb #gyo #pnwgardening #growyourown #vancouverisland #protectionisland #thefarmonpi

Peaceful slumbers #bumblebee #bee #bombus #calendula #flower #yellow #sleeping #homesteading #farming #farm #urbanfarm #agriculture #gardening #garden #vegetables #plants #plant #planting #greenthumb #gyo #pnwgardening #growyourown #vancouverisland #protectionisland #thefarmonpi