Although October has served up above-average temperatures, the rush is on to wind down the garden for winter. The cucumbers, eggplants, and potatoes ran out of steam a while ago. The cherry tomatoes continue to produce, but at a much slower pace. There's one small watermelon still on the vine. And, today, the hot peppers delivered a minuscule harvest, but I'll take it.
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| Some like it hot! A small hot pepper harvest including chili and ghost peppers |
Normally, my pepper plants would go into the compost bin or into yard waste collection bags to be taken away by the city, but by some weird coincidence of timing, today—while wasting time on social media—I discovered the Bonchi.
A Bonchi is a pepper plant that is cared for and cultivated in the manner of a Bonsai tree. Bonsai + chili = Bonchi. The pepper plants, with their thick gnarly stems, resemble bonsai trees and they produce peppers prolifically. Needless to say, this became an overwintering project that needed to happen immediately. Here are the steps I took to create my first Bonchi.
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| Find a container. Fill it with small stones to give it good drainage and to ensure the depth is fairly shallow |
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| Pull your pepper from the soil |
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| Shake the soil loose from the rootball. Rinse the rootball so that no soil remains |
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| Get a pair of sharp scissors, and prepare to give the rootball a good cut |
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| Cut back the roots |
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| Add some soil to your container. Fan the pepper roots over the top. Cover with a very light layer of soil leaving a few of the thicker roots exposed |
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| Ghost pepper prior to being cut back |
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| Cut back the pepper to a first set of leaves and in a way that mimics bonsai trees. Notice that my Bonchi is leaning slightly for a windswept effect |
