how long do these plants live for?

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by jw_universe, Jun 29, 2010.

  1. jw_universe

    jw_universe Gardener

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    As far as I understand, some plants die after flowering/ fruiting, and others live. I also understand that some plants only give a good amount of produce for so many years.

    With each of the below plants, considering you take care of them and they don't get hit by frost,

    1) How long will they continue to produce good fruit/ leaves?
    2) Will any of them die after fruiting/ flowering?
    3) How long will each plant live? When will I have to start again from the beginning, planting their seeds to make more because the current plant will never come back?

    Edible:
    Peppers (e.g sweet mini red)
    Chillies (e.g jalepeno)
    Tomatoes (e.g Gardener's Delight)
    Chives
    Parsley
    Basil (Sweet Genovese)
    Nasturtiums
    Goji
    Pumpkin
    Passion flowers (e.g Passiflora Edulis)

    Non Edible:
    Night scented Phlox
    "wildflowers" (Poppies, cornflowers etc)
    Coleus

    I don't expect anyone to know all the answers to every plant and question but if you answer the ones you know I'd be greatful. I'm new to growing and I don't want to get caught out and end up with no produce, or plants dieing forever and me not having any growing to replace them.
     
  2. johnbinkley

    johnbinkley Gardener

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    I think that perennials will lastindefinitely if:
    you replace the nutrients in the soil where it is. Each plant will require different quantities of sometimes different nutrients and as such it is usually a good thing to rotate crops each season.Onions though, for some reason seem to thrive in the same bed so long as the soil gets plenty of well rotted compost, I think asparagas is grown in the same bed each year as well.
     
  3. Fidgetsmum

    Fidgetsmum Total Gardener

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    Well, for what it's worth, this is my twopenn'oth:

    All tomato plants will produce a number of 'trusses' (look on the Edible Gardening thread, lots of info on toms there). Once they've fruited they'll die and become compost heap fodder. You can buy seeds or plants next year and, if you really want to, you can save your own seed but it isn't just a case of keeping a couple of toms for the seed, frankly for me - saving your own tomato seed is too much like hard work.

    Pumpkins will fruit and die - but you can save some of the seeds for next year.

    Parsley (in my world at least) dies off quite quickly and often - other people are much better at keeping it alive than I am.

    Nasturtiums are annuals, they'll die, although some might self-seed.

    Chives. Mine grow or not as they see fit. Sometimes there's a big clump, another time they barely bother to break the surface. I guess that's more to do with me than the chives.

    Night scented phlox are an evergreen perennial, but they are prone to frost damage and tend to be short lived.

    The wildflowers should self-seed (quite possibly in all the places you don't want them to) but then again, they might just disappear.

    As for the rest, you'll have to wait for someone else I'm afraid.
     
  4. Sussexgardener

    Sussexgardener Gardener

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    Passion Flower should survive, if they're protected from a cold winter. The larger the plant, the more chance of at least part of it surviving.

    Chives will go from year to year. They benefit from being dug up and divided. If you're growing them for culinary purposes, remove the flowers as they appear, before they open.

    Nasturtium will self seed if allowed to. Or even if you don't allow it to! I have them coming up all over the place.

    The others, no idea. But location and whether they are growing inside or outside will be a contributory factor for all the plants you mention. For example, I've heard that people are able to keep Chilli plants going over winter. I've never bothered.
     
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