peppers

i struggled for years to get anything out of peppers. I love peppers; the colors, the taste, the look of the plants. Round pimentos , colored bells, holy mole which is brown, long hot peppers, heirloom and European peppers.so getting little half stunted bushes and no peppers until September was discouraging. 2 years ago I managed to get a few lovely pale yellow ones out of the little greenhouse. but out in the garden is where they need to be-they need heat and sun and room to grow.

so the trick is to start them a bit earlier than the tomatoes, and then set them in a cold frame once they have a few leaves ( or in our case the little greenhouse) for some cooler nights through April, cold helps them later. Well, you might not believe it either but i did this last year and...got peppers! in spite of a cool summer.

Don;t bother with setting them out until it's pretty warm. May 15 is the earliest here-May 30 like the corn and beans and sweet potatoes, not a bad idea.

I did put down straw to help keep weeds off; you can also interplant with other crops.Carrots, onions, parsnips, peas, etc are often recommended. I plant tomatoes with basil and marigolds, so haven;t combined peppers and tomatoes.

If you buy your plants, cut off all flowers and baby peppers before you plant. they need time to establish their roots. I know-you are looking at future food-but you;ll get more if you help the plant succeed.