Everything you wanted to know about peppers and more!
Greetings fellow gardeners,
We got some snow!! Not as much as I would like, but enough to mound up around the perennials. The sun is shining this morning and it is cold, so I started the stove early. The too-many cats are happy about that. Cleo is stretched out on the blanket in front of the stove.
Yesterday, I did a happy dance as my seed order from OSC arrived. In the small parcel of seeds was a packet of pepper seeds. I want to start my pepper seeds right now. Pepper seeds need a long growing season, so starting them early is a must.
There are so many types of peppers. Big red peppers and tiny hot peppers and peppers in unusual shapes. Choose your peppers now and get started.
If you wish to grow one of those big juicy red peppers and you have the seeds planted, just sit back, and watch it grow. One thing you need to be aware of is that it will be a green pepper before it turns red, so do not panic. All of the fancy peppers, red, orange, yellow, purple, and so forth, will be green first.
If you are growing hot peppers, you may find yourself joining a special group of individuals. There are clubs and groups for hot pepper growers. Hot pepper plants tend to be smaller than the cooler plants. They benefit from the same treatment, although you can get many extra suggestions from hot pepper groups on the internet. One small caution, however, hot pepper fruits look like candies and are very tempting to small children, so be aware. Treat hot peppers with care as they can burn you.
If you are growing different types of peppers, there is a definite possibility of cross-pollination. A hot pepper flower can be pollinated and then the pollinator will visit a flower on your big red pepper. This cross-pollinated pepper will taste just fine, but the seeds may no longer be true. If you want to collect seeds from your big red pepper, you will need to take steps to ensure that it is not cross-pollinated. You could use a paintbrush and pollinate it yourself, then cover the flower with a light gauze.
Pepper (Pimento)
The Pimento pepper is one of my favourite peppers. It starts as a small green pepper, then turns bright red. It is a tiny or cherry pepper with very little heat. It sits sweetly in a salad like a cherry tomato. I planted nine seeds in a nine-pack container. The growing medium I used was a mixture I bought that was made specifically for starting seeds. You can find seed-starting soil at most nurseries and big box stores. It is a very light medium unlike our regular garden soil. The lightness helps to encourage lots of root growth. After they were planted, I put them on a shelf of my plant compound on a seed-starter mat that was plugged into my timer. The warming mat will turn off and on with the lights, and the extra heat will give the seedlings a head start. I put a sheet of plastic on top to keep the warmth, and I will take that off as the seedlings grow.
At present, I am sipping ginger tea and watching the big fat snowflakes make their lazy way to the ground. My cat Harold is curled up on the pillow by the front window waiting for the snow plough. For some reason he feels the need to protect us all from the snow plough and will hiss and fuss each time it drives by. I feel so safe.
Judith. (Email: lapisdragonarts@gmail.com)
All Veggie Bites are available at the SGHS website: (https://sites.google.com/site/sghortsoc/)
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