Harvested my first peppers today
I picked a few Belgian Hot Wax Peppers, some Habs, about 20 cayenne peppers and I see I have several tomatoes starting to ripen. I also got a large tub of Swiss Chard that I'll cook down some and use some fresh in a salad.
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rainbowgardener
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JayPoc wrote:Awesome...I just planted mine. Of course, I doubt you had half a foot of snow 3 weeks ago...
We didn't have snow 3 years ago. If we do get any snow, it usually only lasts a few hours at best. I can only remember a couple times in my 60 years that snow stayed overnight or longer in N.O. I remember the most snow I ever saw here was in the late 50's or early 60's when we had a few inches accumulate and hang around for a couple days.
The main reason I remember that so vividly is because I played in the snow so long that my hands got numb. I ran inside and stuck my hands very close to one of the gas space heaters that were used to warm our house. The sudden burst of heat made my hands feel like they were getting ready to explode and I must have let out a blood curdling scream because my parents thought I'd set myself on fire. Dumb kids.
Remember that peppers are perennials, so if you can keep them protected from freezing temperatures, you can be harvesting throughout the winter. I was still harvesting in March. Peppers are very frost-intolerant though. If the temperatures don't get below the mid-twenties for a day or so, I can protect them adequately with tarps and blankets. If the temperatures get below that, time to start over.
The flowering does slow down in the winter, but once it gets warm, your already mature plants are ready to roll. My now third-season peppers are three feet high. With four or five plants, that makes somewhat of a pepper "hedge". I now have *hundreds* of flowers on these plants, and I'll be awash in peppers in a month or so.
Here in central Texas, I plant a few peppers every year and, every few years, they get wiped out in the winter, especially the bigger ones that are harder to protect. But on the average, I have a continual supply of fruit.
The flowering does slow down in the winter, but once it gets warm, your already mature plants are ready to roll. My now third-season peppers are three feet high. With four or five plants, that makes somewhat of a pepper "hedge". I now have *hundreds* of flowers on these plants, and I'll be awash in peppers in a month or so.
Here in central Texas, I plant a few peppers every year and, every few years, they get wiped out in the winter, especially the bigger ones that are harder to protect. But on the average, I have a continual supply of fruit.
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valley
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In the greenhouse our peppers are just getting up a couple are getting the first true leaves. I have dared to plant tomatoes in there also. I have planted in the raised beds, also in the greenhouse, lots of greens,
jal ut, Do you grow artichoke? Do they flower the first year? How do you over winter them? I just planted some, I'll plant them at the Nevada ranch. Thanks
Richard
jal ut, Do you grow artichoke? Do they flower the first year? How do you over winter them? I just planted some, I'll plant them at the Nevada ranch. Thanks
Richard
Some peppers like the tabasco and super chili do live for years. Habanero lives a couple of years in a pot. Capsicum annuums like bell peppers and Jalapeno's, don't do all that well for me. Bell peppers rarely last more than a few months. I have only been able to keep Kaala, a miniature pepper going more than a year. It may be that those peppers just do not have the disease resistance. I would love to have a bell pepper produce more than 5 peppers in its lifetime.
imafan26 wrote:Some peppers like the tabasco and super chili do live for years. Habanero lives a couple of years in a pot. Capsicum annuums like bell peppers and Jalapeno's, don't do all that well for me. Bell peppers rarely last more than a few months. I have only been able to keep Kaala, a miniature pepper going more than a year. It may be that those peppers just do not have the disease resistance. I would love to have a bell pepper produce more than 5 peppers in its lifetime.
My Habs and Ghost Peppers did overwinter this year. I picked 8 Habs a couple weeks ago and they were very small, but ready for picking. I now have several on each plant that are much larger since the weather warmed even more. These are looking like real Habs. I've had Jalapeno, Belgian Wax and Cayenne pepper plants last a couple years also.
I can, and do, grow bell peppers every year and get a decent harvest from the plants. However, they never get as large as the ones you see in the supermarkets, even though they are the same variety. I've had the same issue with Pablano peppers too. They grow plentiful, but not very large.
veggiedan wrote:Yeah, but our Julys and Augusts are mean. The peppers (and okra!) thrive, but everyone else suffers. Welcome to the world where "winter" means January.
That sums up my garden in the "Dog Days" of summer. I only work in the garden early in the a.m. or late in the p.m. before the sun goes down.
Like you, January and February are traditionally out two coolest months. Sometimes even cold. However, these past 2 years have favored us with very mild winters. Only problem with that is it seems to mean we'll have a higher than normal pest rate in the summer months that love my vegetable garden.