Red peppers are ripening!

kathryn

Cathlete
I just had my first pepper off my pepper plants (could have eaten them sooner as green peppers, but red is more nutritous...and tastier). It just may have been the BEST red pepper I have ever had! Very sweet and tasty, and perfectly shaped (pointy, kind of like a large version of a hot pepper, but not hot), with no blemishes of any kind.

I didn't even prep it, just rinsed it off with the hose while I was watering and chowed down (my 'neighbors-across-the-way' probably think I'm a total nut job, because I often go out and eat stuff right off the plants, and they are more the type to cut down all the plants that are around their house and dig out dandelions one by one).

I was afraid I'd ruined my pepper crop after my two plants were blown over in a storm (I'd just read about protecting pepper plants from the wind the day before, but hadn't set up a support yet!), but they weren't broken, and I was able to prop them back up.

I'd thought fresh-from-the-garden cukes were the best...then my cherry tomatos...but I think the pepper may have them beat. And looking at my plants, I'll be able to have one a day for the next two weeks.

Yummy!
 
RE: Red pepper bare ripening!

I don't have a garden -- don't have the room for one -- but I have fond memories of sitting in the middle of my grandmother's garden and eating the fresh produce. There's nothing better -- and I haven't had peppers that good since she passed away.
 
RE: Red pepper bare ripening!

How many plants do you have? I can't grow red peppers to save my life. I try every year because I love them, but I only get about one or two peppers per plant, if I'm lucky. I have yellow peppers planted this year and it looks like I may get 2 or 3 vegetables from 4 plants! It's so frustrating! Do you have any advice for growing red peppers? I live in mid-Michigan, so I'm in zone 4 or 5 (I can never remember which).

I have beautiful tomato, jalapeno, basil, and thyme plants, all in the same garden, so I don't think it's the soil. In fact, I'm going to have to figure out how to pickle or can the jalapenos because one little plant is producing dozens of them. That's the good news!

TIA

anne
 
RE: Red pepper bare ripening!

I'm in Wisconsin and have the same problem. My tomato plants are downright unruly! My cucumbers and herbs are thriving. But my peppers are non-existent. I've had plenty of flowers, but only 2 peppers from 3 plants. Perhaps it's more weather related - inconsistent rain and hot/humid conditions. I'll blame it on that as I like to think my thumb is quite green!


Mo
 
RE: Red pepper bare ripening!

I am so jealous! I live at 7000 feet, my zone is a 4 and our growing season is 2-21/2 months long. I can't get red tomatoes to save my life. I planted pepper plants and I finally have one green pepper that is about 2 inches long, it will never have time to turn red because we get frost either the last week of August or the first week of September. I desperately need a greenhouse! Last year it froze the 3rd week of June and the 3rd week of August! It's the one thing I don't like about where I live. Well enjoy your fresh produce Kathryn!:9
 
RE: Red pepper bare ripening!

>How many plants do you have? I can't grow red peppers to save
>my life. I try every year because I love them, but I only get
>about one or two peppers per plant, if I'm lucky. I have
>yellow peppers planted this year and it looks like I may get 2
>or 3 vegetables from 4 plants! It's so frustrating! Do you
>have any advice for growing red peppers? I live in
>mid-Michigan, so I'm in zone 4 or 5 (I can never remember
>which).
>
I have two plants, and both have about a dozen peppers on (including little bitty starts). I have no secret that I know of, since this is my first year with them, and I'm not having the same success with my big tomatoes (tomatoes and peppers are both nightshade plants, so wouldn't you think that if one grows well, the other would, too?).

I'm using a self-watering container (from www.gardeners.com ), organic seedlings that I bought online, organic soil mixed with compost and some water-absorbing crystals. I did spray them (but my less-successful tomatoes as well) with an organic setting spray, that helps make sure that all the flowers that come out actually turn into fruit.

I WISH I knew what made them do so well, so I could do the same with my tomatoes.
 

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