Growing peppers
An article in the August/October issue of Organic Gardening talks about different varieties of peppers that have bigger yields, earlier harvest, and more intense flavors. It also talks about tips and techniques of growing peppers. This year I tried growing the sweet green pepper, I took good care of it but at the end I only got 2 peppers out of it. So next year I will definitely try some of the recommendations in this article. Here are some interersting points in this article:
- Six pepper picks:
- Jimmy Nardello - long and narrow, harvest in 80 days
- Sweet Banana - carrot-shaped, harvest in 65 days
- Pritavit - thick wall, juicy, heavy yielding and early, harvest in 75 days
- Alba Regia - thick wall, sweet, crunchy, harvest in 90 days
- Lipstick - looks like a jalapeno, intense sweet flavor, harvest in 73 days
- Corno di Toro - heavy yielding and early, harvest in 75-80 days
- do not plant too early, wait until soil is about 60F, and daytime temperatures between 70 and 80F, nighttime temperature stay above 55F. Planting too early will stunt the plant's growth.
- Add dish detergent into liquid fertilizer helps the fertilizer coat the leaf surface (1/4 teaspoon in 1 quart of water)
- Add worm castings in the soil around the base of the plant for nutrients and give the peppers a good start in the beginning.
- Add mulch only about 4-6 weeks after planting because the mulch will insulate the cool soil and prevents it from warming up.
- Author recommends "Age Old Organics fertilzer Age Old Bloom".
- I had the blossom drop problem at the beginning and the author recommends spraying the plants with liquid kelp at 4-week intervals.
Square Foot Gardening II
Back in July (seems so long ago) I blogged about an article about Square Foot Gardening by The Food Section. Here's an update of the garden and it's looking good despite the slow down in the season.
My tomato plant has already gone into the trash because leaves were yellowing and it doesn't seem like it could make it. I was happy I got a few tomatoes out of it. The only vegetable plants I still have left are green peppers, chilli peppers and japanese eggplant. I think I should be able to squeeze out a few more vegetables before frost.
Photo by The Food Section
You can read more about it here: http://www.thefoodsection.com/foodsection/2008/09/my-square-foot.html
On the vegetables front
Looks like there's going to be another harvest before the season ends. Despite cooler weather, the eggplants and green peppers seem to be hanging in there. However the tomato plant is not doing so well. After the first harvest, leaves started turning yellow rapidly. I'm not going to save the tomato plant since the season is almost over, I don't think it will do well in cooler weather anyway.
