Vegetables for the Backyard Farm - Backyard Farming: On an Acre - page 119

hardeninG SeedlinGS
When transplanting the plants you've started from seed indoors, a hardening off period will help the
plants transition. With warm-season plants, if you move them from a sheltered, indoor location straight
outdoors, your plants may die from the shock. Expose the seedlings to the outdoor environment in a
sunny location protected with excess wind, for a couple hours per day. Slowly work your way up to a few
hours each day by increasing the time of exposure until you're ready to plant into the garden.
Space your pepper plants 12 to 18 inches apart. Provide supports, stakes, or cages as needed to
prevent branches from breaking and to keep the fruit off the ground. Water regularly throughout
the growing season and add fertilizer mix as a side-dressing. Peppers can be grown in containers,
too, as long as they are not allowed to dry out.
Pick your sweet peppers when they are not quite fully ripened to encourage more fruit if you still
expect warm weather. Otherwise let the peppers ripen for the fullest flavor or for saving seeds.
Chiles and hot peppers are best ripened on the vine and care should be taken when harvesting the
hottest varieties as they can burn the skin.
Common pests are usually the same as those for tomatoes—aphids, spider mites, and tomato horn-
worms all feed on the leaves. Blossom end rot can also occur when the plants are stressed by lack of
watering or irregular water and in plants that are calcium deficient.
Anaheim. A classic hot pepper that matures in about 80 days. Fruits are 7 inches long and turn to
bright red when they are mature. Bears fruit throughout the entire season.
Cherry sweet. Gorgeous fruits are cherry red and 1-inch-long, roundish peppers. This variety is
more than 150 years old. Use this sweet pepper in pickle recipes and sweet salsas.
Golden marconi. These 7-inch peppers are a bright, golden yellow heirloom variety from Italy.
Sweet pepper.
Habenero. A classic hot pepper for salsa and other Mexican dishes, the hot pepper matures in 85
days. Starts green and matures with orange-red coloring.
Purple beauty bell. A true purple pepper that matures in 70 days. Beautiful color on a prolific
vine.
Sweet banana. A popular heirloom with long, yellow fruit. We get dozens on a single plant that
mature in about 70 days.