What’s Growing – Fall 2014 Garden

So, what peppers will I be growing for my Fall 2014 garden in South Florida?  Normally I don’t start new pepper plants at this time of year, but this year I have a greenhouse – woo hoo!  I’ll be putting it to use with growing peppers, you can bet on that!

Seeing as this will be my first greenhouse — which is probably more like a “grow house” — and I will not have any heating, I don’t want to chance my hotter-than-hot seeds for Carolina Reaper or Ghost Scorpion.  The super-hot peppers take a long time to germinate, plus they like really warm weather.  That being the case, I’ll be starting those seeds sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Still, even though I won’t be starting my super-hots at the moment, I am trialing some other peppers that have struck my fancy.

Peppers On Deck for Fall 2014

I’ll be growing a mixture of bell, no-heat and ornamental peppers this Fall and Winter.  They are as follows:

• Flamingo:  This is a bell pepper hybrid, which turns multiple colors on the way to ripening.  It appears to start out as an ivory color, then moves to orange and then red.  Should be interesting!
• Trinidad Perfume:  This is one of the no-heat peppers.  It’s supposed to taste like a habanero, but without the heat.  Given that I only know what the heat of a habanero is like (and not the taste, LOL), I am looking forward to sampling this one.
• Sweet Datil:  I love datil peppers, and this is the first time I have seen them with the wonderful taste, but without the heat.  Hooked by the description, I just had to buy ’em so I could try ’em.  😉

For the ornamentals, I am trying out:

• Sangria:  Upright peppers that are between 2 and 3 inches on a short plant.  Peppers appear to start off purple and move to red when ripe.  No heat, so great for areas where kids or pets might brush against them.
• Explosive Ember:  This is a purple pepper that ripens to red.  The two big differences between Explosive Ember and Sangria are  that Explosive Ember has purple-tinged foliage (Sangria is green), and Explosive Ember is hot.
• Black Pearl:  Another purple pepper / purple foliage plant with hot peppers.  These peppers are round (thus the “Pearl”), while EE is cone-shaped.
• Pretty in Purple:  A long-time favorite of mine (see photo on the right, from the last time I grew it), I want to see how the others above stack up against this wonderful pepper plant.  In addition to the purple-tinged stems and new foliage, the peppers are hot!

Of course I have just planted the seeds, so I won’t have any pictures for a bit.  Stay tuned!