Pepper Garden Walk-Through Video – June 2020
A pepper garden walk-though and tour is what I have for you today. I thought you might like to see my container garden full of pepper plants — and some peppers as well! Growing peppers is a whole lot of fun, and I enjoy growing all kinds of different peppers. You’ll even see some peppers that I grew from seeds which I harvested from a grocery store pepper!
Growing Peppers in Containers
I grow all my peppers in containers. For one, the soil here in my Tennessee zone 7A yard is hard clay and rocky — I literally have to dig holes for plants with a pick axe! While I have planted a few things in the ground, they have mostly been perennials.
My yard is also sun-challenged (i.e. I don’t have any spots with all-day sun). The trees that I loved when we moved in end up shading my yard way too much. (I’ll do a video and post about growing peppers and other veggies when you don’t have at least 6 hours a day of sun, and will link it here when it’s up.)
Anyway, containers allow me to move the plants around if I need to. Some of the peppers seem to do OK with the semi-shade, while others most definitely need as much sun as I can give them. Growing peppers in containers gives me the most options.
Plus, as the sun angle changes during the year, I can move the container peppers as needed in order to follow the sun.
Enough about growing peppers in containers — on to the pepper garden tour and walk-through!
Pepper Garden Tour and Walk Through
I shot this video on June 14, 2020. I am going to try and do a garden tour every couple of weeks throughout the pepper-growing season, so you can see what the garden looks like, and the kind of harvests I get.
Peppers you will see in this pepper garden tour are:
- NuMex Suave Orange
- Buena Mulata
- Tricked You Jalapeno
- Grocery Store Peppers
- Bolivian Rainbow
- Sweet Banana
- Purple Jalapeno
- Super Heavyweight Hybrid
- Cascabela
Wait until you see Buena Mulata — it astounds me how many peppers I have on that plant, so early in the season!
So, here we go with the pepper garden tour — I hope you enjoy it!
What Kind of Soil Do Peppers Like?
So what kind of soil do peppers like? Glad you asked, because the soil you use for planting your peppers has a lot to do with how they grow.
Soil Types
There are three main soil types. Different locations have different soils, so if you plan to plant your garden in the ground, you need to know what you have.
- Sandy
- Clay
- Loam
If you want to know more about these soil types, here’s a post all about them. But on to what the peppers like.
Peppers Like What Soil?
As you might guess, peppers like a balanced soil — not quite sandy, not quite clay. But let’s think about that a little more.
Wild peppers originated in Central and South America, and the soils there are definitely more sandy than clay or loam — so it’s loose and well-draining. But there are also peppers which grew in soils that were a bit richer, if they grew in a more jungle-ish area. Still, the soil tended to be well-draining.
That is where peppers started; what about growing them in your garden?
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Wild peppers were in more sandy soil, but now our pepper plants are domesticated, and their needs have some changes.
Peppers still like well-draining soil, but not necessarily sandy. They do like their nutrients, though, so not too well-draining — they just don’t like to constantly have wet feet. Loose soil lets the new, small roots penetrate easily, in their search for nutrients and moisture. The looseness also lets the roots breath a bit.
They also like their nutrients! We’re growing peppers for production, or to be ornamental (which is production, if you think about it). They need nutrients in the form of fertilizer, whether it is organic, non-organic or a mix of both, to support their bounty. Just remember not to over-fertilize. (Here’s more information about organic fertilizers and fertilizing pepper plants.)
I’ve been mostly talking garden soil, but the same also applies to peppers grown in containers. One extra thing to remember about containers is that they need drainage. Make sure your planter has a hole for the water to drain out, or use a grow bag which lets the water drain without holes.
Peppers Planned for 2020
It’s pepper seed time! I decided that I would go the “all seed” route for the 2020 growing season. Although I probably won’t be doing any actual planting of seeds for several more weeks, I have all my seeds ordered. So what’s in store for 2020 in my new location?
Hot Cha Cha!
I don’t have any super-hot peppers planned for this year, but I do have some hot ones ordered! Here’s the hot pepper seeds on the way:
- Purple Jalapeno:Â Seeing as I am also growing a non-heat jalapeno, I wanted to make my spicy jalapeno a different color so I could tell the two apart.
- Bolivian Rainbow:  I grew this many years ago, then had a hard time finding it again. Success! This is mostly ornamental, but the peppers are definitely edible and quite hot. I love the way these peppers have multiple colors of peppers on the bush all at once.
- Buena Mulata: Another purple pepper. This one is more like a cayenne pepper, and about the same heat.
- Tricked You Jalapeno: This is the no-heat jalapeno. I tried to grow the “Fooled You” a few years back, and I guess this one is the newer version.
- Numex Suave Orange: Supposedly a no-heat habanero. I am not sure that every pepper will be no-heat, so I will be careful when tasting the peppers.
- Aji de Sazonar: Another no-heat pepper, this time more like a serrano in shape. Supposed to be great for drying and grinding into a seasoning powder.
- Tobago Seasoning: A no-heat scotch bonnet pepper. Again, not sure that the heat will be absent from all peppers, but I imagine that the seeds and membranes will be what’s really hot.
A few more of the non-heat hot peppers than is usual for me, bit it will be really interesting to see how “no heat” the no heat peppers will be. Hmmm, now that I have all these listed out, I may hold off on either the Numex Suave Orange or the Tobago Seasoning until next year.
Cool It!
As to the sweet peppers, here’s the run-down:
- Chilly Chilli: Just an ornamental pepper. I seem to recall I tried this a few years back and didn’t have any luck, but I wanted a low-ish growing ornamental pepper that was safe to brush up against (i.e., no hot oils getting on my hands or clothes).
- Yum Yum Mix:Â Mini bell peppers, kind of like the ones I’ve been seeing pop up in the grocery stores lately.
- Sweet Pickle: Another ornamental, a lot like Bolivian Rainbow, but with a slightly larger pepper. This one is like Chilly Chilli, supposed to be safe to brush up against, etc.
- Petit Marseillais: Something like a cross between a bell pepper and a frying pepper, but more like the bell. Supposed to be very sweet.
- Roumanian Sweet: This is a bell pepper. I grew it many years ago, it changes color from a pale greenish-white to purple to orange and then red. It was quite tasty.
All in all, this should be an interesting year for peppers.
Planting Seeds
I have a couple new seed sprouting things I want to trial, so that post will be coming up (actually, probably more like a series of posts).
