Katie, Congrats on the success, especialyy with the peppers. My Bulgarian Carrots were big and early producers too, and the plants are so gorgeous with those bright orange peppers just shining against the dark green foliage.

It has been a hard garden year, and even harder on container gardeners because the heat really can get to those plants amd just roast their roots. I kept all my containers where they got only morning sun and afternoon shade this year, and I think that helped them survive even though they produced less than they would have if I'd left them in full sun all day long.

Hopefully, next year the weather will be kinder to the plants.

Dawn

:-) thanks! i keep saying "maybe next year...," remembering that i think i said the same thing last year. hmm. oh well. i think i'll do more peppers and smaller tomatoes next year, along with the herbs and lettuce. i'm also going to try peas and small melons on a trellis-esque setup and see what happens.

i mean, the worst thing that can happen is plant death, and we've already been there, done that, right? :-)

katie k.

My best peppers were Sweet Banana from plants that I bought. I have one of the 3 left with 40 peppers left on it. My Poblanos and Bells all died after the rains in August and the blister beetles and grasshoppers ate up 5 of my jalapenos and chilis--including the fruit.

Yeah, plant death from one cause or another is a hazard of gardening. (darn deer)

This has been a very difficult year for everyone in this area. I have talked to many at the farmer's markets ect and not a one has had an overall good year. My surprise has been my peppers especially my sweet peppers. I expected my NM chile types to do well. But even they have done better overall than I expected. I did plant several more native varieties from NM. They have proven that they are adapted to heat and drought. They have set very heavy. I did plant over half of my peppers very late. And in most cases have caught and in some passed those plants of the same varieties set out 3-4 weeks earlier. I have one variety where the fruit set on both plants are heavy but the later one (3 weeks) has almost twice as big of fruit and is as big if not bigger. Both plants germinated at the same time. One put out earlier and the other held way too long in a large cup or so I thought. So much for the root bound and poor performing theory many claim. The problem I'm having is the heavy fruit set. My plants are stocky but with the wind and fruit set I'm losing a few limbs. I've started picking off some to lighten the load. I will be selling peppers unless something drastic happens. And the way this year has went I don't rule out anything. Jay

jay-

too many peppers sounds like a good problem to have! what varieties did you plant?

katie k.

Katie here is a list of most of what I planted.Jay

2011 Pepper Varieties

NM Chile Types

Barker's Hot
Casados Native
Isleta Long
Kim's Colossal
Larson's Big Kim
Larson's Colossal Kim
Nambe Supreme
Negro de Valle
NuMex Heritage Big Jim
NuMex Heritage 6-4
Zia Pueble Mix

Jalapeno Types

Biker Billy Jalapeno
Chilipeno -Chile/Jalapeno cross
Gigante Jalapeno
Grande Jalapeno
Larson's Jumbo Jalapeno
NuMex Jalamundo
NuMex Pinata'
NuMex Vaquero

Other Hots

Hungarian Volcano
Jalori Chile
Mariachi Chile
Mexibell pepper

Sweet/Bell Peppers

Bell Pepper Pimiento Morron
Big Bertha hyb
Bonnies Green Bell hyb
Bonnies Orange Bell hyb
Bonnies Red Bell hyb
Carmen's Bull Horn
Golden Treasure
Giant Marconi
Heritage VR Bell
Italian Relleno
Ozark Giant
Revolution Bell
NuMex Suave Red - Mild Jalapeno with an 800 scoville rating

wow! thanks, jay!