Although I am colder than you are, here's my experience.

Keep the soil somewhat leaner than other veggies. Peppers will grow lovely bushy plants with few peppers if the soil is too nutrient rich.

Choose varieties suited for your area. I've tried more than a dozen bells and more than a dozen hot pepper varieties over the years and have found a couple (or maybe it's just one with different names) for each that consistently produce here regardless of weather. I plant Ace or New Ace, both of which will set fruit and ripen them even if the weather is cool like this year or there's too much rain or it's hotter than NOLA - they will produce fruit. They aren't the biggest or thickest walled peppers, but they are a bunch better than no peppers, which is what I get (or maybe one per plant) when I plant other bell peppers. My most successful hot pepper is Hungarian Hot Wax or Hungarian Wax (I can't tell any difference.) It consistently gets so many fruits that I have to use tomato cages to keep branches from breaking, and even after using all we can during the summer, I still freeze 3 gallon bags each year for winter use, all from 6 plants. We've already harvested at least a half dozen this year, even though it's been so cool here for most of this summer that the plants are only about a foot tall.

I get one each of a dozen different peppers from a local grower. Varieties range from bells, Italian frying peppers to jalapeno. I like the frying peppers because they are usually the first to turn red but last year none seemed to do as well as in previous years. Were your plants root bound, growing too long in pots too small? I originally built me veggie beds using the lasagna method which is basically composting and topping with aged manure. Beds get more aged manure each year. The best aged manure I've gotten had bedding and kitchen scraps mixed in with horse manure. Do you see a lot of worms in the spring? I've read that you should. I wonder if you have enough organic material in your garden. I think this year I forgot but I usually put one or two trowel's worth of worm compost in each planting hole. I don't think my jalapeno has started to produce yet but several other plants have some good size peppers on them. Like NHBabs, I put tomato cages around most of the peppers because some have bent over from weight of peppers. Also, how much fertilizing are you really doing? I read a post where someone put 2 tsp of worm compost in each hole. I put 2 trowel's worth. Also, when I transplant and maybe a week later, I fertilize with fish emulsion. I think it helps the plants avoid transplant shock.

I just got a 3 x 7' bed ready after removing old plants (Asian cabbage etc) in my high tunnel. I added two 5-gallon pails of composted cow manure, one pail of maybe chicken poop and old oak leaves, and one pail of finished compost (kitchen scraps) plus organic fertilizer, stone dust, some lime and alfalfa meal.

NHBabs, thank you for sharing your experience growing peppers. I've never grown peppers of any kind, but this year I decided to try growing pimento (pimiento) peppers, and my plants have healthy foliage but no sign of blossoms.

After reading your observations that most peppers seem to prefer lean soil, I decided that my plants were not liking the rich soil in my veggie patch, and I transplanted them into a large pot filled with a mix of organic potting soil and sand. If nothing else, having them in a pot will give me the option of extending their growing season by bringing them indoors on nights this fall when frost threatens.

I'm hoping to harvest a few pimento peppers since they are not sold here (except canned, and then one needs to buy a whole case of them) and no other type of pepper tastes right in paella.