Will you be trying anything new this year for peppers or otherwise?

LOL, funny thing is, I don't even have a list made up yet. I guess I was going to do that on the fly. But, in reality, I am not growing very many varieties this year. I will grow my Twilights and maybe Carolina Reapers and for sure several of my Hot Hungarian Wax. I also picked up a seed pack of a Thai multi colored hybrid which I will grow for pepper flakes. I may figure out one additional variety other than those. In past years, I would grow several more varieties and then pick up my HHW starters at a local garden center. But they are way behind my plants and I need them to be bigger when it is time to plant out in order to maximize my harvests during the summer. So, they are taking up a lot of my grow space this year. I need to start about a dozen or so of those.

On the "Otherwise" side:

I have some Cucamellon seeds that will start to put in my above ground garden this year. And some more Angels Trumpet seeds to plant.

Sounds good!

Nothing too exotic here as far as new varieties go. If I end-up having to order seeds at all for various other veggies, I'll probably throw in a pack of HHW seeds to make smoked Paprika as you guys did last season.

Yah, I almost forgot about that. It came out good. But, if you want it with some heat, I would think Jalapeno or something like that would work well too. There is very little heat in an HHW and even with the smoke flavor, it takes quite a bit for it to affect the flavor of any food. I use it more as a decoration for food. It puts on a nice orange tone to food.

Just started mine the other day, zone 7b. I had to restrain myself to wait until then!

You will be able to get yours outside much earlier than I will. I get mine out normally last week in May and even then I have to bring them in at night sometimes.

I tarted my Carolina Reapers yesterday.

I'm in zone 5. Two years ago I started peppers in three different batches based on their days to maturity. That worked out well but I did have a lot of good sized plants by mid-May. Memorial Day is the traditional time to plant out peppers and tomatoes. We can have a late frost around May 20. I have a seed starting shelf system my husband made for me that uses old fluorescent light fixtures hanging on chains. I can easily give the plants more space as they get taller by lifting the lights up.

There's a name i recognize... How you doing Bruce?

Hey John. Been doing well. I just got my seeds in the soil yesterday as a matter of fact. Later again this year than last but that is by design. It gets rough trying to move plants in and out during the spring to harden them off when the weather gets nice and I keep running out of room under my lights. So, I am hoping the plants don't get as big this year before I can get them out for good.

I guess I have to start my yearly blog now.

Looking at your previous season blog, I see you have about a 2'x4' space under your lights, is that about right? You have a 4-tube setup perhaps? I hear you about running out of space under there. I have about the same, although I've added an extra fixture for a total of 6 tubes this year, for higher light intensity, but the space is still about 2'x4'. What with peppers, tomatoes and ground cherries, it gets crowded fast in there by mid-May.

At least this time, I'll have a bit of a staggered planting, with the January Rocotos, February C.chinense and C.annuum to come in April, so perhaps the earlier (hopefully larger) plants will go in a bright window for a couple of weeks before they can truly be taken outside.

Yah, that is my light setup. Two 4 foot shop lights with two T8 bulbs in each. I actually have three shop lights but find that two is enough. I actually get to the point that I don't want them growing so fast. I am hoping that my start timing will be optimal for getting my plants off to a good start while not becoming unmanageable. I don't really have a good window situation for my plants like you seem to.

I wouldn't call my window situation ideal, (east and west facing) but for already sizeable plants, they can get several hours of strong light and won't get spindly the same as seedlings do IMO. I'll probably be hardening-off the larger plants by mid-April in any case, on warmer overcast days to start.

Yep, I usually can get my plants out an afternoon here and afternoon there starting in April.