One of the main reasons I started gardening at all is I wanted to make my own salsa, completely, totally, from scratch. To me this means having an exciting variety of tomatoes and peppers. Tomatoes, I have come to learn, don’t care much for the Florida heat and I am learning that smaller tomatoes will do better. On the other hand my peppers have done pretty well., although I have friends down by the ocean who say they can’t be grown there do to the salt air other than that they can grow in zones 1-11 and like a lot of sun and well draining soil. All of my peppers are grown in containers as the soil here is entirely sand.

Peppers have a tendency to cross pollinate so I sometimes end up with banana peppers that are a little spicy. I have a mammoth jalapeno, and a cayenne pepper plant that are both over 2 years old and produce peppers most of the year.

I have had some really bad bouts with caterpillars this summer and they seem to attack my hot peppers nearly as badly as my sweet peppers.Between the caterpillars and my dogs gnawing on my peppers every time they get the chance only a handful of my bell peppers, banana peppers and sweet peppers have made it to the table this season so far.

Peppers are good companion for them selves but like I mentioned can cross pollinate. Basil is a good companion and I have also have a few of my pepper plants planted with a tomato plant and they are doing well also.

Egg plants also will go well as they like the same growing conditions. and flowers like marigolds will help attract good bugs to pollinate. Do not plant beans, fennel , broccoli, cabbage or cauliflower near peppers.



This is my cayenne pepper plant these will turn red if i leave them here long enough.. fun fact the unappetizing lines or ” striations” that peppers get are actually the sign the pepper is aged or hot enough to eat. If you are hoping for a milder pepper, pick the younger ones with no stretch marks.

The roots of Cayenne Peppers have root exudate that prevent root rot and other Fungal diseases that plant can get and hot peppers are also less appealing to pests.



striations on one of my cayenne peppers



these are my ring of fire peppers this is a new plant, that I got as a seedling this spring. It is planted away from my cayenne and jalapeno so they don’t cross pollinate. I also was recently seduced by this ornamental purple flash pepper ( below), I’ve read they are hardy and drought resistant but not very good for eating, I might try to dry them and ground them up into a powder.



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