Peppers
Capsicum annuum
I
n the first year with my kitchen garden, the love, and keep sweet peppers well separated (at
bell peppers did very well in more ways than least one bed away) from spicy peppers to avoid
one. As a plant, they fl ourished—the nights cross-pollination.
were warm, so I didn’t lose blossoms. Almost Normally just growing well would be
every flower bore fruit, and eventually those enough, but they went the extra mile and made
that were supposed to turn color did exactly my year! I smuggled a couple of red ones into
what their seed packet promised! the kitchen and sliced them into a delicious
Of course it was a tremendous help that we salad with goat cheese, pineapple, pine nuts,
had such a long warm summer. Peppers relish and plenty of fresh basil—and waited for the
warmth and really don’t like it when it rains. reaction from Treena, who professes to hate
All mine began their life indoors and didn’t go peppers. She loved the salad, and when I told
out until our nights were consistently warmer her the thin red stuff was peppers, she was
than 55ºF and the plants were 6 inches tall. enthusiastic enough to suggest we try them
When they are mature (with fruit), they can broiled, which really is my favorite method.
spread out over 15 inches, so it’s best to stagger
them over at least a 3-foot-wide bed. If it gets
really hot (for us, 85ºF and above), use a fl oat- The Numbers
ing cover to provide some shade; too much Commercial crops of these peppers grown via
heat, and you could lose the blossoms essential conventional methods can sometimes be quite high
to produce the fruit. in residual chemicals. As yours ripen, they gain red
Two pieces of good advice that I got from pigment and antioxidants and no chemicals.
my local experts: scratch in a teaspoon of For each 100 g raw (3.5 oz ; ½ cup): 31 calories, 0 g
Epsom salt at the base of each plant to give it fat, 0 g saturated fat, 6 g carbohydrate, 1 g protein,
some extra magnesium, which peppers just 2 g dietary fiber, 4 mg sodium
210 • GROWING AT THE SPEED OF LIFE
