source such as rock phosphate or bone meal, and kelp meal to provide trace minerals and potassium. If you have done a soil test, you will know more precise amounts. (In future years, you will be able to decrease the amount of additives.) If a soil test indicates that your soil is too acidic, it’s necessary to “sweeten” your soil with applications of finely ground dolomitic limestone. (Avoid hydrated lime, quick lime, and slake lime.) To determine the amounts of phosphorus source, kelp meal, and lime, follow the directions on the packages. (If you wish to add fresh manure, it’s best to add it in the fall because it needs a few months to decompose. In that case, wait until spring to add any additional compost and fertilizers.) Add a few more inches of compost if you live in a hot, humid climate where heat burns the compost at an accelerated rate or if you have very alkaline, very sandy, or very heavy clay soil.
Good advance planning makes for a more productive and healthier pepper garden.
All vegetables need nitrogen for healthy growth. For peppers, how much nitrogen you add is tricky. Peppers grown in a soil overly rich in nitrogen give you lush leafy growth but not much, if any, fruit. On the other hand, with too little nitrogen, the leaves are small and pale, the plants produce few fruits, and those produced are subject to sunscald because the leaves are too small to cover them. According to the majority of gardening books now available, on most soils, aged manure supplies sufficient nitrogen to get peppers growing well. I would agree with that advice when it comes to planting small chilies like chiltepíns, serranos, or de árbols. But my experience with most of the big bells and most hybrids, in particular, has shown me that they need ample amounts of nitrogen. I always scratch into my already fairly rich soil, a handful of blood meal around each plant when I transplant them, and my plants produce a lot of large fruit and lush leaves. Since establishing this routine, I’ve spoken with a lot of seed people and professional growers on the West Coast and they all agree. They all give extra nitrogen to their big bells and hybrids to make sure the peppers get off to a strong start. (Maybe most of the pepper information comes from East Coast growers, and it’s different there.) If you have very sandy soil or one unusually low in nitrogen, I would certainly add an organic source of nitrogen such as fish meal, blood meal, or chicken manure when transplanting your peppers.
Once the plants are growing well and the first fruits are set, most growers agree that all peppers need a supplemental fertilizing with nitrogen to assure a continual supply of healthy leaves. (See “Maintaining Your Peppers,” on page 24.) Experiment in your own garden and see how much nitrogen your peppers need. If your soil is already a very rich loam or otherwise high in nitrogen, then nitrogen fertilizer may not be needed. All in all, in my experience, I have found peppers to need more nitrogen than their cousins the tomatoes, which are infamous for not fruiting when overfed. The goal is to give your peppers enough nitrogen to have a good covering of healthy green leaves but not so much that you grow pepper “trees” with little or no fruit. For an even more in-depth discussion of the pros and cons of nitrogen for peppers, see “Nutritional Deficiencies” in Appendix B, page 99.
Potassium, and especially phosphorus, fertilizers work best when incorporated into the root zone. When you add them, sprinkle them evenly over the soil and incorporate them thoroughly by turning the soil over with a spade, working them, and any mineral and organic amendments, into the top 6 to 10 inches. Nitrogen fertilizers, on the other hand, quickly leach out of the root zone and into underground water sources. They are best sprinkled over the soil just before or after planting and lightly scratched into the surface.
Once all the amendments have been incorporated, grade and rake the area. You are now ready to form the beds and paths. Because of all the added materials, the beds will now be elevated above the paths—which further helps drainage. Slope the sides of the beds so that loose soil is not easily washed onto the paths. Some gardeners add a brick or wood edging to outline the beds. In addition, some sort of gravel, brick, stone, or mulch is needed on the paths to forestall weed growth and prevent your feet from getting wet and muddy.
Starting from Seed
Peppers need a long growing season—up to 120 days from seed to maturity for some varieties. The seeds must have warm soil in which to germinate, and seedlings need warm temperatures for growth. It is imperative in most regions to start your plants indoors and move them out into the garden only after the weather has warmed. Starting seeds inside also gives seedlings a safe start away from slugs, birds, and cutworms.
Start your seeds, in clean flats, peat pots, or other containers with drainage holes, eight to ten weeks before you plan to set them out in the garden. You do not want to transplant them before the soil is reliably warm, which is probably May in much of the country but much earlier in warmer areas, such as along the Gulf Coast and low deserts. In my USDA Zone 9 climate, we have no frosts after early March, but it is May before the weather gets consistently warm, so I start most of my peppers in the middle of February, earlier for some of the slow-growing wilder varieties. Folks in the warmest winter climates often start their peppers in January. I seed mine in either the plastic pony packs that I recycle from the nursery, or in compartmentalized Styrofoam containers variously called plugs or speedling trays (available from mail-order garden-supply houses). Whatever type of container you use, the soil should be 2 to 3 inches deep. Any shallower and it dries out too fast, and any deeper is usually a waste of seed-starting soil and water.
All containers, equipment, and surfaces should be clean. If you have had a history of damping-off, a fungal disease that kills seedlings at the soil line, then disinfect everything as well. Also, if you are a tobacco user, wash your hands well with a strong soap or disinfect them with rubbing alcohol. Tobacco products may harbor tobacco mosaic virus, which can be passed on to your seeds and plants.
Make sure to use a loose, water-retentive soil mix that drains well. Good drainage is important because soil kept too moist can lead to damping-off disease. Resist the temptation to use garden soil. Commercial starting mixes are best since they have been sterilized to remove weed seeds and fungus diseases; however, the quality varies greatly from brand to brand, and I find that most lack enough nitrogen, so I water with a weak solution of fish emulsion when I plant the seeds and again a few weeks later. (Some sources claim that early fertilizing with nitrogen encourages damping-off disease. I have not experienced this, but if you have had this problem, wait until your seedlings are established before fertilizing with a nitrogen fertilizer.)
Renee’s Garden seed company offers a mix of three varieties of cayenne peppers—red, yellow, and purple—all in one package. She dyes them before packaging so you can tell which seeds will produce what color pepper.
Fill your containers with potting soil and smooth the soil surface. (Some gardeners like to premoisten the soil.) Plant the seeds about inch deep and 1 inch apart. Pat down the seeds, and water carefully and lightly to settle the seeds in. With a ballpoint pen or permanent marker, write the name of the species or variety and the date of seeding on a plastic or wooden label and place it at the head of each row.
Keep the seedbed moist but not soggy. Water gently with lukewarm water sprinkled from a watering can, or use a turkey baster to apply the water. Some growers like to cover their seeded containers loosely with plastic, in which case the containers do not need to be watered as often, but you must watch them closely and remove the plastic as soon as germination starts. Germination rates tend to be better when seedbeds are watered from above than when the containers are set in water to be absorbed from below. Bottom watering tends to keep the soil too cool.
Pepper seeds usually germinate best when the soil temperature is in the range of 70°F to 80°F. (They can tolerate higher temperatures, from 90°F to 100°F, and may even germinate faster at those temperatures, but the number of seeds that germinate is usually
