As you can see, I chose to grow bell peppers. To be more exact, I grew California Wonder Bell Peppers. They didn’t get too big, but they were very flavorful.
I started them from seed and they sprouted around the 20th of May and grew pretty fast. One plant didn’t germinate. So instead of 3 plants I had 2.
I kept them in the window sill until they were too big for their container. They were getting 8 hours of sun. As the days wore on and the amount of sun lessened to 6 hours I knew it was time to put them in some bigger pots and put them outside to get more sun.
On June 24 I put them in bigger pots and prepared them for the outside.
I started hardening them off on the 24th of June and they were outside overnight for the first time on July 1. These are my plants. The Bell Peppers are in the light blue pots.
There were lots of little blossoms that opened but only two blossoms produced peppers. The other blossoms fell off. I was so disappointed.
But those two grew, and I became very proud of them.
After we ate these peppers in a salsa (with jalapeno, onion, tomatoes salt and fresh squeezed lime juice) I got another bumper crop of peppers. This time I got 8 peppers. I think they would’ve grown larger, but I had to pick them because we were going to be having freezing temperatures. Also I started the seeds way too late, I should’ve started them in February (indoors) but instead I started them at the end of May. That is 3 months too late, I could’ve had another crop of peppers. We ate these peppers on salads and pizzas and let me tell you, they have a strong flavor, not like what you get in a grocery store.
Next year will be 2022 and I will be starting a larger garden. My goal is to grow enough food to not have to buy vegetables in the store. I want to grow tomatoes for salads, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, sandwiches, soups like chili, veggie soup and so much more. We eat pizza every Friday night. EVERY Friday night for the past couple of years and lately I make it during the week as well. I make the dough from scratch, and cook tomatoes for the sauce. I buy my peppers from the Amish food stands in Lancaster County, peppers that I have pickled (banana peppers) jalapenos and Cheyenne peppers. So I will need 25 of the 16 oz glass jars of pizza sauce just to have 1 pizza per week. (One jar is enough for for 2 and a half pizzas.) And I will need to freeze a ton of peppers for the pizza as well.
I hope you enjoyed this post. If you would like to join me on this journey to growing our own food consider subscribing to my page so you will be updated by email whenever I publish another post.
If you plan to grow veggie, herbs or flowers or are already growing these things let me know in the comments section below what you are growing or plan to grow, I’d love to hear from you.
Stepping Into The Life 