Tips for healthy pepper plants

I love growing my own peppers, both sweet and hot varieties. And did you know that yellow and red bell peppers have a higher Vitamin C content than green peppers? If you're adding pepper plants to your vegetable garden, here are a few tips that can help you maintain healthy plants and get the best yield.

Put your pepper plants in when night time temperatures are no longer below 50 to 55 degrees, as they don't do well in cold wet soil, and cannot tolerate frost. Raised planting beds work well for peppers, as the soil warms sooner and keeps the soil well drained. Pepper plants love the heat, and black plastic mulch is helpful at keeping the plants and soil warm. My personal favorite is aluminum foil covering the soil around each plant. It not only keeps the soil warm, but bounces the sun's rays back up onto the plant, increasing the yield.

Start with good fertile soil, and keep the plants moist throughout the growing season. Hot and dry winds and dry soil can prevent the plants from setting fruit. Pepper plants also appreciate a side dressed fertilizer after the first peppers are set.

If your garden plants are set upon by pests, the following sight provides help for dealing with it naturally:
Natural & Organic Pest Control Solutions for the Garden

Keep bunnies out of your garden

One of my readers mentioned having a problem with bunnies eating her garden last year. It's a problem I've had in the past, but I wasn't willing to get my gun out (like some gardeners I know who shall remain nameless), and I have had success with a few "natural" deterants for my garden visitors.

One thing I do is plant marigolds around the outside of my vegetable garden. They have a strong smell, and possibly the bunnies and many bugs find them distasteful. Marigolds also attract beneficial insects such as lacewings, lady beetles, and parasitic wasps, and make the garden more attractive.

I also have a wildflower bed next to my vegetable garden. I've noticed the bunnies like to sit in amongst the wildflowers and nibble on them rather than my vegetable plants.

The third method I use actually is to keep the bunnies out of my fenced in yard, so my dogs don't have access to the bunny's "nuggets" they leave behind. I read somewhere to spread a line of used cat litter wherever you don't want the bunnies to access. If you use a natural cat litter made from pine, wheat, corn, newspaper etc, it will decompose into the soil eventually. It's preferable to remove the "logs" from the litter first though. I spread the used litter along my fence, and it keeps the bunnies from squeezing under and coming into the backyard. They apparently dislike the smell, but it's not noticeable to humans. You'll probably have to reapply more litter every month or so, but if you have cats, there's always a supply of it available.

I've found these methods work well to keep the bunnies out of my vegetable garden and backyard, and hope this information is useful to you as well.