Your 2026 Garden

[CatInTheHenHouse]

How did they produce? Did you get lots? I grow poblanos that usually get 4 to 5 feet tall, can't imagine more than 1 to a square foot, they get really bushy and loaded. Are cayenne peppers a much smaller bush? Sorry for so many questions, I use a lot of cayenne in cooking and have thought of growing them.

The first year yes, I got enough to make cayenne powder for myself for a year. Last year no, but none of my warm weather crops did well last year - too cold all summer.

My cayenne got to be about a foot tall, maybe a bit more, but nowhere near 3-4 feet. I will note that my hanging basket is very airy:

I have it lined with some old screen and newspaper (it came with a coco coir mat but that has since disintegrated). I suspect this kept the roots warmer in year 1 (which I gather peppers like) because they’d done way better than the same variety in other planters the same year.

I do want to note that I have gotten suspicious that the tight quarters are why they never survive overwintering; I have a different variety in a 12” pot by itself that has survived so far and is trying to make peppers under the grow light. This is the first time I’ve had any peppers survive this long so I need to test that this year.

 

[StarOnFire59]

Joy, joy, joy! Spring is coming!

According to the monthly forecast, we are still expecting it to drop below freezing through April 25th.

 

[dirkandlorie]

oUr last freeze is listed around April 15. In 20 some years of living here I've never seen it freeze that late. I still don't put things in the ground til after that, besides potatoes, onions, beets, etc. Seed starting is feb. 25 for tomatoes, peppers, etc. And as long as I have something growing somewhere, I can convince myself spring will soon be here. Its been a long hard winter, lol

 

[fuzzi]

oUr last freeze is listed around April 15. In 20 some years of living here I've never seen it freeze that late. I still don't put things in the ground til after that, besides potatoes, onions, beets, etc. Seed starting is feb. 25 for tomatoes, peppers, etc. And as long as I have something growing somewhere, I can convince myself spring will soon be here. Its been a long hard winter, lol

Our last frost date is technically April 15, but we rarely get frost after April 1. When I grew peppers and tomatoes I didn't transplant them until the soil warmed up, mid April.

 

[StarOnFire59]

oUr last freeze is listed around April 15. In 20 some years of living here I've never seen it freeze that late. I still don't put things in the ground til after that, besides potatoes, onions, beets, etc. Seed starting is feb. 25 for tomatoes, peppers, etc. And as long as I have something growing somewhere, I can convince myself spring will soon be here. Its been a long hard winter, lol

I plant first week of May. That's it.

 

[tripletfeb]

I can't plant outside until after Mother's Day. We've gotten snow as late as that before and the ground isn't warm enough until at least then

 

[tripletfeb]

Transplanted today. I buried them pretty deep in the pots and I'm going to get a small fan to lightly blow on them and get them stronger