This week I decided it is time to plant all the warm season crops that have been in the poly tunnel. It has been unseasonable cold lately so I have been holding off planting them. I have since lost my patients so in they went. This is my pepper bed. Last year it took ages for the peppers to mature so this year I am trying black plastic on the soil. It is a pain to install and plant so I hope it was worth the effort. This bed consists of the following peppers from large to small, Jimmy Nardello's, Big Chile II, Ancho and Purple Peppers from Annie's Kitchen Garden. They will all get a bamboo stake soon, as I found out last year, it is easier to stake now then in August when the flop over.
To plant in the black plastic I cut an X and plantedthe plant. The X will also help with watering the bed.
The first pepper, this one is a big chile II. It must have been pollinatedby one of the bumble bees that kept getting trapped in the poly tunnel.
This is a bloom on one of the Jimmy Nardello peppers. If youlook closely you will see a green aphid taking refuge in the bloom.
I have also planted my yellow eggplants. They certainly don't look very healthy at the moment but I am confident once they settle into the soil they will green up again. They are also planted with black plastic like the peppers.
The last of the warm season crops are the cucumbers, squash & melon seedlings. They have yet to be planted but will make it into the soil this weekend. Most are doing well except the armenian cucumbers. I planted two pots of them, one wilted and died at the seed leaf stage and the other pot is currently wilting and dieing. I will have to direct sow them and hope for better growth.
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