Albert's Greenhouse

My peppers are up by now, little inch-high plants with just their seed leaves poking out of the peat pellets.

Originally from South America, peppers have been adopted by many of the great cuisines of the world - the Thai have particularly pungent varieties, as do the Indians, the Mexicans and the Chinese. Sweet peppers form a wonderful part of various European cuisines. I grew three peppers last year, and this year looks to be a repeat. California Wonder sweet peppers still do exceedingly well in my part of California, forming big, blocky green, then red fruits. Jalapeno "M" is a good performer as well, with meaty and hot pods. I also grow the original bright incandescent orange Habanero, a pepper of carbbean extraction, which is pretty much unbearable.

Why grow my own peppers? Certainly, one can get them easily in the grocery store, and they don't taste particularly worse in the mass produced form. I figure it's sort of the same reason people like to grow poisonous plants, or plants with medicinal use - a fascination with being able to grow something with a particular power over our metabolism.

We've found that hot peppers store well and retain their heat in the deep freeze, so as we work through last year's frozen bounty, we'll be waiting on the brightly colored fruits of the late summer from the garden.