Peppers for Cold Climates

Bell pepper from the 2012 garden.

Due to Michigan's short growing season, pretty much the only way we can grow peppers here is by sowing seeds indoors and transplant outside after the last frost date, so they can be harvested before the first frost. I use a last frost date of May 20 and first frost of September 25 (based on data for Jackson, MI), which means a window of around 120 days.

This works pretty well for most bell peppers, which will be ripe in 60-90 days (that's days after transplanting outdoors, not days after you initially start the seeds), but some hot peppers can take up to 150 days. Do the math. Even if I took a chance and transplanted a hot pepper on May 15, got lucky with no frost, I'm looking at October 15 for harvest. And I know better than to expect summer to last that long. So I need to be picky about the varieties I select. I look for cold-hardy plant varieties no matter what, since Michigan weather can be so unpredictable (frost in July? not unheard of).

Last year I didn't have much success with peppers. I started seeds indoors from an old pack of Sweet Carnival Mix from Burpee, which I transplanted outside in June, along with a poblano pepper seedling I bought from Lowe's. The bells each produced 2-3 peppers but I only picked about 3 usable ones total, and the poblanos got zapped by the frost before I was able to pick them.

This year I looked at the varieties suggested on the peppers tip sheet suggested by MSU Extension; they are common ones you can get at gardening stores in packets from Burpee, Ferry Morse, etc. Great info there, but as far as pepper varieties I was looking for something a little different (and in a larger quantity than those little packets), so I ordered Cupid (mini bell pepper), Ace (regular bell pepper), and Aji Cristal (hot). I should have started the seeds indoors already, so I'll be doing that as soon as possible, hardening off at the end of May, and transplanting probably at the start of June.

Highlights from 2012

Winter seems to be neverending, and with my first packets of seeds finally arrived, I am more anxious than ever to get started on this year's market garden. I thought I would recap some of last year while I wait, so here is what I managed to capture with my camera!

My assortment of seedlings growing steadily by the window. This was the second week of May, and hopefully I will have things further along by that time this year.

First transplant, this one's a tomato started from seed. The collar is cut from scrap tagboard and stuck about an inch deep in the ground to protect against cutworms. It worked great - all my tomato plants were huge!

The beets that were beautiful and lush and... were eaten by the deer. Didn't pull a single one out in time.

Onions planted from sets, prior to thinning. I think these were yellow ones.

These were among the first flowers that popped out of my growing veggies. Clockwise from upper left: cantaloupe, tomato, potato, and tomatillo!

My first real vegetable, a yellow summer squash. Held onto it a couple days until it had some friends, sauteed it with its neighboring zucchini, and it was delicious!

One of my tomatillo plants in all its glory. Started it from seed because it seemed like a unique plant and was touted as "hardy." No kidding. I had no idea what to do with this thing, but I must have done something right, because fruit started dropping off left and right in August. To call it "prolific" would be a massive understatement.

Cherry tomatoes that filled our salads for all of August and most of September. If we hadn't taken a vacation for the last two weeks of July we probably would have enjoyed them then, too!

Seeds!

I probably should have started this a few weeks ago, but I bought my first seeds for 2013 today! I'm trying out Johnny's Seeds and Seed Savers, neither of which I've used before but have heard great things about them. Stay tuned for a review.

Tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos were first up. I'll be starting them indoors and transplanting sometime in May, probably a bit later for the peppers and tomatillos. I'm salivating just thinking about BLTs, fresh salsa, and tomatillo-lime jam.

Carrots, radishes, and peas will be the first seeds to go in the ground this spring, so I ordered a few varieties of those too! Now if only someone would tell Old Man Winter that it's time to let another season have a turn. It just snowed again this morning, which means the garden is destined to be a squelchy mud pit for a week or more as soon as it warms up. THEN maybe we can till the garden. The waiting is killing me!