24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I have read this advice as well as the opposite and I've tried both with habaneros. I think my results with single planting have been better. I did get bigger peppers by putting two in a pot, but I also got noticeably fewer of them, and the peppers seemed to have a waxy color about them.
On the other hand, I've also had bad luck with peppers far apart. So it seems like a happy medium is best.
A saying I read about peppers was that "peppers like to hold hands" meaning that they do best when planted close enough together that, when grown, their leaves will overlap slightly. This seems to be the happy medium for me. Growing at that distance produced abundant, medium sized, rich orange habaneros.
I also do not thin them at all. I start lots and lots of individual seedlings, and then transplant them into place. Thinning just makes me feel bad about the plants that get pulled up. :( So I only do it with seeds that are too small to handle individually, like argula.
Angie

There seems to me to be a couple of different options here. Close planting - holding hands, love that - might be worth a try, 6" apart. But I think the almanac site was saying to leave seedlings very close, 1/2" or so, and grow them more as a multi-stemmed plant. I haven't been able to find much about this but one link (can't find again right now) was about increased yields in the fields when a couple of tomato plants/seeds were planted in each hole. Interesting and counter-intuitive. Also helps when/if one plant dies, the other carries on and doesn't leave a gap in the planting. I think I'll try some of my peppers and tomatoes like this.

I add hardware cloth to any new bed (NOT chicken wire! It's holes are too big and it rots after a couple of years!) due to our gopher problems!
Anywhere you live, I would ask some neighbors or the extension office what to expect for your area. Gophers, moles, voles, rabbits, groundhogs etc.. I would especially go with the neighbors, cause while I have never seen a rabbit wild in this area, 5 miles away they run rampant! Nancy

Thanks to all for your replies! I think my initial plans were a bit ambitious... Sounds like I need to downsize quite a bit. I was originally planning on laying it out as a square foot garden, so I was thinking one plant per square foot = 64 plants in an 8x8 bed... Which is definitely too crowded, now that I really think about it.
The 8x8 bed wasn't really a choice... It came with the house, so we figured we'd just go with it our first season here. Next year, we'll be building several smaller beds that are easier to maintain.
Thanks again!

D and others have given you some good advice. Toms 2 feet apart are fine. As D said....toms need 3 things: sun, sun, and more sun. I got caught with my pants down last year on my tom support system. Indeterminates must be supported well. This year I used 4'x8' welded wire panels used for concrete mesh. They are lashed between 8' T posts. I think I should be dialed in better this year.

One of these days it will warm up and dry out a bit up there in Dakota.
I am blessed to have been able to plant a couple things out in the gardens...sugar snap peas and onion plants. The lady called this morning that the onions were in. I set them out with fertilizer this morning. the ground works up like a dream on my amended beds. Where the soil is less amended, it is somewhat wetish. The Candy onions were large and had nice live roots on them.

Just so you know I'm not kidding, I work in Syracuse, NY. I live about 25 miles away from Syracuse.
Take a peek at this one too (5 worst winter weather cities in US):
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather/2010/09/07/5-worst-winter-weather-cities/
Feel better now?
Here is a link that might be useful: Top Snowiest cities in US 2013/2014


If you like snow peas, there are some early varieties that don't grow but about 2 feet tall. They would probably work. I think burpee has a carrot called little fingers that can be planted one inch a part, great container carrot, and then one called short and sweet. I think it's a 3 inch carrot. My experience with edible pod peas is that they put on from the bottom up, so you may find that you could get a bit of a harvest before they got root bound. In my area, the heat gets to peas before they would naturally peak out, So I often just get a few pickings. Zone 6 probably is better for peas.


Agree with the above but please don't layer your additions. That creates drainige and rooting problems. Rather mix in all the ingredients you add well throughout the bed.
Your woodland soil should work fine but can't say for sure without seeing it. And adding in lots of quality compost can only make it better. It may take a day trip out of the coutny to find cheaper stuff.
Good luck.
Dave

It sounds like your beds are already in place but I'll say this anyway.
What I do to suppress cost of materials and soil amendments is to match the plant root requirements with box size. As a result, I have cost saving 5 inch beds on top of clay-ish soil that work out well for things like spinach and kale. From deeper root systems like tomatoes that love their roots well drained, I have higher beds.
For me, the main importance of raised beds is to keep soil from being compacted, to drain the water more freely, and to avoid weeding. Unfortunately my clay soil means I have to import compost, etc.

Posted by garyfla 10 Florida (My Page) on
Sun, Mar 9, 14 at 7:24
Hi
i went to visit my daughter in se Kansas and carefully chose May to avoid the cold weather Was snowing on the day we arrived!!! .
Thankfully it has not done so since . Whenever I start to whine about the weather i always think of Kansas lol gary
Yuup native NE Kansan here....... May snow is not uncommon
We're had several days of 60 mph wind gusts. Posted pics of my low tunnel fabric, sigh....... Parts of Nebraska are getting a blizzard & it's 78F here!

My hot peppers right now more then a foot tall. flowering and branching... Good news? No, bad) They have 2 more inches to grow to overgrow the window I have for them... And I can't even set up my portable heated green house on the deck as usual - the heater is no match to freezing temps that expected for at least 3-4 more weeks...
And ground is still frozen...
I try to convince my tomatoes to slow down... Looks like they do not understand either English or Russian)

like a fat green onion. But I didnt plant green onions, I starter white onion from seeds.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
To my understanding :
There is no difference between what is called GREEN onion and just onions in early stage. Any onion harvested young and early is called GREEN onions , scallions. Some onions are bred as BUNCHING onions that would not bulb much. BUT they are all ONIONS.

You could try pulling them apart and planting a few and tossing the rest into dinner. Your best source of information would be the seed packet. If it is a bunching onion, you may as well eat them now. If it is a bulbing onion, you could try a few in the ground to see what happens.

Could be amount of light exposure - they are bending to reach more light. Could also be that the stems were lanky/leggy/too weak to begin with so they bend back and forth in an effort to support the top growth until the stems can strengthen up some.
Could also be excess N stimulating too-rapid top growth for the plant to adjust to.
Dave

They are in full sun except where there might be shading from other veg plants. I change beds every year and every year it is the same. I will do some soil tests. Just read they have opinions about pH. The stems are very hefty -- the base gets so big around I have to use a saw to cut it.
Also read they want a lot of feeding during the season. I must admit that except for compost at planting and the odd drizzle of fish/kelp solution, I'm not good at fertilizing.
Just took a walk through the community gardens and past the farm. BS plants left standing through a hellacious winter are STILL standing up straight and tall. My one remaining plant (left for late fall harvest and then ... whammo, way too much snow too soon) is laid flat out.


Are they the peppadews??
I doubt that what they were discussing 7 years ago on this thread were peppadews, which appear to be a round cherry pepper shape. I grew some seeds from store bought "mini sweet peppers" sold by Pero Farms. They are 2-4 inches long, shaped like corno de toros, have few seeds and have a very pleasing sweet pepper taste. They have thick walls and keep well. They taste much better than any bell pepper I've tasted. All my plants grew like the red one I took the seeds from. I love them!
Here is a link that might be useful: Mini Sweet Peppers