Peppers

Growing your own food at home in these tough economic times is an easy way to ease the budget crunch for your family. Peppers, both the sweet bell pepper types and the spicy chili pepper types, are easy and productive choices that are loaded with vitamins and minerals. All kinds of peppers have strong flavors that enhance the flavor and color of your dishes without adding too many unwanted calories.

These are warm season crops so wait to plant till the weather is warm and settled. Start seeds indoors a month before planting out and be sure to check the seed packet labels for disease resistant varieties. The more disease resistant your food plants are the less you have to treat them with remedies. If you run into fungus or bacterial diseases on your plants, be sure to treat them with organic remedies. It’s important for the health of your family to only use organic remedies on the plants you eat.

Insects, like tomato hornworms or tomato fruitworms, can sometimes be a problem. Knock these critters into a jar of soapy water and they’ll die very quickly.

Peppers, especially the small fruited types can also be successful grown in pots indoors in a sunny window. You can enjoy these during the winter doldrums and use them to spice up your cooking.