Sprouting Peppers Are Rich With Promise

Whoa. I bit the bullet this year and decided to try to start peppers from seed. I know, I know, I know. Many are lucky with peppers - I am not. Once they are in the ground, I do ok... but starting from seed has never worked well for me.

We splurged and purchased 4 kinds: Golden Summer (Yellow), Gourmet (Orange), Marconi (Smoky Red and Green), Fat N Sassy (Red & Green Bells). We had a failed start and the Golden's paid the price. Only 10 seeds in the packet in a 9 cell block equaled failure of all but 1 seed. Everything else had mild but reluctant success. So, we tried again a week later. The Marconis and Fat 'N Sassys were much happier. The Gourmets only had 15 seeds in the packet. About 6 in total are fighting to make it.

We need 24 plants this year. We eat peppers like candy, we freeze them for pizza every Friday night and we grow them for my parents who need them all year long in their meals. So, we tried round three with all of the remaining Marconis and Sassys yesterday and will know in a week or so if we are going to make it. Buying plants is always an option. Buying more seeds is also an option. I would just love to taste success on this area of our garden more than anywhere else.

As it stands, we have more than our requisite 24 seedlings, but we need 24 PLANTS... seedlings are a promise of potential - but no guarantee.

Fingers crossed!