Picking a Peck of Peppers (Perhaps will be Pickled)

Even though it's officially fall and nearly November, the garden has continued its plentiful bounty, especially the peppers. This is my second year of gardening in Eastern North Carolina, and no plant has thrived more in this climate than the peppers, of all kinds.

This year we grew banana peppers (thin, long, yellow); not-spicy habaneros (small, red); cubanelles (chunky, light green); and various bell peppers. The only ones that haven't done well were the giant Marconi peppers (the Italian version of poblanos), but that's only because they were completely swallowed by the cubanelles on the left and the cherry tomatoes on their right.

Here are some photos of our rich, beautiful pepper harvest lately.

(Top: banana, Left: habanero, Center: San Marzano tomatoes, Right: yellow bell, Bottom: cubanelle.)

(Top left: green bell, Top right: banana, Bottom left: habanero)

(Red bowl ---Top left: yellow bell, Top right: orange bell, Center: habanero, Bottom right: cubanelle; Purple bowl --- banana)

This weekend, I plan on pulling most of the pepper plants as they've run their course and officially have no more fruit on them. I will be planting elephant garlic in their place. All except the habanero that is, which continues to flower and fruit. As long as it keeps doing it's thing, I'm not going to touch it, which is a pretty good rule of thumb in the garden. If it's happy, just leave it alone.

Until next time, stay dirty my gardening friends! :)