NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) - When I give advice to gardeners in North Texas, I first give them an overview of the three growing seasons. That's a head start on the 255-day growing season, even though it's (usually) brutally hot and dry in between.
Pepper is one of the few crops that can survive in all three seasons. Start early and you can harvest a small crop before the hottest days of summer. Water well enough and they'll take the heat and start blooming again in late summer or early fall. The reward comes at harvest, when your harvest is bountiful. Fall is when my husband and I enjoy our year's supply of bell peppers.
Many people compare bell peppers to growing tomatoes because most of them stop growing on 95°F days. Some varieties of tomatoes can go dormant in the summer and produce large harvests in the fall. I personally have a lot of success with peppers that do this. Also, some of the hottest chili varieties bear fruit in summer.
You can start growing peppers after the last frost (average around March 12 in the metro area) and early August (a good 8-10 week window for harvest, if protected from early frosts).
New varieties and crosses seem to appear every year, so the variety of peppers that can be planted is staggering. This year I bought lemon spice jalapeno. I plan to start some transplants in the middle of summer and get a fall crop from them.
By planting regular varieties of bell peppers, poblanos, plantains, serranos, and red peppers, you can have a bountiful harvest that you can share with your neighbors. I suggest a light to medium mix and just a little "hot" (a little goes a long way).
Jeff Ray is a Senior Meteorologist for CBS News Texas and an avid gardener. When she's not covering the weather, she looks up articles on gardening in North Texas. If you'd like Jeff to come and talk to your group about how climate change is changing horticulture in this area, email us @viacomcbs.com .
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