Peppers, of all kinds, would be fabulous to have growing in my backyard. I use onions daily, and I would use peppers too, if I had them. This year I am growing the orange Suave Nu Mex peppers for the first time. (Not the hot ones.)
Pepper plants are tough to grow. I had trouble growing them when I lived in New Hampshire, because they would just be starting to have nice looking peppers, and the season would be over. They were purchased as seedlings, but the the short summer was a downfall. Now, in Florida, I have a long season, but the peppers were still not easy for me to grow.
I began my peppers from seeds, in small pots. I tried to keep them going over the winter months, but they didn’t do well. Most of the seedlings ended up dying. Then, the older plants got some sort of disease.
Because my seedlings were have such troubles, I waited for Spring (Feb.) to plant the Nu Mex seeds outside in one of the grow boxes. I waited to see what would grow, and ended up with 2 plants. Yup, only two.
It is now June, and I have one Nu Mex still growing in the box where it began. The other has been transplanted to a plastic pot. Eventually, I will re-plant it somewhere.
Florida Gardening Conditions
- Hot, heat, sun, blazing high temps.
- Too much drenching rain, OR not enough rain (we just have over 2 months with NO rain in my area! Temps are reaching over 100.
- Gardens need sun, but it’s too much for some plants. Must supply shade.
- Humidity… lots of it.
My dilemma is that the boxes are great for starting plants from seed outdoors. But, those boxes are not very deep. They are better for shallow rooted crops. A Nu Mex can be 4 feet tall, and I’m sure it has an extensive root system. It really needs to be in the ground.
Anything growing in the ground in my yard, is open to raccoons harvesting my produce. They will rip the peppers right off the plant, as they do with tomatoes, eggplant, watermelon, and whatever else is in their line of sight. It’s a conundrum.
About the Suave Nu Mex Variety
The Suave Nu Mex (orange) peppers will look like habanero peppers, but won’t be hot like those. It means I can use them in meals without worrying about the heat. At least this is the hope!
Watch this video by Elise Pickett of The Urban Harvest, where she discusses which peppers to grow in Florida and how to care for them.
The leaves on the Nu Mex peppers are curled on the edges. I’m not sure if this is a characteristic of the variety, or if it’s a signal that something is wrong. The plants both look healthy, and the larger one has flowers. These plants are about four months old.
The Secret is to Give the Peppers Some Shade
The peppers that grew well from seed looked nice, but I was worried about how much water to give them. The sun is so hot, and it dries the ground pretty fast. But I don’t want to overwater either.
After a month of growing my pepper seedlings, one thing I discovered is to give them shade early in the day. They were getting a lot of sun until later in the afternoon, but it was too much.
Other Peppers Growing Well
After struggling to get my pepper plants past the seedling stage, I now have these types growing in my little backyard. I wrote a page about them here.
- 4 Carolina Wonder Bell pepper plants
- 2 Suave Nu Mex, orange, not hot variety (this page)
- 2 Aji Dulce spice pepper / seasoning peppers
- 1 Ancho poblano (2 have already died, so fingers crossed)
Using Umbrellas For Shade in the Garden
I have set up my beach umbrella next to the fire spike – which droops in the sun every day. I’ve arranged some peppers in bags around the bottom and try to remember to open up the umbrella by noon.
Both Nu Mex plants are near my table umbrella, which I put up to block the afternoon sun. All the pepper plants have begun to do much better now that they have less direct sun.
Epsom Salt and Fertilizer
In Ellise’s video (link provided up this page), she talks about adding Epsom salt (paid link) to her pepper plants. About once a month, sprinkle a little around the plants. I have been doing this with all my peppers.
Don’t fertilize too much either or they will grow like mad, but not produce. Once they begin to grow little peppers, they may need more fertilizer. Some places say to fertilize once a month. I’m still in the learning stages and I’m not good at keeping track of when I fertilize what plants.
Umbrella Suggestions
If you want to use a stand alone (beach umbrella) to shade portions of the yard, be sure to get one that screws into the ground. Mine has the screw part attached at the bottom, with fold out handles to screw it in. The top of the umbrella comes completely out, which is nice if it gets super windy. Also the height is adjustable, and it tilts.
The one I bought (back in 2017) is similar to this one on Amazon (this is a paid link), but I’m not sure the quality is the same. The one I have is currently unavailable.
The plastic screw anchor is easy to put into the sandy ground, or take it out to move. Umbrella anchors can be purchased separately, and then you could find a cheap umbrella to use with it. The problem I see with that set up, is the wind. If the umbrella sets into the anchor, it could come out and blow away.
Another option for shade is to buy a shade cloth. I’ve never used one, but they are big and need to be anchored somehow and tied somewhere. This works best if you have a big area to cover.
More stories for my gardening friends…
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