Fenton Friday: Peppers

 

Guest Blog by Ian Ferris

I began my summer as an intern with a choice: Which vegetable would I grow? Tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. It felt like choosing a starter Pokémon. In my haste to select the best option, I chose the one that intrigued me the most: peppers — as tasty to the mouth as they are to the eye. And what a choice it was.

I began with small pepper plants of four different varieties. Planting them brought me back to my days working on a farm, where I would plant dozens of plugs without thought. This time was different. I took time planting these, carefully digging holes with proper spacing and giving these wee plants a good start in their new home.

Next came maintenance as my infants grew up. Peppers don’t need too much work if the growing conditions are right. Every week I would give them a good share of water, always feeling that they must be as thirsty as I was in the hot summer heat. The other tool they needed for success was nutrients. After a couple of weeks of letting them grow, I began giving them a dose of fish fertilizer before they were watered. This ensured they were well fed and ready to put those nutrients into big, healthy fruit.

Along the way, I helped out with the rest of the garden, pulling weeds from around my peppers and the surrounding areas. I really do hate weeding. I would also help harvest blackberries and attend to any tricky misnomers occurring that Kathy had spotted — mostly hacking away at the pestsome mulberry trees that kept sprouting around the garden and trimming back ambitious plants.

My peppers only encountered some trouble: slight wilting on the bottom leaves, likely due to the frequent tropical-like thunderstorms we’ve endured in Maryland. Beyond that, my only worry was whether they’d produce enough fruit in time for the fair. This seemed hopeless at times, but it was the pepper plant with the smallest fruit — instead of the largest — that surprised me. It grew uniform, delicious-looking peppers that looked like they would ripen in time.

While I was out of state on vacation, Kathy took care of my peppers and harvested them in time for the fair. These peppers had one last surprise for me. Upon strolling toward the awards table, I noticed they placed second and third in their category. Deep pride filled me. It is this shared feeling among gardeners that makes the whole ordeal worthwhile. Together, the plant and I worked hand in hand to produce a gorgeous and delicious fruit — although the pepper plants did most of the work. For that, I’m grateful to my peppers and to the Washington Gardener for a great summer growing.