King Arthur Bell Peppers - July 2022

Nat and I often reminisce about what we 'used to have' when it comes to vegetable gardening.  Back in Elmhurst, we had good-sized, enclosed raised bed vegetable garden.  When we moved, we inherited a yard that has A LOT of shade and despite trying both in-ground and a (small) raised bed garden, we've had limited success with vegetables.  I posted much the same story here back in 2018 when I lamented that we grew just ONE tomato.   

But, things changed a little last year when we moved our raised bed from out in the garden to our patio - where we DO, indeed, get overhead full sun during the middle of the day.  That meant that last year (2021), we grew tomatoes (an indeterminate variety) that produced small fruits that we ate most of the Summer.  It was a little bit of an out-of-control vine and it spilled out of our bed and down into the lawn.  

This year, we decided to grow a few things.  I'll post about the tomatoes on another day.  Today, I'm talking about bell peppers.  King Arthur Bell Peppers to be specific.  I've never had much luck with bell peppers.  The fruits are always small and there's not a lot of payoff.  

But this year?  We're doing something right.   See below for the King Arthur Bell Pepper plant and the size of the peppers:

There are six peppers that are decent-sized already, but I'm leaving the largest on the plant to see if it will turn red with time.

This pepper plant is from the Morton Arboretum plant sale.  I'll be buying this one again.  See below for the tag:

I'd love to think about how to expand the vegetable garden, but it seems like I have just a couple of areas to do it:   outside our kitchen windows - in front of the Lindens.  Or, along the southside of the house - where the Disneyland Roses are planted.  Seems like something for the 2023 to-do list, right?