Starting the Peppers in Lamoine

The summer breezes off the ocean, which start up about 10 am are not good for growing peppers or tomatoes. While they lure visitors escaping the heat from the rest of the country, those 70° F winds can frustrate seaside gardeners. It works like this: The sun beats down on the land. The land heats up the air above it. The air rises and creates a low pressure which gets filled by the cooler heavier air over the water. And that is the origin of the on-shore breeze. It is pretty much independent of the prevailing wind direction, which at our spot happens to be southwest to northeast anyway, adding to the breeze. Move a quarter mile inland and the breeze warms up. This ocean tempering is responsible for our microclimate; cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, as long as the saltwater doesn’t freeze (it didn’t this winter). The ocean temperature is very slow to change. The constant churning of the tides keeps the water pretty cool in summer, at a maximum of about 63°F. In winter it usually drops only to the mid 30′s.

Bhut Jolokia, hottest pepper on earth.

Anyway, back to the peppers. My solution was to build a greenhouse. This, along with a few wind barriers creates a place where heat-loving vegetables can grow in our long but cool season. I’m nuts about peppers. I search the world looking for the hottest. The current front runner is the Bhut Jolokia from the state of Assam in India.  This boy is like pepper spray in a pod at over a million Scoville Heat Units. A few weeks ago I burned my hands just planting the seeds. I don’t have much use for this toxic produce but I’m committed to growing a few plants each year just to keep up the seed stock and to dare the occasional hotshot to eat a rice-sized slice.  I can feel sweat on my forehead just thinking about it. I got the seeds from The Chile Pepper Institute, part of the the New Mexico State University. A recent article reports that this pepper is being weaponized by the Indian military; they’re using it to make a “Chili Grenade” to use in the fight against terrorists!

My main crop is the standard yellow or orange bell pepper which this year I am growing from seeds taken from a supermarket pepper. Last year I was picking this variety from my greenhouse into December. I don’t heat my greenhouse; freezing temperatures usually don’t get inside until December at the earliest. My other favorites are sweet yellow banana and jalapeño. Both of these varieties are early and prolific. Colored bells are the crowning glory but yellow bananas are the workhorses. I also grow a few other hot peppers for custom paprikas. After tasting your own paprika you can’t go back to store-bought!

While the sun is strong but the pepper plants are small I squeeze in a crop of spinach or other greens. These are sewn in directly as soon as the ground thaws and temperatures moderate. The greenhouse produces food for us almost year round, and many plants come up year after year without being planted. We have a few bunching onions which serve as an emergency supply when we’re out. Claytonia has popped up and will be starring in a salad soon. Cilantro/coriander has seeded itself and claims a corner. Spring is here!!

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