the new guy

hi everyone

i dont know much about plants and such but i started growing some jalapenos from the seed and they are sprouting

i just wanted a few tips so i dont kill the plants or whatever

thanks

 

Don't overwater (ie wait until the soil is dry to the depth of your first knuckle), and don't let them have full sun until there are about 10 leaves on each plant. Other than that, pepper plants are like weeds.

 

I am also new to gardening and planted jalapenos from seed (and a bunch of other vegetables!) I made the mistake of letting 10 seeds germinate in one peat pellot and had to separate them into styrofoam cups. My kitchen area is full of cups. I can't wait until May when they could go out. I recently read that jalapenos cannot be planted near bell peppers. How far apart should they be?

 

At least 2 feet. If you plant them closer, your bells will cease to be sweet.

 

Muchas gracias! Do you think the same applies for tomatoes? I was going to plant the tallest things like corn on the north side of my garden and working my way down to the smallest on the south. Jalapenos would be in front of tomatoes.

 

I've never noticed that jalapenos affect tomato flavour, but I don't plant them together anyway - the tomatoes go under shade cloth but the peppers can withstand full sun. (I'll point out that I'm near the equator at about 12,000 feet elevation, and the sun's a lot stronger here.)

If you're planting corn, consider running your peas or beans up the stalks. The legumes fix nitrogen which will help the corn grow taller and produce larger ears.

 

That's an interesting idea (the beans up the corn stalk). I think I will try that. Thank you.

 

It's been practised for thousands of years - the "Three Mothers" are corn, beans, and squash. If you plant them together, you get better yields from all three. The Iriquois nation knew that, and so did the Inca. It's a method of farming still very much practised down here.

 

I can see how beans can grow on the cornstalks. How is the squash supported? Or do you let it grow on the ground? Do you have any pictures of how they look growing together?

 

Squash grows low to the ground and retains moisture, meaning that you have to irrigate less - it functions like mulch does, but you get veggies from it instead of slugs.

This photo isn't mine. It is, however, a good example of how 3-sisters planting works. I just pulled in a harvest, so I won't have anything to photo for another 6 months or so.

 

Very cool! I have spent many, many hours staring at my backyard, trying to figure out how and where I am going to plant my seedlings and you just helped me get three things out of the way. I was going to grow the beans and squash on a trellis so they climb upwards but I will keep the trellis for the cucumbers, melons, zucchini and eggplant. How many feet will one bean seed and one squash seed grow? And how many squash will one squash seed produce, on average.

 

thanks buddy

do you know how big they should be before i sepperate them into other pots

 

Four leaves.

 

One bean seed can go up to 10 feet, depending on your conditions. One squash seed can go even further, depending on the cultivar, and produce up to 10 squash (again, cultivar and condition dependant). A good rule of thumb is to plant 1 squash and 1 bean for every 3 corn.

 

Wow, lorax!

I knew that you plant squash, beans and corn together, but I never knew there was a significant reason to do so. My grandmother still does this in her garden in the Appalachian Mountains. This makes me kind of sentimental, haha.