Here’s what I did this morning–setting out bedding plants of New Mexican, serrano, habanero, and red bell varieties. But it took me a while to get there. This is a square raised bed consisting of 8 railroad ties, four stacked on four. I added 2-years worth of finished compost to the existing rich soil mix and my nephew Max came over yesterday and rototilled it. Then, after unraveling them and softening them up in the sun, I laid down 100 feet of drip hose in an ever-tightening square grid. Then, using my trusty staple gun, I set the garden fabric on top of the hose. This retains any water spurting from the drip hoses, and prevents weeds from growing. Tomorrow, I will lay down red bark mulch on top of the fabric. This will reflect sunlight and cool down the bed, keep the fabric from blowing away in storms, and retain moisture. Eventually, the leaf canopies from each pepper plant will further cool the bed. I still have more chile plants to go into the ground, plus tomatoes to plant. This is the way I do it, and my techniques and even more hints are given in my article right here.
Planting My Pepper Garden
