I, who don't know much about pepper genetics, have always thought that pepper seeds always contained some degree of heat, even green bell pepper seeds.

All of which leads me to ask here a question about saving pepper seed from one year to the next. I've heard as well that peppers will easily cross-bred in the garden, and if you grow more than one variety, seed saving will likely result in something else other than the pepper variety you wanted to save.

OTOH, the last few years of pepper seed purchases have been one of the leading expenses around here. I keep trying to find a variety that works well, year in, year out. I can grow Gypsy fairly well, and get 5 - 6 good sized peppers from one plant. But this year, as well as years past, I'm lucky to get two full-sized bell peppers from any variety.

I need at least 100 full sized peppers for my canning 'operation', and fresh peppers from the garden are one of those reasons we grow gardens. Soooooo good.......

Well now, Gypsy isn't a bell right, David?

It is just a nice sweet pepper in a compact package. (I've only grown it once and know little about Gypsy.)

100 full sized bell peppers! That's a lot! Marconi is productive (not, Giant Marconi). What do you think about Italian sweets.

I have had very good luck with Snapper the last 2 years. Last year had a good "pepper weather" spring but this year didn't! Snapper is early and they are good sized bells.

Hot seeds naturally in a sweet pepper . . ? Maybe that's it!

Steve

The 1st picking of Snapper, a few days ago:

Maybe I should just not bother with the bell peppers. I can do fairly will with chili peppers, and some years, I've had plants over 2 feet tall. With the bells, the plants are maybe a foot high, and the peppers all sit on the ground, which doesn't help anything, although the earwigs are happy.

I'm trying Carmen (sweet) this year. I've not eaten one yet but I have one that is starting to turn red now. It is planted in a pot so it's a little ahead of the others in the ground, but I'm pretty excited to see a pepper ripen in August.

Of course I just re-read my blog post about the Carmen pepper and the description says it will have the full flavor even when green. Maybe I didn't have to wait this long after all??

The link below takes you to the blog post with the Carmen information if you're interested.

Here is a link that might be useful: TOTG Carmen Pepper

Amy, that one is real attractive! With a name like "Carmen" - it should be inclined to become red ripe!

There's a recipe around here somewhere for a Italian pepper casserole. It is really just a stuffed pepper that's lying on its side - that is, several peppers lying on their sides.

Italian peppers really seem to have more flavor!

The only way I get Giant Marconi to turn red is to pick them at the very end of the season and hang in the kitchen. Seldom do I have many of the standard Marconi that look like they will ripen fully, even that way. Doesn't dampen my enthusiasm for Italian peppers, tho'!

Steve

I'm growing a Patio Red Marconi in a large pot on the patio (go figure, LOL), and I've already harvested at least half a dozen fully ripe peppers from it. Very tasty, but only about 4 or 5" long.

The other one that I've already had a couple of ripe ones from is Cascabella. I really like that one! Just enough heat to make my lips tingle a little bit, but not enough to go looking for a glass of milk.

I have some pepper plants that are just loaded with peppers, but they are all taking their sweet time turning colors. Just picked a couple of Beaver Dam's today, one wasn't completely ripe, but I broke the stem when I was trying to pick the ripe one. Grrrrr... Can't wait to see how they taste.

Steve, when I was doing some research for a pepper swap I hosted a few months ago, I discovered that some peppers get sweeter when ripe, instead of hotter. I think it just depends on the type of pepper. Afraid I can't think of any examples offhand though ...

I feel kind of silly for having told some people that I was disappointed in the Fushimi this year . . .

I will continue sampling over the coming weeks.

The Sweet Banana that I have grown are just about the most productive peppers for my garden. Feels like I could provide for everybody within 10 miles with that one. The only pepper that might top those would be Corno di Toro.

Steve

I ate the Carmen tonight and I think it's a keeper! The ripe one in the pot was about 7.5" long (bigger than I expected from the photo) and while I did make a "fajita-like" dinner (I guess I don't really know how to make fajitas but it was close enough...) I actually ate about half the carmen raw. I should have just eaten the whole thing raw and savored its flavor, but it did make my dinner pretty.

Peppers also tend to become hotter when they are stressed. This works out well for me -- if we bring in a serrano plant for the winter and semi-neglect it while it's indoors in a not-hot and not-sunny area, the extremely stressed plant gives us many extremely hot peppers!