Pepper 'Red Bell' Feeding Instructions
You can fertilize your pepper plants with chemical fertilizers (as directed on the product label), or you can grow you can feed your pepper plants organically for the confidence of fresh eating without the concerns that come with using chemical fertilizers. Organically grown peppers are naturally more disease resistant, and they taste better too.
Build The Soil Organically
Start by building the organic soil that will grow great roots, nurture worms and support the plants your peppers need to ripen lots of fruit.
Feed Your Peppers Organically
Plan to feed your young pepper plants with an organic fertilizer, such as fish emulsion, and then with an organic nitrogen fertilizer, such as cottonseed meal, when they set fruit, then again after each flush of fruit.
Pepper 'Red Bell' Pest Instructions
There are two basic methods for pest control in the vegetable garden: Natural/Organic, and Chemical.
Natural and Organic Pest Control In The Vegetable Garden
Most vegetable plants are fast growing with an abundance of tasty leaves, flowers that are rich in pollen and nectar, and soft fruits that are easily attacked by many different insect pests. Because these plants are so hardy and produce so much food insect infestations can often get out of hand before they are even noticed by the gardener. This is the primary reason that the manufacturers of dangerous chemical pesticides sell so much toxic material to the public each year. Chemical makers are very clever people, they make their products easy to use so that poisoning your environment is a very simple thing to do. After spraying poison on your food, you not only create toxic food but you also create an environment where the target pest can mutate and become resistant to further sprayings. You are then forced to use a more toxic substance to eliminate a pest population that is slowly becoming a super bug population.
There is a way to keep insect pest populations at a controlled level without ever using any harmful substances. This way also requires that you do less work. When planting your vegetable garden always leave a little room for a couple of "companion plantings." Companion planting is a practice by which you include plant types that draw or lure beneficial insects into your vegetable garden. Companion plantings can also include plants that are repellent to pest insects and therefore make your vegetable plot an inhospitable environment for them to live in. A companion plant can also be something useful for culinary purposes or just a way to add pretty flowers into the vegetable garden making it an aesthetically pleasing as well as tasty place to garden. The following list is just a few types of popular plants that you can include into your garden to lure beneficial insects:
Sweet Alyssum, this plant is very attractive when in bloom and provides a good nectar source for many adult beneficial insect species.
Basil, it's always a good idea to include basil in the vegetable garden at any time of year. The flowers are a rich source of pollen and nectar and you can use the leaves in the kitchen.
Dill, this is one of the best plants for luring beneficial insects into the garden. Dill flowers are very high in nectar and it is also one of the most useful of seasonings for cooking.
Mint, any member of this family of plants is very useful in drawing beneficial insects into the garden.
Marigolds and Nasturtium can handle a slew of buggy challenges. They thwart bugs that can harm your tomatoes, potatoes and strawberries including tomato hornworms, squash bugs, and whiteflies. The smell of marigolds will help to also deter rabbits and squirrels.
Plant Yarrow to attract ladybugs and lacewings, both of which will kill and eat many bad insect pest's.
Aside from planting some of these beneficial insect attracting plants, there are safer insecticidal soaps and sprays on the market that you should find at your local nursery and garden center.
Chemical Pest Control For The Vegetable Garden
If you don't mind using them, there are several chemical solutions for pest control, such as Carbryl, that are most likely available at your local nursery and garden center.