Thursday, July 15, 2010

Garden Mystery -- Solved!

So I posted a few days ago about a mystery in my garden: the two jalapano plants were producing very different peppers. I think I just figured out what happened.

One plant cross pollinated with the bell pepper plant right next to it!

The jalapano didn't change much in flavor, just in appearance. The bell peppers -- which I pulled the first from tonight for a pizza -- didn't fare so well. They look like bells... smell like jalapanos... and taste somewhere in between. They have some kick, let me tell you!

So, note to self, next year the pepper varieties need to be located a little bit further apart. Or else I can leave them close together -- mysteries are kind of fun!

2 comments:

Amy said...

That's really interesting! I have discovered a bell pepper plant in amongst my jalapenos (I thought they were all jalapenos, but since they weren't labeled, it was anybody's guess) and I wonder if mine might cross. So far they haven't. Interesting to the taste buds, I imagine. :)

Gillian said...

Oh, interesting! That possibility never even occurred to me. I hope mine don't do this - I've got the bell peppers right next to the Scotch Bonnets (close relations of habaneros - they'll be HOT!)