How to Start A Pepper & Cucumber Farming Operation Now?
Peppers are great fun and much easier to grow successfully than some other crops. Chili and sweet peppers are a diverse bunch; they are colorful crops and the assortment of shapes and sizes is a treat to behold in any greenhouse (tunnel) or on the open plot. The flavors are just as diverse, ranging from mild and sweet to eye-watering hot so there is sure to be something to suit everyone’s taste among the hundreds of varieties available from seed catalogues and specialists.
PROPAGATION
Peppers require a reasonably long growing season to produce best results and sowing early will give them that. Sow seeds in or cell trays (modules) using fresh multipurpose or seed compost. Since, peppers particularly the chilies, can be quite prolific, prolific, why not sow just a few seeds of each variety; each has its own unique flavor and it can be great fun to try lots of different ones to be able to pick fruit in a range of shapes and colors.
FEEDING
Although peppers are not as hungry as tomatoes, they do need regular feeding to keep them healthy and productive. Feeding with a high polash liquid fertilizer mixed at half strength watering ensures that plants always have plenty of nutrients. Feeding need not start until 3 weeks after potting on, since the compost will contain all the minerals your plants need until then.
HARVESTING
You can choose to harvest the fruit when unripe and green or fully ripe and colored up. It’s at this stage that chilli peppers are at their hottest and sweet peppers their sweetest. Peppers can be stored in a number of ways – slowly dried in a cool oven (or in sunshine), sliced, roasted and stored in oil, frozen or of course used fresh. If dried and stored in airtight jars they should last for up to a year – in time for the next harvest.
CUCUMBERS
The cucumber plant is one of the most famous and widely cultivated vegetable plants. Cucumbers belongs to a gourd family of “cucurbitaceae, genus of “Cucumis”. This is basically a creeping wine that bears cylindrical shaped fruits that are used as vegetables. Cucumber is an important summer vegetable crop grown all over the world. Cucumber seeds can be used in oil extraction – this oil are used for most peoples daily cooking’s and an be eaten raw or with salt in salad.
Throughout the world, there are three main varieties of the cucumber veggie cultivated. Out of these, other types of the cucumber family have emerged. Cucumber first originated in Southern Asia before the cultivation spread to other parts of the world. The plant can be grown in hydroponic systems, greenhouses and poly-houses as well.
A recent research shows that cucumbers ate the 8th most grown veggie crop around the globe, followed by maize, cassava, watermelons, dry onions, sweet potatoes and sugar beet.
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