Capsicum

Meet capsicum, the sweet pepper that turns a handful of seedlings into a winter of crisp, glossy fruit. In Dubai it is a crop for the cool months: planted out in autumn, flowering through the mild winter and fruiting well before the summer heat arrives.

Its character is steady rather than showy. It sits in the sun without fuss, asks for even water, and drops its flowers if it is stressed, so a gardener who waters on schedule and shields it from wind and the first hot weeks is rewarded.

What it brings is colour on the plate and a long picking season. Fruit can be cut green from December, or left on the plant to turn red, yellow or orange and sweeten. A few plants in a raised bed or a large pot are enough for a household.

Capsicum, the sweet or bell pepper, follows the same calendar as tomato and aubergine. The UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment lists pepper with nursery sowing from August to October, field planting from September to November and harvest 60 to 70 days later. UF/IFAS gives 60 to 80 days after transplanting, or 80 to 100 days from seed. In practice that means seed in shaded trays through the last warm weeks, seedlings in the bed by October or November, and picking from December. For the hot types, see chilli.

Flowers are the delicate stage. New Mexico State University's guide to chile pepper disorders, written for a hot, arid climate, lists high temperature stress, too little water, strong wind, high humidity and insect damage as the usual causes of flower drop, and advises even water and feeding through flowering. Dubai's mean highs stay at or under about 31°C from November to March, which is why the cool months are the flowering window, and they climb to 34°C in April and 38°C in May. NMSU also describes sunscald, the pale, sunken, papery patch on fruit that is suddenly exposed to intense sun. Leave the leaf canopy intact, and put shade cloth over the bed before the heat returns.

Peppers are salt-sensitive. FAO puts the threshold at 1.5 dS/m, and NMSU says seedlings suffer worst, and that injury often follows light irrigations that wash salts into the root zone. Use mains water, mix sweet soil with compost, and water deeply rather than often. Gulf News lists peppers among the vegetables that need full sun and tolerate slightly drier soil than tomatoes or broccoli. UF/IFAS advises easing off nitrogen once fruiting begins, staking plants once fruit weighs them down, and picking green or leaving the fruit to ripen, since ripe peppers are sweeter.