a peck of pickled peppers?

today i learned that pepper seeds need 2 weeks to "incubate" before they sprout.

which explains why i thought mine were duds; as my peas and green beans reached ridiculous sizes in very short periods of time, my pot with the pepper seeds remained simply a pot of dirt sprinkled with pepper seeds. boring and unproductive.

but, as i stood at the grill tonight flipping my shrimp and rolling the asparagus around to prevent charring that ultimately happened anyway, my neighbor hailed me from his little section of yard with a giant handful of plastic bags in his hand.

let me explain. there's a frost warning tonight, and after weeks of carefully planting and tending to his many veggie plants in his back garden (that we're technically not allowed to plant), my neighbor was doing his very best to save his mini produce section to get it through to the safer, warmer period of spring time. and of course, this led us (or maybe i should say, him) to a discussion on the different vegetables being grown in our respective backyards and deck pots. as i vainly tried to make sure our dinner of chicken, shrimp, asparagus, and potatoes didn't turn into a dinner of charred, burned, inedible, and rock-hard, while still being a polite neighbor, he explained how he had planted lettuce and was concerned the bunnies would get to them, and how he couldn't wait for his peppers to sprout, as it had almost been two weeks.

at which point, my ears perked up, i abandoned the grill, and i leaned interestedly over the rail of our deck. he went on and on about how it takes peppers so much longer to grown and how the wait is driving him crazy, and as i popped over to examine my pepper pot (it has been about 2 and a half weeks since they were planted) i noticed a few little green guys peeking out of the soil. which means my peppers are on the way, trying to catch up with the much more industrious peas and beans and tomatoes.

finally.