Growing Sweet Bell Peppers in Garden

A. Introduction

In this project, we would observe the growing of a flowering plant, sweet bell pepper Yolo Wonder, from the beginning of its seeds and the end at its blooming.

There are 4 pots of the sweet pepper plants are successfully germinated and grown up. Two of them are grown at home, when the other two are grown in the campus garden. Records of every stage and process of the growing have been kept.

Therefore, in the following, we will further examine the details about the species and have a discussion about the problems encountered during planting with possible solutions.

B. Basic Information:

1. About the species

The flowering plant grown in this project is the sweet bell pepper. Its specie is classified as the follows:

Family: Solanaceae (so-lan-AY-see-ee)

Genus: Capsicum (KAP-sih-kum)

Species: annuum (AN-yoo-um)

Cultivar: Yolo Wonder

Like most of the vegetables included in the family Solanaceae , the sweet bell pepper can be a kind of herbs. It is a one-year perennial, which is grown in temperate regions as annuals. Its morphology is similar to that of tomato.

History

Like all pepper did, the Capsicum Annuum are originated in Mexico and the nearby Central America, where the Indians (3400-5200 B.C.) first make use of it. Later, it was widespread by Columbus in Asia and Europe since 1493. With the innonation of the technology, many cultivars培育轉變而來之植物品種 are created under Capsicum Annuum. This cultivar Yolo Wonder is one of the examples, whose parentage is California Wonder and Elephant Trunk. The creation of cultivar make appearance and taste of the peppers become more and more various. Today, Capsicum Annuum has become one of the most popular and important species among peppers. They are mainly used as food and condiments (辛辣)調味品;佐料.

Variance of Tastes

The pungency of capsicum pepper is corresponding to the amount of capsaicin (a phenolic closely related to vanillin) in the peppers. Cultivars differ widely in amounts of capsaicin contained. Therefore the peppers of Capsicum Annuum can be either sweet or hot. This time, the cultivar Yolo Wonder is sweet. Actually, it is a single recessive gene that primarily controlled the cultivar of the sweet pepper eliminates the capsaicin.

Colour

The sweet bell peppers are harvested normally at a mature green stage but can be allowed to ripen to full red and yellow.

Nutritional value

Sweet