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Way out in the middle of no where in north west Ohio there lies a magical place: "Uncle Rusty's Pepper Patch". This place is a pepper lovers dream. Other nurseries might have selections like jalapeno, habanero, and cayenne sitting on a couple of shevels. Uncle Rusty's has an entire hot house devoted to peppers alone. There's more varities of Jalapeno there then I knew even existed. Yesterday I completed my second annual pilgrimage to Uncle Rusty's. Last year during a visit with my girlfriend's family her father asked if I wanted to check out the place he bought his pepper plants. That visit was a real eye opener for me, I discovered more varieties of peppers and tomatos then I'd ever dreamed of. The plan yesterday was to pick up some Scotch Bonnet peppers, since I'd already planted some generic Habaneros I picked up from Anderson's General Store. One look at the plants at Rusty's and I realized how pathetic the Habaneros I'd bought from Andersons were in comparison. Apparently time had blurred my memory of the first trip. For the life of I can't imagine now how I ever thought that those pathetic little pepper plants I planted last weekend were equivalent to what I had planted last year. So instead of a handful of Scotch Bonnets I ended up with a full flat of Habanero goodness: 
Aren't they beautiful?
Individual plants are $1.50, or you can get an entire flat for $13.00. As you can see I went with the entire flat. I decided to go with a wider range of heat levels instead of just planting one type of Habanero and the Scotch Bonnets. This year I have 5 varieties planted: Mustard, Chocolate, Red, Fatalli and of course Scotch Bonnet. 
As you can see above my space is limited, being in an apartment and all but I've got a flat full of pepper and some various tomato plants in. There's nothing like walking outside, plucking some fresh fruit and turning it into a hot sauce. The big drawback to living in Ohio is the short growing season in which I can do that. If you're within reasonable driving distance I highly reccommend checking out Uncle Rusty's! In addition to peppers they have a TON of tomato varieties as well as other vegetables and bedding plants. "Uncle Rusty" is Russell Orthwein, his farm is at 7-567 Co. Rd. M, Malinta, OH 43535. The phone number there is 419-256-6322. Later on in the season he'll have a selection of fresh peppers for sale but I don't have details on pricing or varieties.
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