Planting peppers

I just don't buy chemical fertilizers. I try to use natural materials for the soil. Things I have all around me. For instance, today I moved 2 garden buggies worth of soil, decomposed leaves, and old rabbit manure from an area next to my rabbit hutches over to a raised bed garden I created last year using logs and firewood. I had filled it with mulch and more soil (dug up just like today), and chicken manure.

I already have tons of old, wet newspapers on hand for overlaying the garden beds as a weed barrier and to compost into the soil. I also have some old, wet hay to top it all off with. I know that hay has seeds and sometimes it can cause problems in the garden beds because it "plants" grass and weeds. But, it's what I have already so I use it anyway.

Below are a few shots of what the bed looks like during the amending and adding, and after it's been planted. After planting, I put about a tablespoon of epsom salts in beside each plant, the using a bucket, I watered them all well.

This is the dirt I hauled to the grow bed.

Here you can see the layers of newspapers I put on the bed. That corner did get covered.

Pictures from each end to show the thick layer of hay over the newspapers.

After all 17 pepper plants were planted. Front to back, 6 jalapeno, 6 cayenne, and 5 sweet banana.

Closer shot of 2 of the jalapenos.