[Lopeover]

I can’t get a decent bell pepper off a plant to save my soul. What’s the secret. I stopped planting them. I live in Oregon near Portland.

[imardmd1]

A bell pepper plant does not seem to pollinate itself. What I dis was to go along the pepper patch and, using just a watercolor painting brush, transferred pollen from all the plants to its fellows. Then, Voila! A rich crop of bell peppers fpor eating abd making chili sauce. Grew a few ordinary cherry-type hot peppers for seasoning the chili sauce and for making regular chili with tomatoes, red beans, some garlic and onions, and ground venison. Spell it with about seven "m"s

Didn't have much luck with lima beans, though. Never took the time to find their secrets.

However, if you plant hills of summer squash or zucchini. always put a few sacrificial radish seeds with the squash seeds. The radish leaves come first. The bugs greatly prefer the radish leaves, leaving the new squash plant leaves alone. By the time the radishes have petered out, the squash leaves are so well established that all the bugs in the garden can't hurt them.

Maybe that's what I should have done with the limas.

[oldvirginian]

It shouldn’t be a soil problem unless you live where the topsoil was scraped off for construction purposes.
Get a soil test kit and give it a look.

Peppers are VERY sensitive to cold snaps. They will produce at 32 degrees but if the temperature drops to 31.9 they stop. They may produce small peppers but nothing to be happy with.
You might try covering your plants at night in spring if the temps range into the 30’s just to be safe. Or plant later and have a shortened growing season.

I assume you get plenty of rain in your area so that shouldn’t be a problem.