David Richards grew up on a farm, so he learned early about gardening vegetables.

Now, after years of rearing his own family, working and coaching, he’s found time to return to the earth of his youth and dug in gingerly four years ago — with only tomatoes and peppers. He has increased his staples each year until this year when he planted a full array of traditional vegetables, including peppers, and those little fellas are still the show-offs of his toil.

Wife Jane helps harvest the vegetables and said she picked 2- to 3-gallon baskets of peppers each week this summer.

Miriam Jabour, a Master Gardener and Master Flower Show judge, has been active in the Openwood Plantation Garden Club for more than 35 years. Write to her at 1114 Windy Lake Drive, Vicksburg, MS 39183.

Using them all has created an exercise, leaving the Richardses to add them to as many foods as possible, freeze several gallons of the tasty gems and share them generously with neighbors and friends.

Richards does not grow the extremely hot ones and particularly likes those varieties with thicker meatier walls, so most he has are sweet to mildly hot and spicy.

Hundreds of peppers can be grown at home, though the majority of gardeners stick to the bell, banana and jalapeño varieties.

Richards grows these and others not readily available as transplants. His producers of abundant and tasty fruits have included Carmen, an early and productive sweet red pepper, Round of Hungary, Anaheim Chili, Giant Marconi, an Italian sweet pepper and 2001 All-America Selection Winner, Pimiento and Cayenne.

He attributes part of his success to the addition of organic matter, such as peat moss and compost, and the rotation of crops to cut diseases.

 In addition, Richards is careful not to plant peppers too early in the spring. In fact, he usually waits until after planting tomatoes. Peppers need a sunny site with at least eight hours of sunshine daily. He relies on building the soil rather than adding a lot of fertilizer and tries to be as organic as possible.

After tilling the soil in spring, he covers the ground with black plastic, cutting slits in the covering before planting the small transplants. This keeps weeds down and moisture in the soil. He pulls up the plastic at the end of the season. The peppers require little extra water during the growing season unless long dry periods are prevalent. Rainwater is always preferred with the added oxygen it carries to plant roots, but his tomatoes and vine crops tend to need supplemental watering more often than the peppers.

Research has found brightly colored fruits and vegetables should be an important part of every diet to maintain strong bones. Further, proteins and refined grains, so abundant in the average American diet, metabolize into acid, research has shown.

Because age means older humans are less able to eliminate acids, an imbalance could lead to bone break-down and the release of calcium and other minerals into the blood.

“When fruits and vegetables are metabolized, they add bicarbonate, an alkaline compound, to the body that helps neutralize acid,” said Tufts University nutritionist Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes. Nutritionists recommend at least five servings from the fruit and vegetable category daily.

Jane Richards, a registered dietitian, said home gardening is a plus because vegetables are at the peak of their nutritional value at harvest, and peppers and tomatoes are particularly high in vitamin C content.

Home gardening also allows growers to choose tastier vegetable varieties, including heirlooms, that are often available at groceries.

A bonus is families can introduce children to an activity that they can do together and the children can enjoy later in life.