Well, what is the worst that can happen? You won't get more peppers by having more plants crowded like that. You probably won't get too many huge bell peppers. Suppose if there was a disease issue, this would make it spread worse. But the peppers should live and make some peppers that are perfectly edible. Still, you should not have so many like that, and you should spread them out. Hard to tell if you have seeds planted or not, but you don't seem to be using the space all that well.Try the ideas of intensive gardening and interplanting to maximize space. Some quicker vegetables may be planted then removed between the peppers while the pepper plants get bigger. You could put that Basil in-between some pepper plants and space the peppers further out. Imagine at least a foot of space around every plant, maybe a few inches closer to the edge. That would still be quite tight for root space. 15" of space is considered tight intensive spacing. This post was edited by noki on Tue, May 14, 13 at 1:35

I started my first peppers recently and noticed they close at night, I thought maybe they are sensitive plants that close if they get cool or it gets dark.

I don't know if you want to try a trellis around the perimeter of one bed about 3ft above the ground for the pumpkins? Could grow the butternuts with the pumpkins. Some people like to build slings for the fruit up off the ground. I don't but let the vine hold them up. At 3ft up any that fall won't have far to go yet are up off the ground. Do you have a bed with N&S at the narrow ends? That would allow the vines to travel, which those two love to do. Read that as travelers towards the sun.

Thank you, Leslie! Stephen, I'm retired and most of my spare time is spent working in the garden. Not all ten acres is worked on. Some of it is left natural with a minimum of interference. Most of my work in the garden is maintenance even though I've tried to keep that to a minimum. I don't grow anything I would have to spray to keep it healthy. Nothing that self seeds to the point it's a pain. The only plant I shear is the Crocagator and I'm usually behind on that. I don't even grow any trees with large leaves I have to rake up. Small leaves are absorbed by the groundcovers or chewed up by the lawnmower. My lawn has been reduced to the size of the average living room. A certified arborist drops his chips off here and I use them as much as I have time for. My wheelbarrow has more miles on it than my truck and my tiller has more miles on it than my lawnmower. I am landscaping a new area of about 6000 sq. ft. and should have it done by this Fall. There's a lot of prep work involved consisting of stumps, old logs, roots, rocks, grade change, and blackberries. Water is available and the rock wall is finished. The work is going smoothly, albeit slower than I'd like. At 72, I'm slowing down a bit. That, and my wife keeps dragging me away on vacation. The work is fun and it keeps me young. If I had stayed behind a desk at Boeing, I'd be dead by now. Mike