Corn ear will be proportional to the size of the plant. To get big corn plants, and big ears, you needs lots of sunlight, water, nitrogen fertilizer, and warm days. Plant again starting in April and you will have a chance for good corn and the other crops you mention.

Some peppers are easier than others to dry outside - but unless you have the sunny days when the peppers finally ripen, it poses quite a problem. I'm still working on outside drying and have had a bit of success with the Thai types - they are small and seem to dry OK without molding inside. On the other hand, some of the larger ones will dry if they are split in two - but even then must be watched for mold every day. Also the hot sun will cook them, rather than dry. I've had some luck with ristrau types, but must watch for weather - especially later in the season when hot temps can cook them. My little operation consisted of 2 window screens butterflied together with space inside to slide the peppers between. I also rigged a very small fan to blow indirectly on them - during the day. I managed to dry almost all of my ancho types that way - and went on to process them into enchilada sauce. It turned out great - I might add (my GD said so too), and I was able to add a few more hot types to spice things up a bit. I still have quite a few large ancho and some blocky types drying on my window sill - the last of the garden - and they seem to be surviving OK. I will cut into them to see if there is any mold - if so, they will be opened and exposed a bit more. Not sure if this is helpful - I'm still learning, but thought I would share. Bejay

I'd let her go. I have had cayenne live in pots for years. They self-pollinate and put out peppers every few weeks. I feed mine a little bit of plant food when it stops putting out peppers. If you want leaves I recommend a Red Savina... mine has an inch thick trunk and looks like a small tree... two years old.

There are so many peppers that are similar that I think trying to identify varieties by pods is difficult. I won't go into my pepper name rant. This one is just called Large Cayenne