The message
from Pat Meadows contains these words:

I don't get the impression that peppers are nearly as much
used in the UK as in the USA. This may be because they're
such heat-lovers, or maybe because Mexican food isn't as
popular in the UK. Don't know.

Mexican food is getting a bit of a hold but the real deal is Indian
cooking. We get a lot of food from Asia rather than the America`s. Still
have McDonalds and KFC tho.

BTW (and somewhat off-topic) my husband's a Brit, he came to
the USA six years ago. It's really hard for anyone British
who has not lived here to understand how different our
climate is, or how variable it is from day to day (sometimes
from hour to hour!). We have a lot of extremes that the
British Isles are spared.

We should`nt moan because it is a nice climate really. However, if the
gulf stream moves we`ll be right in there with Alaska!!!!

I really envy the Brits their equable climate: I think
gardeners there are very fortunate (on the whole) and
probably don't even know it. Also your longer hours of
sunshine in the summer, because you're so far north. This
would help a great deal. (We live in Pennsylvania in the
northeastern USA now - at about the same latitude as Madrid
or Rome, although our climate is nothing whatsoever like
theirs.)

I would like to see the different extremes. Your zonal system is
something we simply do not understand. Mind you, just look how big the
states is to the UK!
We do have quite a bit of difference between Cornwall and Northern
Scotland in winter.

I lived in Edmonton (Canada) for two years, about on the
same latitude as northern England, and everything grew
WONDERFULLY there with the long daylight in summer (except
things which required a lot of heat). The flowers were
brighter, more intense colors than they are further south -
the difference was very noticeable. The vegetables got
larger than they do in most of the USA too.

Pat

We are very lucky in that some veg we can still grow quite happily over
the winter such as Brussel Sprouts that do not taste as they should
untill they have had a frost on them. We also have the benefit that we
are able to grow some exotics (our standards) under glass or plastic.

Just could do with a bit more rain in my area but there we go, cant have
everything.