Citrus and Peppers

Five years ago, we planted a neat and tidy row of various peppers in our food garden.  Then we planted the extra pepper seedlings around the yard under our assorted citrus trees.  The peppers in the food area did a ho hum to poor job of producing.  Those planted by citrus produced masses of big thick hearty pepprs, regardless of variety of pepper or citrus. 
We  have continued to do this, now only bothering to put peppers by the citrus trees.  One pepper planted 2-3 feet from a citrus produces more than a dozen in the garden area.  I move the food area around, it was all a horse pasture, so I continue to just move to unused areas.
My question is, do any of you scientific minds know of a reason for this?  Do citrus tree roots contain some chemical that peppers love?  We do not get around to any decent fertiliizer program for either the food garden or the citrus trees, can't see that the care we give makes any difference, it seems to be the relationship to the citrus.
Carolyn in Los Gatos, zone 9 (stretched both ways)
theladygardens@aol.com
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