Peppers 2024

[Dahlia]

Recently I swapped seeds with another enthusiastic gardener in our area, and she gifted me seeds of three kinds of peppers that are all new to me: Marconi, Sheep Nose, and Arapaho. Today I will start pre-sprouting them-- but she also brought me seedlings of each variety, which is amazing. I ordered a couple of other new varieties this year, including Pumpkin Spice Jalapeno. It is from a breeding project that began in 1995 at New Mexico State University; this cross has a bell pepper and a jalapeno pepper as its parents.

Does anyone else have exciting developments on the pepper front for 2024??

I just made some escabeche with sweet peppers - red, yellow, and orange ones (not sure which variety). I put in hot red pepper flakes, oregano, salt , lots of fresh garlic, an onion and some thin carrot slices. Yummy after it sits for a week!

 

[Branching Out]

I just made some escabeche with sweet peppers - red, yellow, and orange ones (not sure which variety). I put in hot red pepper flakes, oregano, salt , lots of fresh garlic, an onion and some thin carrot slices. Yummy after it sits for a week!

Sounds interesting! Is there a recipe for escabeche that you could share with us please Dahlia?

 

[Dahlia]

Sounds interesting! Is there a recipe for escabeche that you could share with us please Dahlia?

Yes! Grab a half gallon jar. Slice up 10 jalapeno peppers or any hot peppers. Thinly slice about 3 medium carrots diagonally. Slice a medium sized white onion. Chop up one entire garlic bulb. Pack tightly in the jar and add more of these ingredients to fill to the top. Add two tablespoons oregano. Make a saltwater mixture of 3 tablespoons salt to six cups water. Mix until the salt is dissolved. Pour in as much as needed to fill the jar. I use a glass weight at the top of the veggies to keep them under water and I also use an airlock lid to let gas escape. If you don't use an airlock your glass will crack! Put in a warm area for a week. Enjoy! It's awesome on tacos!
Tip: you can substitute the hot peppers with sweet peppers, but add 2 tablespoons hot red pepper flakes for heat!

 

[Dahlia]

One other thing to mention about the escabeche - put the jar somewhere where some liquid can bubble out the top and spill a bit! Like in another container. It bubbles a lot while fermenting!

 

[flowerbug]

so, kinda like kimchi with oregano? i'd try it...

 

[Dahlia]

so, kinda like kimchi with oregano? i'd try it...

Yes, very similar!

 

[Zeedman]

Well I finally got over the crud enough to play with dirt & start this year's peppers indoors. Those marked "*" are seed crops:

* Amfora (large sweet, conical)
Beaver Dam (large hot, conical)
* Cardinal Black (sweet, bell-like)
* Early Jalapeno (hot, last year's crop failed)
Greygo (large sweet, "cheese" shape)
* Italian Cheese (hot, ruffled "cheese" shape)
* PI 315008 (very hot, habanero-like)
Pizza (hot, like oversized jalapeno)
* Thunder Mountain (hot, trial)

Not as many varieties as in years past, since the rural garden will be scaled back (again ) this year. That garden will now become identical to the 15' X 100' main garden at home.

 

[Branching Out]

Popped by a garden centre that was selling pepper seedlings at a special price-- 2 for $1! I took home a couple of Siracha peppers, as well as some Shepherd peppers. One of the Shepherd containers has two plants in it, so I got five pepper seedlings for $2. What a great deal!

 

[Branching Out]

Last year I grew Alpine Poblano peppers for the first time. The seed originated from a six year breeding program by Wild Mountain Seeds (zone 3, Carbondale, CO). https://wildmountainseeds.com/product/alpine-poblano/

A few fruits from those plants made it to the red stage for seed saving, and then this spring I started a whole bunch of them so I could experiment with testing their cold tolerance. All of the seedlings were placed outdoors by early April. We had a month of cold, wet weather beginning in mid-May which may have slowed them down a bit in getting established, but they're all looking good. Two plants are growing in containers, and there are about a dozen others in three different locations in the garden. One plant in particular is leading the pack in terms of early ripening and productivity-- it's absolutely covered in red fruits!

 

[flowerbug]

Last year I grew Alpine Poblano peppers for the first time. The seed originated from a six year breeding program by Wild Mountain Seeds (zone 3, Carbondale, CO). https://wildmountainseeds.com/product/alpine-poblano/

A few fruits from those plants made it to the red stage for seed saving, and then this spring I started a whole bunch of them so I could experiment with testing their cold tolerance. All of the seedlings were placed outdoors by early April. We had a month of cold, wet weather beginning in mid-May which may have slowed them down a bit in getting established, but they're all looking good. Two plants are growing in containers, and there are about a dozen others in three different locations in the garden. One plant in particular is leading the pack in terms of early ripening and productivity-- it's absolutely covered in red fruits!

my mouth waters when i see pictures like that even if i have several ripe ones sitting on my desk right now waiting for me to eat them.