December 15, 2006

Harvesting Chiles

It is the busy season for my business, so my little chile garden has been somewhat neglected while I've been away at work. The cooler temperatures and the occasional rain has been helpful in keeping all my plants healthy and productive while I've been gone. I always have chiles through Christmas and this year is no exception.

My chocolate habanero turned out to be the most productive chile of them all. I have a gallon ziplock bag in the freeze full of the dark pods. I also found a couple of yellow fatalis, red bird peppers and more red scotch bonnets. There will be plenty of fruit to experiment with this winter and I hope for yet more pods before January.

I have pulled out a few of the plants to clean up the bed. The hungarian wax, the pepperonci's, the salsa garden and the thick cayenne plants are now gone. I've been pleased with the production of my plants in my tiny pepper patch, but I think that next year I will grow fewer plants and make sure that all of them are caged properly.

I hope to overwinter the more exotic peppers, such as the habanero, the fatali and the bird pepper. I understand that the second year they can get even hotter and more flavorful. I will need to get through christmas first, attend to the family and then perhaps, there will be time to play out in my garden.

Merry Christmas everyone! Happy chile growing.