The temperatures outside have been steadily growing cooler as our brief "winter" here in Southern California begins. We seldom experience frost conditions, but our eight week winter has a great deal of rain, wind and cool temperatures. Sometime in March, it will all reverse and the warmth with return again.
Most of my chiles have stopped producing pods, the exception being the red scotch bonnet. It still has a number of red pods on it that are ready for harvest. Otherwise, my garden is entering its dormant period where little is being produced.
I've never overwintered chiles before, but I just got an email from a fellow chilehead who told me that his plants would generally live anywhere from three to eight years here in Southern California and all he did was leave them outside in the garden! I'm very interested in this since it is often hard to find the more exotic chiles as starts in my area. If I have a plant, I'd like to keep it! I'm a little uncertain about the techniques involved, but I will simply try and cut them back a little and hope that in the spring they put out new stalks and leaves.
I am going to overwinter the following: Blushing Beauty Bell, Red Corno de Toro, Gypsy, Ariane, Fresno, Bulgarian Carrot, Cherry Bomb Hybred, Fatali, Fish, Red Scotch Bonnet and Chocolate Habanero. By overwintering, I'm hoping to have fresh chiles for my cooking far sooner than the late fall. Only time will tell....
January 04, 2007
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.
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.
September 14, 2006
Snap, Crackle, Pop
I was giving my pepper patch a good watering this morning, when I heard a loud snap. When I went over to check my blushing beauty bells, I saw that half of one of the plants simply snapped in half and fell over! I've never seen this happen with my bells before. The blushing beauties are forming several large pods and I'm looking forward to harvesting them once they ripen, but the pods seem to be sinking down to the ground. The plant simply can not support the weight of the fruit. I had not put up cages around my peppers this year and I regret this action now. Next year, everything is going to get a cage!
September 05, 2006
Scotch Bonnet Pods Form
One of the things about a garden is that you can step away from them for a time and then return in a week and find all sorts of surprises waiting for you. My big surprise was the discovery of a large number of scotch bonnet pods forming in my garden. It seems like I've been waiting forever and a day for this plant to start producing pods. Now, it finally is!
The latest heat wave combined with my watering the chile patch less often seems to have hit pay dirt. All of my peppers are doing quite well in my little side yard. I can't wait to see what forms next!
August 15, 2006
Tomato Sauce Success
We've been suffering through a long heatwave and most of my gardening has come to a stop. Fortunately, the pepper plants in my garden are still thriving. I have lots of fresnos, hungarian wax, bulgarian carrot, kung pao and cherry bomb pods out there now. I've been harvesting most of these for various breakfast dishes. Putting them into omelet or making them into fresh salsa. I'm now keeping avocados and cilantro in my kitchen on a regular basis for cooking. Now that the heat wave is over, I've been noticing that my peppers are starting to set more pods and seem to be flowers more.
My blushing beauty bells are starting to flower at long last. The plants are about 2.5 feet high now. I've had no bells at all this year in the garden and I'm hoping that at long last, the bells are going to start setting pods.
The scotch bonnet and the chocolate habanero plants are growing like weeds. They are now the tallest peppers in my garden, but so far there are still no flowers or pods on them.
The two tomato plants have exceeded my expectations. I made my very first batch of homemade marinara sauce and it turned out wonderfully. I've never had to peel tomatoes before, but I found it easy enough to do via the instructions that came with the recipe in the cookbook I used. The magic bullet made pureeing the tomatoes very easy. I used my smaller crockpot to slow simmer the sauce for a full day and the flavors of herbs, red wine and tomato blended beautifully. I added in a bit of ground beef the second time around and it was a hearty summer meal. Between the fresh salsa and the marinara sauce, growing tomatoes is more than worthwhile. Next year, I think that I better cage them though. My two plants overtook my tiny plot and I'd like to contain them better the next time.
My blushing beauty bells are starting to flower at long last. The plants are about 2.5 feet high now. I've had no bells at all this year in the garden and I'm hoping that at long last, the bells are going to start setting pods.
The scotch bonnet and the chocolate habanero plants are growing like weeds. They are now the tallest peppers in my garden, but so far there are still no flowers or pods on them.
The two tomato plants have exceeded my expectations. I made my very first batch of homemade marinara sauce and it turned out wonderfully. I've never had to peel tomatoes before, but I found it easy enough to do via the instructions that came with the recipe in the cookbook I used. The magic bullet made pureeing the tomatoes very easy. I used my smaller crockpot to slow simmer the sauce for a full day and the flavors of herbs, red wine and tomato blended beautifully. I added in a bit of ground beef the second time around and it was a hearty summer meal. Between the fresh salsa and the marinara sauce, growing tomatoes is more than worthwhile. Next year, I think that I better cage them though. My two plants overtook my tiny plot and I'd like to contain them better the next time.
July 07, 2006
Weeding Time and Chile Update
I can't remember the last time that I weeded my salsa garden. It was time. A few weeds had taken hold inside the cinderblocks. They all came out easily due to the weed barrier under my cinders and the bed. I pulled out most of the wandering jew vines coming through the fence. Now that my garden is two cinders high, the vines are having a tougher time getting into my patch. I don't think that anything will stop those blasted vines short of a nuclear attack, but at least the double high cinderblocks makes it easier to keep them at bay. I got them out of my rose garden too.
I checked over the chile plants. I'm concerned that I haven't had a single full sized bell as yet. It is July, I should be having bells by now! I also do not remember having so many insect chewed pods before. I am starting to get healthy and tasty pods from the plants this past week, so at least I'm starting to see some production in my garden.
The "pepperoncini" that had the strange colored pods got a closer look. I have now determined that the plant simply was not a pepperoncini pepper, but a strange dark jalapeño type chile. I removed the entire plant from the bed. I also noted that one of my cherry bomb plants is sporting jalapeño style pods. It is definitely not a cherry bomb. I didn't plant any jalapeños this year and am starting to regret that I didn't...so that one can remain. For now.
Something that was a pleasant surprise was my fish pepper. The leaves are starting to turn a molted white. At first I thought that the plant was sick, but then I remember reading that both the leaves and the peppers have white markings. This one is going to be very interesting to see. I can't wait to try one of the pods in my cooking.
On the tomato front, the two plants are setting MANY tomatoes. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them all. I'm hoping that I will have enough ripe ones to serve at our BBQ next week. I always like to include some of my garden produce at my parties so that our friends can enjoy some of the organic food that we grow. Next year, I think that one tomato plant might be more than enough to feed my family.
I checked over the chile plants. I'm concerned that I haven't had a single full sized bell as yet. It is July, I should be having bells by now! I also do not remember having so many insect chewed pods before. I am starting to get healthy and tasty pods from the plants this past week, so at least I'm starting to see some production in my garden.
The "pepperoncini" that had the strange colored pods got a closer look. I have now determined that the plant simply was not a pepperoncini pepper, but a strange dark jalapeño type chile. I removed the entire plant from the bed. I also noted that one of my cherry bomb plants is sporting jalapeño style pods. It is definitely not a cherry bomb. I didn't plant any jalapeños this year and am starting to regret that I didn't...so that one can remain. For now.
Something that was a pleasant surprise was my fish pepper. The leaves are starting to turn a molted white. At first I thought that the plant was sick, but then I remember reading that both the leaves and the peppers have white markings. This one is going to be very interesting to see. I can't wait to try one of the pods in my cooking.
On the tomato front, the two plants are setting MANY tomatoes. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them all. I'm hoping that I will have enough ripe ones to serve at our BBQ next week. I always like to include some of my garden produce at my parties so that our friends can enjoy some of the organic food that we grow. Next year, I think that one tomato plant might be more than enough to feed my family.
July 05, 2006
Bulgarian Carrot
I got a good harvest from my pepper plants yesterday. A few of the large thick cayennes, more hungarian wax, a few fresnos and one bulgarian carrot. They are in a basket in my refrigerator waiting to go into my dishes.
I have never had a bulgarian carrot chile before. It is a cheerful orange hue, reminding me of an orange habanero, but it is long and pointy like a serrano chile. I found the texture to be crisp and the heat level a comfortable medium, rather like my favorite fresnos. I think that this is going to be a chile that I continue to grow in my salsa garden. I can see many uses for it in my cooking due to its pleasant heat level and color.
I have never had a bulgarian carrot chile before. It is a cheerful orange hue, reminding me of an orange habanero, but it is long and pointy like a serrano chile. I found the texture to be crisp and the heat level a comfortable medium, rather like my favorite fresnos. I think that this is going to be a chile that I continue to grow in my salsa garden. I can see many uses for it in my cooking due to its pleasant heat level and color.
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