If you’ve been reading my blog for a little while, you’ll know that I am fairly new to pepper growing. In fact, I wasn’t particularly fond of peppers in any form until I was in my 20’s (I was one of those picky eater children, sorry Mom and Dad). Thankfully I smartened up and started eating peppers, even becoming obsessed with them.
I only started growing peppers a few years ago when I bought a jalapeno plant one spring from the garden centre. I planted it in my raised bed and got a pepper (or maybe two) from it. Quite sad, but that little ounce of success excited me. I decided the next year to try growing peppers from seed. It was a failure. Then the next year we built a little greenhouse in our backyard with the help of my Dad. I’d gotten a late start to my garden that year so the peppers didn’t grow as I’d hoped they would. But still, I wasn’t discouraged. Last year I started my peppers quite early indoors and then transferred them out to the greenhouse that spring. It was a huge success. So of course this year I decided I should go insane with pepper plants and here we are now.
I ordered all of my pepper seeds at the beginning of January because I knew that I wanted to start them indoors as soon as we returned from our trip to California. I am growing a wide variety of peppers, but mostly hot peppers. I like the milder hot peppers (with a little bit of a kick – not too much!), but my husband loves the really hot peppers, so I’ve selected a few of those just for him (we have plans to video tape the taste testing of the really hot peppers!)
Here is the full 2015 pepper growing list:
Sweet Peppers
– Tequilla Sunrise – I chose this one because I liked the coloring on it, but also they are apparently early ripeners which is a huge plus in my books.
– Oda – I definitely chose this for its purple color!
– Mini Chocolate Bell – I’m a sucker for the miniature sweet peppers.
– Mini Yellow Bell – Same as above!
– Sweet Cherry Red – I grew this one last year and really loved the flavor. Although it isn’t a prolific producer, I still think it is worth growing at least one plant.
Hot Peppers
Italian Pepperoncini – These guys are supposed to be great for canning and come with just a little bit of heat.
Fish – I actually read an article on Garden Betty about this variety and immediately added it to my wish list. I’m interested to see how similar it will be to her description since I am in a completely opposite growing climate.
Pimiento De Padron – Eating these is apparently a game of Russian roulette as some are hot and some are not. With that description, how could I not try them?! I live on the wild side.
Chocolate Habanero – I discovered last year that I love love LOVE habanero peppers. So of course I had to purchase every different habanero pepper seeds I could find.
Lemon Drop – These small yellow peppers are supposed to be fairly mild but with a citrus-y flavor. Sounds delicious. Banana – This one I’m growing from saved seeds that I acquired from a pepper I purchased at the farmer’s market. I’m interested to see if the seeds will even germinate. Banana peppers are pretty mild as far as hot peppers go and are excellent for canning.
Black Hungarian – These ones are supposedly a bit rare and look pretty much exactly the same as a small black jalapeno pepper. They are supposed to be mildly hot but very flavorful. I have fresh salsa in mind for these ones.
Filius Blue – I wasn’t totally wild about these last year and actually found them to be very weak. But I did love the plant itself as an ornamental and it doesn’t hurt to grow this one again – who knows, the flavor may be completely different this year.
Joe E Parker – I did grow this one last year as well and enjoyed it eaten raw – it really wasn’t a hot pepper at all and I feel like I should be categorizing it more under the sweet peppers, but maybe it will be a bit hotter this year so I’ll keep it under this category for now.
Habanero – By far my favorite hot pepper that I grew last year.
Pasillo Bajio – Another one I grew last year. I really liked the flavor, but it wasn’t hot at all so kind of in the same category at the Joe E Parker.
Mustard Habanero – I need to grow all the habaneros.
Jalapeno – The most common hot pepper, but I do love jalapenos in fresh salsa and on tacos.
Chinese 5 Color – I grew this one last year and loved it especially for the multi-colored peppers.
Red Cap Mushroom – I bought the package of these from the Stony Plain Urban Homesteading Store and had a good conversation with someone there about our mutual love for hot peppers. I’m most intrigued by the shape of these guys. These are supposed to be ideal for pickling.
Trinidad Scorpion – This is one of the hottest peppers in the world. Plus the name is total bad-ass. I am still debating whether or not I will actually try the really hot peppers in fear that I will burn all of my taste buds off, but we’ll see.
Bhut Jolokia – More commonly known as the Ghost Pepper, I am very excited to grow this one. If you want to see something totally messed up, watch this.
Scotch Bonnet – This is another really hot pepper but it is not supposed to be as bad as the 2 previous life destroyers. I might try it, we’ll see.
Are you trying any new peppers this year? What are some of your favorites?
Seed sources: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Seed Savers Exchange, West Coast Seeds, Urban Harvest (I am not affiliated with any of these companies, I am just a huge fan and supporter of the work they do preserving non GMO, rare, and heirloom variety seeds)
Secret Wool Society 