Temperature, watering, feeding, and, in the end, patience are the keys to growing flavorful peppers. If you lack one of these, your peppers will be less tasty than they could be. From the beginning of the season through harvest, you can grow more flavorful peppers if you give peppers what they need. Here are six […] More
Tomato, pepper, onion, garlic, and cilantro, basil, or parsley: the basic ingredients of salsa crudas, fresh salsa. How to Make Fresh Salsa Core and cut two medium ripe tomatoes. Add one clove of garlic minced. Add half a white or red onion diced. Add a jalapeno, Serrano, or green or red bell pepper chopped fine. […] More
Sweet peppers can be picked when immature or full size, green or red–as soon as they are big enough to use. Hot peppers can be picked at any time–any size or color–for fresh use; hot peppers for drying or pickling should be picked when fully ripe. Pick all peppers before the first light frost. Most […] More
Peppers–sweet and hot–are native to the tropics. They require much the same cultural treatment as tomatoes, except that peppers are perhaps a bit more tender. The easiest way to start peppers is to buy transplants at the garden center. If you start peppers from seed outdoors, sow seeds in pots in mid-spring for transplant in […] More
Blossom end rot is a black, sunken area at the blossom end of tomatoes or peppers. The blossom end is the end of the fruit opposite the stem. Blossom end rot is most often seen on green fruits, usually the first fruits to appear on the plant. Blossom end rot is caused by calcium deficiency […] More
Peppers–sweet peppers and hot peppers–share nearly all of the cultural and growing requirements of tomatoes. If you can grow tomatoes, you can grow peppers. Choose a site with full sun where the soil is moisture retentive but well-draining. If you are planting sweet peppers and hot peppers in the garden, give them some distance they […] More
Peppers demand a warm location from start to finish. For peppers to prosper: sow pepper seed in a warm seed bed and transplant seedlings into a warm planting bed where the air temperature will remain consistently warm until harvest. Cool weather and soil are a pepper’s greatest challenge. Here are best bet, easy-to-grow peppers, both […] More
Chilies or hot peppers can be eaten raw or they can be roasted, grilled, pan-seared, toasted, or stuffed. Chilies can also be added to other cooked dishes; they contain natural chemicals that enhance the flavor of other foods during cooking. Often small, hot chilies—such as the jalapeño, Serrano, poblano, Anaheim, and banana–are used fresh. But […] More
Stephen Albert