WHY GROW PEPPERS?
Peppers are so decorative as you can see from my photos. (The pic above won 3rd place in Burpee's 1998 photo contest.) I love taking their pix and they are the best subjects except when it's windy. Mist them with water or diluted Miracle Gro for a fresh look. Early mornings and dusk are best but nightime photos can be dramatic. Visit my galleries to see my garden pix. Peppers are the best! They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and colors from ivory to yellow to chartreuse to hunter green, chocolate, and purple, often on the very same plant!
They look great in the garden next to your heirlooms, perennials,vines and tropicals. Hang them in baskets and windowboxes for easy access and color.
There are billions of ways to use peppers. Stuff them,fry them, add them to soups, stews, and salads.Grind them for chile powder or flakes or make hot sause. You can use what you don't eat to craft ristras (peppers strung together to hang and dry) and wreaths. I am working on a page of recipes with links to cooking pages and a peppers arts and crafts page. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

PEPPERS

The first thing you will want to decide is what kind of peppers you want to grow. How HOT or sweeeeet do you like them and what will you be doing with them?
l.) HEAT
Pepper heat is measured in SCOVILLE units.
For a list of peppers and their heat click here:
2.) SOURCES
Then you will want to add to or check out and Seed Sources.
for links to online nursery websites, catalogues, and other resources.
3.) PEPPER USES

HOT Saucesssss CENTRAL...Collect hot sauses, discover other hot places, See the hottest in hot sause,salsa, marinades... get links to many hot sauce webpages.
HOT n SWEET RECIPES
PEPPERART

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MY PEPPER GARDEN JOURNAL...

March 17, 1999 HAPPY ST PAT'S!!!I'm sooo excited!!!! I have some Irish peppers today!!! They're wearin the green too. :) Aji limon, peter, Carolina cayenne, super chile, giant thai & yatsafusa have popped their heads up after germination 5 days at 80 degrees. That was the same as my red habs.

March 20. 1999...First day of Spring and all the peppers are snappy. (all germinated in 6 days except the SW Chile). It was 80 degrees today so I pruned the perennial peppers in the garden and moved some of them into more diect sun. I had them sheltered under trees and tables during the cold snap. Supposedly the last freeze date for my area is April 1 and that's not far away.

March 30, 1999... 3.26 inches of rain today, I think the plants outside are happy, we've been in a drought for this area this year...
Not much to tell about my new seedlings in the last ten days without getting fanatical, everything has sprouted and some have gotten their second set of leaves. Waiting for more potting soil- ordered tomato start- from Burpee, then I will transplant them into my milk jugs. I suppose some of these potting mixtures are available thru Walmart or Home Depot. Sorry none are in The French Quarter, just tee-shirt shops. Now if you can figure out how to recyle those tee-shirts into a good quality potting mix, let me know!
March 31, 1999... Just came in from an evening of gardening to the blue moon. It's rare we get 2 full moons in a month and it feels energizing somehow. I fixed all my garden lights, potted some new herbs- lavender, lemon grass,oregano, peppermint, and my baby basils into hanging thangs just outside the door. The winter was hard on this antebellum building- the ole ristra haven wooden screendoor fell off- LOL I don't know if I'll put it back or use it for a dressing room tourist screen indoors and leave the French doors bare to open, easier to lug my water jugs and hose out the door...Besides it gives me more room to hang herbs on the doors, hard to explain. When I get my strawberries they'll hang off those shutters too. It's so much easier to grab food things when you're half dressed and the tourists are gawking from the cafe. :) The Cayennes are loaded with blossoms, maybe misting with that epsom salts helped! I haven't picked the poblanos yet cos my camera is in repair and I want to get pix! :) I also divided some cannas and moved my raspberry bushes closer so I can watch them. I put the new moonflowers and runner beans up ready to grab the trellises. The baby tomato and pepper plants average around 2" and are still in the terrarium indoors, waiting for my Burpee tomato start to transplant them and warmer weather (evenings still have been into 50's when the wind shifts from south to north) I picked my first watermelon of the season too and will serve it at Easter dinner. did ya know it's past midnite, that makes it April 1st.... heheheheheh

April 5, 1999...Happy Dingus Day! It was a big day today in my garden. I transplanted most all of my baby pepper plants to small pots-4-6" plus some in qt. and gall. milk jugs with the top cut off at an angle leaving just the handle to hang if desired. I left them outside out of direct sunlight and winds. It was about 80 gegrees and overcast so I left them out til dark but decided to bring them in overnite.
I also planted some more seeds- Bolivian Rainbow! "Bolivian Rainbow- Tear-drop shaped hot peppers with a spicy taste. They turn from purple to yellow to orange and then red. The everbearing plant has green leaves with purple veins. "
"Fluorescent Purple Pepper-Mother nature got fancy when she created this incredible work of art. The leaves on this plant are sensational fluorescent purple and white. It is absolutely the most breathtaking foliage. But there is more. The fluorescent purple and white foliage is surrounded by little hot dynamos that turn from green, to purple, then to red when ripe. Easy to germinate, transplant and grow."
Then I planted some Fatalli and some Mirasol. Do you think I've gone pepper crazy??? Don't answer that! LOL

April 9-11, 1999...Spent the weekend planting more seeds, outdoors but still in starter cups so I could watch them closer while they germinate and keep them protected from the elements and predators. Planted Mirasol, de arbol, Texas tepins, Black Cubans, Yellow Fire, gosh...what else?! I think I listed everything on the MYPEPPERS page.
April 17, 1999...the temps took another dip and the winds picked up as a late front moved thru. Snow up north! Here, lows in the 50's at night, high 60's day. I brought the real little ones inside overnight and sheltered the young 2" plants with a shower curtain the first night and removed it promptly the next morning before the sun could parch them. Everything looks good except the seeds I planted indoors are taking longer to germinate as the heat's not on and the nightime temps are lower. Mirasol aand fatalli sprouted tho.

April 23, 1999... Jazz Fest begins and my peppers are still sprouting. Getting hard to keep track! I may be doing more than I can handle but it's good FUN! Thank you to everyone who sent me seeds, if I was supposed to send you some and missed you, please let me know. It hit 88 today and promise to be another long hot summer, perfect pepper weather! I painted a few more pots this week and built a webpage about it.I am out of pots and soil and will need to get some soon. Visit my new PEPPERPOTS page if you're interested in an offer I'm making or just want to get some more tips on container growing.
May 4, 1999... Spent last 2 Jazz Fest weekends listening to live radio broadcast while potting peppers and strawberries. They will be some of the hottest and sweetest plants around because of it, LOL. Garden mascot, Tequila "Chile" TED has been watching over them. See their first baby pix I just got back!

May 5, 1999 Happy Cinco De Mayo!!! Muchas margaritas, musica, y cervesas por favor! Todos los chiles y una gringa loca en Nueva Orleans dice, No te preocupes se feliz!
May 11, 1999...finally getting some heavy rain storms. I always watch the tiny plants so they don't get flooded away. I tuck the pots under tables and things. In the ground you can cap them with cut off milk jugs or 2 liter soda bottles. Some people do this for bird problems too. Here is a cool link to my French Quarter weather page. You can see yours too at the map. Also see my PinPoint Doppler

June 21, 1999 First Day of Summer- Already!!! Peppers are poppin- the earliest ones to set peppers are my Peters :) and Yats, some mystery ones (ok the markers fell off I'm not Martha Stewart here)...Many others are loaded with blossoms but the habs are slooooooooow!

September 18,1999...WOW it was a loooong HOT summer and a busy one at that! What's new? Well harvesting many, many peppers, still trying to ID some, (where do thsoe markers always disappear to?) Here are two pix that are worth 2000 words I guess:
See some of my July peppers and my August peppers
SEE my updated Recipe page for ideas on what to do with your harvest!

December 99- a great year for peppers it was and I am still harvesting red and green balcony bells for Christmas, some cayennes and ajis. The habaneros at last! Look Here.
Spring 2000- I have overwintered several plants. We only had 3 freezes and I brought them in. Sadly I lost my 3 year old poblano and one of the old cayennes. But 2 cayennes are still with me and many black leaved varoieties and black peppers, many purrira, and some unknown til they leaf out. A word of advice: Don't rush to throw them out when they play dead, they often leaf out!!