Peppers are still among the trendy veggies you must have for your vegetable garden to be … well, to be cool. But they’re not just for the vegetable patch as numerous new ornamental types are available for setting annual beds ablaze with color.
Peppers are perhaps the most diverse of all our garden vegetables. Bell, cherry, chiltepin, pequin, pimento, banana, paprika, cayenne, thai, jalapeno, Anaheim, Hatch, tabasco, serrano, habanero, Scotch bonnet, ghost, shishito, and poblano are a few examples that are popular in various cuisines. Although “discovered” in the 1500s by Spanish explorers to the New World, American gardeners and consumers continue to rediscover the versatile pepper.
Some are sweet and mild while others will burn the taste buds right off of your tongue. Even though mild peppers are still quite popular, it is the pungent ones that have fueled the recent fires of peppermania.
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Measuring the fire
Pepper heat, measured in Scoville Heat Units, ranges from the mild bell and paprika types, at 0 heat units, to the standard type of Jalapeno, at about 3,000-8,000 units, to the blazing habanero at 200,000-300,000 units. Not hot enough yet? Then try the ghost and scorpion peppers which run 80,000 to over 1 million, or the Carolina reaper which can exceed 2 million Scoville units … but not until the fire trucks and EMS have arrived at your house.
Interestingly you can develop a tolerance to the heat from garden peppers. Folks that eat them regularly find that they take on progressively hotter peppers.
Pepper flavors can be complex and range widely. I’m particularly fond of the taste of smoke-dried jalapenos (chipotle flavor).
If you love the jalapeno flavor but can’t take the heat, try the TAM Mild Jalapeno with about half the heat or varieties such as ‘Senorita,’ ‘Felicity,’ ‘Fooled You,’ and ‘Tricked You’ which have very little heat at all.
Capsaicin is found primarily in the white partitions containing the seed inside the pepper. Thus, you can dramatically reduce pungency by cutting these areas away and discarding them. My kids growing up were not even interested in the medium hot jalapenos, but when I cut away the inner walls they lined up for a jalapeno-laden plate of nachos.
Seeds and transplants
Transplants from your local garden center are the easiest way to get a great head start with peppers. However, once your pepper explorations begin you will likely find yourself ordering many of the less common species and varieties by seed to grow your own transplants.
Growing tips
While peppers love lots of sun, the fruits of some types are prone to sunburn in the brutal heat of the summer sun. A little late day shade is helpful, especially if it is a bright shade, and if they are getting at least six hours of morning sun.
Peppers tolerate a range of soil types but love good drainage and will benefit from additions of compost, especially in sandy or heavy clay soil. Peppers plants vary in size, but as a general guide space your plants about 1 to 2 feet apart down the row.
Keep em’ growin’ fast
Peppers do best when they never lack nutrients and adequate soil moisture. Mix 1-2 pounds of complete fertilizer (double rate if organic fertilizer is used) per 100 square feet into the soil prior to planting. When the first fruits start to form sprinkle two tablespoons of high nitrogen product in a 1-foot diameter circle around each plant and water it in well.
Container growing
Few vegetables are as adapted to container culture as are peppers. If you lack a sunny garden spot containers allow you to position the plants where there is sun. Many garden peppers are well suited as dual-purpose container ornamentals. Tabasco, serrano, and other small-fruited hot peppers are especially attractive ornamental plants.
For the best results select a container that holds at least 5 gallons of growing media. This minimizes how often you need to water. We all get busy and forget and drought stress may not kill the plants but can reduce yields considerably.
Use a slow release fertilizer in the container, or supplement with a soluble product each week to maintain optimum nutrition and vigor.
Nutritious and tasty
Peppers are high in vitamins C, A, E, B1, B2, and B3. They can contain as much as six times the vitamin C of oranges. When allowed to turn red, the carotene (a precursor to vitamin A) content goes up dramatically.
Peppers are healthy to eat, easy to grow and so versatile they can be used in the kitchen as a vegetable or a spice. There are as many ways to use peppers as there are types of peppers, including eating fresh, drying, stuffing, and baking, filling with cream cheese and even grilling. If you have never had a piping hot smoked jalapeno (known as a chipotle) you are missing a real treat.
If you’ve got a sunny place in the garden or even an apartment balcony, give peppers a try. But I warn you … peppermania can be addictive!
Robert “Skip” Richter is the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension horticulture agent for Brazos County. For local gardening information and events, visit brazosmg.com. Gardening questions? Call Skip at 823-0129 or email rrichter@ag.tamu.edu.
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