September is a month peppers love

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Jalapeño

My peppers kick into high gear come September.  They seem to love the lower humidity and cooler nights.  

Peppers like sulfur, calcium (to protect from blossom end rot), magnesium (helps flowers make fruits), sulfur (makes more nutritious pepper) and phosphorous (for flowering).

Be careful with the nitrogen.  Nitrogen promotes greenery.  You will end up with beautiful, lush plants with no flowers or fruits.  Also be careful in the type of potting soil you buy if planting in pots to make sure they are not for green leaved plants, but for flowers or vegetables.

Right now, I have poblano anaheim peppers, several different colored sweet bell peppers, negro pasilla bajio/mole peppers, and jalapeños.

The poblano I am drying for chili powder.  The sweet peppers I rough slice and freeze for salsa, The pimentos, I chop and freeze for salad.  The negro and jalapeños, I remove the tops and freeze hole.  The negro pepper I am going to try out this winter in mole sauces.  The jalapeños I use for salsa and some I don’t freeze, but put in apple cider vinegar to ferment for hot sauce for wings for football games.

Green pepper 

Poblano

Yum!  Yum!

A friend shared with me recently that he thought he was going to give up trying to grow vegetables because all he got was pretty plants with no fruits.  He was growing them in pots.  

My suggestion-don’t give up!  Since you are doing a great job with greenery, go for vegetables that are leafy, like lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, herbs, chard, and other greens.  Now is a great time to replant with these type of plants.