If you like a little heat on your food, Cathy Isom fills you in about the vegetable you can grow that will add a little heat to your everyday cooking. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
Chili peppers are the fiery cousin of tomatoes, so as you’d expect, they like similar conditions. One or two plants will provide enough veggies for the season with plenty left to preserve, freeze, sell or give away.
Fresh or dried, chilies are effective stimulants and digestives. They’re also high in vitamins A and C. Chili peppers are easy to grow and invaluable in cooking if you like a little spice. You can use them to make hot sauces, to flavor up salads, to spice a curry, or to add flavor to a drink.
Some of the pepper varieties you’ll want to plant in your garden include: Habanero, Jalapeno, Cayenne Pepper, Anaheim, Scotch Bonnet, Paprika and Carolina Reaper.
Peppers are tropical perennials, but they’re grown as annuals in most zones. Chili peppers love at least 6 to 8 hours of sun per day. Plant your peppers indoors 8-10 weeks before the last frost. And put them in the ground 2-3 weeks after the last frost when soil is 60°F. Chilies also grow well in tubs on a sunny, sheltered balcony.
I’m Cathy Isom…