Pepper Varieties for My Southern Organic Garden

One day's bounty!

The Resident Dragon loves hot and spicy food, and last year's garden supplied him with many special treats.  While tomatoes have been a constant source of frustration for me, peppers have produced well in my poor soil.

Installing soaker hoses under grass-clipping mulch conserved water and helped the peppers continue producing despite an extremely dry summer.

Varieties which have worked well for me are:

Anaheim:  Medium-hot, good for drying

Jalapeno M:  Classic hot pepper, hotter than usual

Marconi Rosso:  A large, sweet pepper suitable for stuffing, grilling, or frying

Chinese Giant Sweet:  A large bell-type pepper

Tennessee Cheese:  A Tennessee cultivar of a Spanish sweet pepper.  Tomato-shaped, thick-fleshed, and suitable for stuffing, pickling, canning, or drying.

Serrano Tampiqueno:  Prolific, about 2" long, very hot

The habaneros produced
until the frost killed them!

Habanero, Orange:  Very hot, very prolific, loves hot weather

Cubanelle:  A large, sweet pepper, excellent for frying

Jimmy Nardello:  Long, thin, sweet frying pepper

Pepperoncini, Greek:  Mildly hot, extremely prolific, excellent for pickling

Tabasco:  Very small, very hot, all ripen at one time which is great for making hot sauce

Pepperoncini, Italian:  Longer and thinner than Greek, but mild and extremely prolific

Pickled pepperoncini

Cayenne Blend:  Hote, edible ornamental with yellow, green, red, and purple fruit

Since I have had such good success with peppers, I'm expanding the varieties next year.  Here's what I'm trying:

Melrose Frying:  Small, sweet, early, and suitable for frying, salads, and roasting

Bull Nose (Large Sweet Spanish):  An old sweet bell variety, suitable for stuffing and pickling

World Beater (Ruby Giant):  Heirloom sweet bell, reputed to be prolific

King Arthur Hybrid (formerly Fat n' Sassy):  Sweet bell, large and early

Peppers love hot weather!

Jalapeno Early:  Very hot jalapeno, earlier and suited to cooler weather

Serrano Chili:  Hot, prolific, easy to use

Cayenne Purple:  Hot, suitable fresh, pickled, or dried

Cayenne, Long Thin:  Long, slender, very hot

Because pepper seeds require high soil temperatures to germinate (80 degrees), I think I will be investing in seedling mats this year in addition to keeping my little "greenhouse" very warm.

Watch in the next few weeks for details about my new "greenhouse."  I can't wait to get started.

So, what's growing in your Savory garden?

Nancy