6 Favorite Pepper Varieties for a Hot & Humid Summer Organic Garden

Peppers and tomatoes make a great harvest!

I've grown peppers for several years and have developed a few favorites.  Peppers are easy to grow and bear all through the season.  They are especially suited to the hot southern summers.  I hope you can enjoy them, too!

Habaneros produced until frost!

6.  Orange Habanero   100,000-350,000 Scoville units

Although not successful in the 2012 season, the orange varieties produced prolifically in all prior years. They do require warm soil, and will briefly cease to set fruit when the night low temperatures remain above 80, but, once the evenings cool even slightly, they become abundant again.  Super-hot, these are beautiful, and enjoyed the extra nitrogen from being mulched with green grass clippings.  Reasonable water requirements make these a favorite.

Serranos, pepperoncini, jalapeno, and cayenne peppers.

5.  Long Slim Cayenne Pepper  30,000-50,000 Scoville units

Cayenne peppers are an old favorite in the South.  They are moderately hot and can be used in a variety of dishes from salsa to soup to cornbread.  They can be used fresh, pickled, and can be dried to use whole or crushed.  Versatile and reliable.

Greek pepperoncini just kept on producing!

 4.  Greek Pepperoncini  100-500 Scoville units

The Resident Dragon loves pepperoncini.  He orders extras with sandwiches, and pizza and any time he has the chance.  Last year, I planted two varieties:  Italian and Greek.  The Italian pepperoncini are long and thin, while the Greek looks like what you get with pizzas.  While the Italian variety produced well, the Greeks just kept on and on and on until frost.  I pickled about 20 pints and gave many away.  Be careful when canning as they will turn mushy very easily.  My cousin suggests using the mushy ones in marinades and sauces.

Jalapeno is reliable and versatile!

3.  Jalapeno M  2,500-8,000 Scoville units

The jalapeno can vary from mild to warm.  It is delicious fresh, or included in your favorite dishes.  Make your own cheese and bake them into poppers.  Slice to include in pickles.  Chop them to include in your home-grown salsas and in guacamole!

2.  Serrano Tampiqueno  5,000-23,000 Scoville units

A versatile, flavorful pepper!  Mildly hot, they add flavor to soups, salsas, and anything you can imagine!  Heavy bearers, easy to grow.

1.  Tabasco  30,000-50,000 Scoville units

Yes, tabasco.  The world-famous variety grown by McIlhenny Co. on Avery Island.  They also thrive off the island, too.  Unlike most others, last year's tabasco peppers all matured as once which was wonderful for canning.  Six plants produced enough fruit to make 6 pints of my Dragon's Kiss Sauce.  The best addition to my garden which will make a return this year.

Well, those are my favorites!  What's growing in your Savory garden?

Nancy

Totally Tabascos!

Jack Frost's handiwork cooled
down our hot peppers!

Ready to plant!

Peppers seem to grow well in our boiling-hot but dry summers, and every year I look for new varieties to try in the garden.  Last year the new variety was orange habaneros which produced prolifically through frost.

Yes, I fell out of this trailer!

This year's experiment was tabasco peppers.  I hadn't thought about tabascos until I saw the seed at, oddly enough, the wonderful Totally Tomato site.  I started the seeds on Valentine's day but, due to my cold garage and inadequate sunlight, the plants were not ready to set out until late May.

Tabasco peppers point up, not down!

Our soil is quite poor, so we added several trailer-loads of leaves last fall and this year's soil was a bit more friable.  I created two garden strips:  sweet peppers and hot.  I lay soaker hoses under mulch and fertilized about every other week.  The tobasco plants grew nicely.  They were lush.  They were green.  But, when all the other peppers started blooming, they did not.  They waited, and waited.  I was picking baskets of poblanos, jalapenos, serranos, even pepperoncini, but the tabasco swayed bloomless in the breeze.

Finally, finally, they began blooming in July.

Fortunately, they ripened at the same time!

Tiny fruits formed.  Slowly.

Tiny fruits grew larger.  Slowly.

They grew larger.  Slowly.

Until, finally, finally, finally, most were ready.

This year, we're making a standard sweet hot sauce.  Next year, maybe we'll ferment a sauce!  But, in any case, tabascos are tops on our crop list!

Our tabascos were not large, but they were potent!

We cut the plant to harvest the peppers.

Tedious, but tasty!

What's growing in your garden????