Jalapeños
Type: Annual
Description: Jalapeños are spicy peppers that kind of remind me of christmas lights on a tree when they grow. They have little stems and can be skinny or fat and come in either red or green (or even purple!). I prefer the green one better, maybe because that’s just my favorite color? Anyway they may be annuals but they pack a punch for a plant that won’t last you over one season. The thing that helps to give them their special spice is their seeds and their ribs. Yeah, pretty awesome. Unless you like a kick like that, when you prepare these peppers remove the seeds and the rib.
When to plant: Start indoors 6 weeks before the last expected frost, for a lot of places this is between January and March
Level of difficulty: 3
How to plant: Jalapeños are a must in your garden!
Tips/Facts/Uses:
Description: Jalapeños are spicy peppers that kind of remind me of christmas lights on a tree when they grow. They have little stems and can be skinny or fat and come in either red or green (or even purple!). I prefer the green one better, maybe because that’s just my favorite color? Anyway they may be annuals but they pack a punch for a plant that won’t last you over one season. The thing that helps to give them their special spice is their seeds and their ribs. Yeah, pretty awesome. Unless you like a kick like that, when you prepare these peppers remove the seeds and the rib.
When to plant: Start indoors 6 weeks before the last expected frost, for a lot of places this is between January and March
Level of difficulty: 3
How to plant: Jalapeños are a must in your garden!
- Fill up a small pot ¾ ‘s of the way with sterile seed starting mix.
- Drop in 3 seeds that are 3 to 4 inches apart and top them off with a light layer of soil. Make sure the soil stays airy. Seeds take about 3 to 5 weeks to germinate.
- Seedlings must get 16 hours of sunlight perday. If you don’t have a good spot for sunlight, place grow lights 2 to 4 inches above seedlings. If your plants begin to lean, put the lights closer. But if they begin to wilt, your light is too close.
- When your plants grow 4 leaves or are two inches tall, CAREFULLY repot them into bigger plants. During the growth process, they will need to be transferred to larger pots a couple of times,
- As they get bigger, place a stake in the pot. Usually these stakes are long, thin, and green. Before you put your Jalapeño pot outside you might want to make them a bit tough so they can stand up to the elements. Have a fan gently blow on them for 3 hours a day, or gently wiggle the stems to encourage them to become thick in those parts.
- Two weeks after the last frost it is safe to move your containers outside into 3 or 5 gallon containers.
- When outside, they shoud get sunlight 6 hours or more and grow best between the temperatures of 80-90 degrees.
- Give the plants one inch of water per week.
- Usually the peppers are red or green during ripening (unless you have a purple variety) and grow to be 2-4 inches long.
Tips/Facts/Uses:
- Why not grow all three colors? As I said Jalapeños look like big christmas lights and can be the greatest eye candy for a garden!
- Do not just stuff the green peppers, stuff the reds and purples too. It’ll be a masterpiece.
- MAKE JALAPEÑO POPPERS! They are one of my favorite foods and are sure to please!
- It is said that hot peppers help to boost your metabolism, try to add diced peppers to more dishes and spice things up.
- Can’t take the heat? No problem. Scoop out the seeds and inner ribs of the jalapeño.
- Goes great with corn bread.
- When handling these peppers for cooking, always wear gloves.
- Use dairy to set off the heat in a pepper.