Andie's Way: peppers

Showing posts with label peppers. Show all posts

Sunday, August 2, 2015

A Tasty Rainbow of Bell Peppers

Chocolate, yellow, red, orange and green...the prettiest peppers I've ever seen. Please understand, I may be biased since these are my little gems, lovingly grown from seed starting way back in February. Peppers do take time to grow, so when they are finally ripe, it is such a joy!

My husband made robust ropa vieja using the peppers. It's a Mexican dish of stewed beef featuring bell peppers. Before they were cooked, the bells had to pose for some photos.

Chocolate Bell, Quadrato Giallo D' Asti (yellow), Quadrato Rosso D' Asti (red), Orange Bell, California Wonder Bell

Chocolate Bell ripens to a deep brown. It is large with thick flesh which is sweet but has no chocolate flavor. The name alludes to the color which is definitely a chocolate brown.

Quadrato Giallo D' Asti is an Italian heirloom with the most delightful bright yellow flesh. It is a stunning plant, the sunny yellow makes a brilliant contrast to the deep green foliage. With light and crisp flesh, it might be the sweetest of my bells.

Perhaps my favorite variety this year is the Quadrato Rosso D' Asti which is the red bell. This Italian heirloom is producing numerous lush peppers of a deep red. The flesh is crisp and very sweet with a hint of a spicy finish.

I love seeing peppers ripen, transforming colors like a chameleon.

Quadrato Rosso D' Asti. One plant with peppers in various stages of maturity.

Orange Bell is perhaps the prettiest one in my garden. In the sunlight, this vibrant orange pepper simply glows. Deliciously sweet, it adds a pop of color to meals from stews to salads.

Lovely Orange Bell, the belle of the garden.

And finally there is California Wonder. This green pepper is a longstanding favorite for its thick flesh and boxy shape. It is the classic bell, and it's perfect for stuffing.

My bells, they are a tasty rainbow!

Monday, July 20, 2015

A Handful of Tomatoes and Such

Here are a handful of the tomatoes we have harvested so far.

Red Pear Abruzzese

San Marzano

Amish Paste

Amish Paste on the left, with 3 San Marzano

Black Krim

Cherokee Purple

Thessaloniki

Pineapple Hawaiian

I had to throw these in there, couldn't resist.

Kamo eggplant

California Wonder bell pepper

Happy gardening!

Friday, July 10, 2015

Pepper Sunscald

Ever have this happen to one of your peppers? You go out one day and there it is...a scar on your pretty pepper. Even peppers can get a sunburn. Too much sun and the flesh is damaged, leaving an indented, pale, tough spot. Sometimes the spots will crack and the pepper will go bad. Other times, the blemish just remains there while the pepper continues to grow. The pepper is still edible, just remove the scar and eat the rest.

The healthier the plant, the less likely the peppers are to be scalded. If the plant has bushy leaves, the peppers will be shaded by the leaves, protecting them from the sun. Even the healthiest plants leave some fruit uncovered. In the center of this photo, you can see a vulnerable pepper next to the stick.

A closer look reveals minor sun damage.

The skin is dimpled and pale. If left unprotected, this spot would become a deep scar.

The solution is to cover or shade the peppers. I used shade cloth and poles to provide some shade.

Simply use wire to tie the cloth to the posts.

The shade cloth does not block the sun completely and the plants will get enough sun during the morning to grow nicely. They just need protection during the heat of the day. I installed the shade cloth during the hottest hours of the day to make sure the cloth was at the right height and angle to give the plants shade during those hot afternoon hours.