Today I finally got started on the propagation of the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants for the garden this year. I bought a bunch of seeds from Tomato Growers Supply Company in Ft. Meyers, FL. Where there's a pretty picture on their site of what I've planted, I've linked to it. As usual, I'll have more than I need, but I plan to put up at least 100 quarts of tomatoes this year, and I'd rather get close to 150. I started with a couple of varieties of tomato that I've had good luck with, Bradley and Lemon Boy. The former is a light red to pink 8-10 ounce strongly determinate tomato that comes on in about 80 days and sets fruit for a pretty short period; I planted thirty of them. The latter is a really pretty yellow tomato about the same size; it's indeterminate and I've had great luck with it in the past -- it just keeps going until frost kills it. It's a fast grower, too -- ready in about 72 days. I planted thirty of them, too. I'll post a picture of a half bushel of these from year before last; they look fantastic in anything that needs color.
In the remaining twelve cells of the first flat, I planted Bhut Jolokia Red peppers. These are also called Ghost Peppers -- about a million Scoville, so I won't be using many of them. I think law-enforcement grade pepper spray is only about twice that hot, so I'll try not to forget to wear gloves when I handle them. They are notoriously hard to get to germinate, and then they take one hundred days to mature, so I'll probably forget all about the gloves and rub my eyes, too.
I planted 16 of a standby pepper, Jalapeno M. I've alternated between these and a similar pepper called Mucho Nacho for years just to ward of tobacco mosaic problems. Year before last, I was shocked to find tomato hornworms (notice the Quaylesque spelling on Wikipedia...) munching on Jalapeno leaves -- pepper fed caterpillars are probably a delicacy somewhere, but I didn't try them. I'm excited about this variety since I'm down to the last few jars of that I put up year before last AND I've got a fancy corer and grilling rack to try out. I'm going to attempt to go Sonic one better on the cheddar peppers.
18 Orange Habaneros were next; these are probably my favorite pepper lately -- they're really too hot for me (300,000 Scoville), but I did make up several batches of sauce year before last that turned out very well. It was my attempt at making something similar to Melinda's Habanero Sauce; I had several folks tell me it was good, so I'm going to do it again. I've been saving pepper sauce bottles just for this recipe. For you single malt Scotch lovers out there, these peppers have a nose that's all citrus and a slightly soapy finish (like Aberlour). The fact that they make your gums burn is an added bonus. These take about 95 days to turn orange so it'll be a while. I did save a bunch of seed from these a few years ago since they are open pollinated. I'll try to get some of them to sprout in the middle of the gardening season when I don't need to be setting out plants for production.
Another serious hot pepper, Carribean Red, is next to the Habs. These monsters are 445,000 Scoville and are apparently closely related to the Habs. I'm interested to taste the differences. These are supposed to have fruity overtones, too, so they might be good for sauces if the seeds and membranes are taken out. These take even longer to mature than their cousins -- 110 days to get bright red. I planted 18 of them, too.
The pepper I've had the best luck with, really, is Anaheim. I got as many peppers from six plants a few years back as I did from any twelve others; they were insane. I've planted 18 of a hybrid Anaheim-type this year, Biggie Chile. These are supposed to be about 10-inch long, 4 ounce peppers. They should be really mild and make a good roasting pepper. I'll use them primarily in salsa verde, which I plan to make a few canner loads of this year. I used Anaheim, Jalapeno M, and Verde Puebla tomatillos for the last batch I made and it was really good. I have some other, hotter, big peppers that might work, too (like Numex Big Jim).
The last 18 I planted today were Sweet Cayenne; I have been growing similar peppers for years, and this year I plan to tie ristras like I did the last time I really had too many to deal with. This is a foot long pepper that is great for using in stir fried dishes and they are great to section and put in with pickled okra for a little zip. I did learn to use dental floss with a button on the end for the ristras some time ago. There are two ristras of cayennes hanging over my desk as I type this...
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