re: Peppers - What are your favorites?

Havent planted any this year but Big Jim, Jimmy Nardello, Corbaci, Shishito, and Ancho are my favorites. Mangini (or mangina, can't remember) are pretty damn good as well. I quit planting anything hotter than a jalepeno or Tabasco because it's tough to use them all.

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Thank you everyone for the great suggestions. So excited for my garden. It's like Christmas in the summer!

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I know the feeling. I've had 2 ankle surgeries over the past 18 months and am just getting a good bit of my mobility back. This is the first time since the summer of 23 that I've had my garden going again.

I have 5 rows 50 ft. long and 2 large trellises that I plant. I grow cucumbers and pole beans on the trellises and in the rows I have tomatoes, several varieties of peppers, 3 different types eggplant, yellow and zucchini squash and okra with more open room to put some stuff in. The only salad type greens that grow in the heat are Kale and Swiss Chard and I will put some of that in this week.

I like my summer garden but absolutely love gardening in the fall/winter months. It is so much easier with less need to water, less bugs to deal with, fewer weeds, cooler temperatures and much easier working it. Plus all the great things it can produce.

I love the Red hot chili peppers !

This is the first time hearing of shishito peppers. Where do you purchase them? Or do you plant the seeds?

Can I direct sow these if I put them out now? I have a few transplants of basic varieties already (jalapeno, bells, banana, Tabasco) but I ordered:

Jimmy Nardello
Scotch Bonnet
Sugar Rush Peach
Cubanelle
Shishito

from Baker. I figure seeds are cheap, should still be good next year, and it will be fun to experiment with them. If I find transplants in the meantime, I'll grab those.

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I have a large garden as well. MUCH larger than the wife and I need. But I'm a nerd on this kind of stuff and can always give the stuff away and be a hero.

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I also give a good bit of what I harvest to family, friends or neighbors when stuff is coming in hard and fast.

I grow okra since I use it so much all year long and my normal garden will have upwards of 60-70 plants in it, so I'm harvesting okra daily when it comes in. I will wait until I have 3-4 days worth and smother it down to freeze to use in gumbo and soups I make. I also love it grilled along with other vegetables I grow and I pickle about 20 quarts in the summer months to have for later and give out to friends. I love it fried, but with cholesterol issues, it is not something I do often.

And if you've never eaten a cucumber off the vine fresh from the garden, you don't know what you're missing.

I have a trellis of pole beans every year and I'm thinking about putting up another trellis for the Japanese Yard Long Beans, also called Asparagus Beans. They are the most prolific producing pole bean I've ever grown and they get to 18+ inches long before I pick them . They are excellent as smothered green beans, used in a green bean casserole, cut in 6 in. lengths and grilled, but aren't worth a hoot pickled. They take on a leathery texture in the brine and are not a good choice for pickling.

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What's your pickled okra recipe?

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It's super easy.

I use quart mason jars with the wide mouth and cut up a few cloves of garlic and drop some of them in the bottom of the jar. The first bunch of okra I put in the jar go in stem side down, then I drop more cut garlic before really packing the jar with more okra stem side up so they can be packed tight in the jar.

Once the jars are tightly packed I add 1/2 the jar with vinegar and finish filling the jar with water. Then I pour the liquid out into a stainless steel pan, add salt, mustard seed and pepper flakes or cut up hot peppers I grow, bring that to a boil and then pour the brine over the okra.

Wipe down the top of the jar, place the sealing lid on then screw down the ring.

Should have put this first. Get a pot of water on the stove and heat to 185 degrees, add a 1/4 cup of vinegar if you have hard water and make sure it's enough water to cover the Mason jar by 1 inch. Once you have the jar/jars full, put them in the hot water bath for 20 minutes then remove and let cool on your countertop. When they cool a bit they should pull a vacuum on the lid and you should hear a slight pop when that happens.

You do not want the water to boil or your okra could get cooked too much and get soft instead of nice and crisp as it pickles.

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Hungarian wax.

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I love them and they can be easily confused with the mild banana pepper but have the heat profile of a jalapeno. They pickle nicely and I like to chop some up in a good salad or to have whole when eating pizza.

Yes, I cook with them. They are part of my trinity. My dad used to call them, “Yellow hots.”

Fatali peppers.