Our last pepper harvest until the spring growing season in a few weeks

Here is what looks to be our last pepper harvest until the spring growing season in a few weeks. These are very nice size and have a lot of flavor and heat!

Picking peppers during December in Arizona, 2010

Jalapeno peppers as far as the eye can see!

Look at the size of our jalapeno peppers!
December, 2010

This is a few Jalapeno and Anaheim peppers mixed in with many more Serrano peppers and some cilantro.

A bowl of fresh picked home grown jalapeno and serrano peppers

Today we made salsa with our home grown jalapeno and serrano peppers! Not sure how many of each pepper we have in this bowl, but by picking these peppers I hope to stimulate more pepper production from our plants. There were quite a few more peppers still hanging on the pepper plants even after picking these!

Here are some images to help you cook your pumkin seeds with jalapeno peppers.

Our pumpkin seeds and our jalapeno peppers.
Washed and ready to boil.

Dice the jalapeno peppers.
Boil heavily salted water, 1/2 cup od sea salt.

Add the diced jalapeno peppers into the boiling water.

Next add the pumpkin seeds to the boiling water.

Cook in oven at 350 degrees for 10-20 minutes or until slightly brown.

 Let cool for about 5 minutes and enjoy!!!

How to cook pumpkin seeds with jalapeno peppers

1. Soak your pumpkin seeds over night then lay them on a paper towel to dry.

2. Pick 6-10 average sized home grown jalapeno peppers and dice them.

3. Boil the pumpkin seeds and jalapenos in heavily salted water, (I use 1/2 cup of sea salt), for 10 minutes.

4. Drain the water and layer seeds and diced jalapeno on a cookie sheet. Use vegetable oil to coat the cookie sheet or a cooking spray. Sprinkle with more sea salt.

5. Cook at 350 degrees for 10-20  minutes or until lightly brown and crispy.

6. Let cool for about 5 minutes and then see how great they taste!!!

How to cook pumpkin seeds with a jalapeno flavor

So yesterday was Halloween and today it's time to cook all those pumpkin seeds! You'll have to try our pumpkin seed recipe that includes fresh, home grown jalapenos for an extra kick. It easy and they taste great!

How to cook pumpkin seeds with jalapeno peppers
1. Soak your pumpkin seeds over night then lay them on a paper towel to dry.

2. Pick 6-10 average sized home grown jalapeno peppers and dice them.

3. Boil the pumpkin seeds and jalapenos in heavily salted water, (I use 1/2 cup of sea salt), for 10 minutes.

4. Drain the water and layer seeds and diced jalapeno on a cookie sheet. Use vegetable oil to coat the cookie sheet or a cooking spray. Sprinkle with more sea salt.

5. Cook at 350 degrees for 10-20  minutes or until lightly brown and crispy.

6. Let cool for about 5 minutes and then see how great they taste!!!

I will post images and a video soon to show you in better depth how to make this healthy snack.

Our jalapeno pepper is now at 62"

Check out our jalapeno pepper. Can you believe that this pepper is now 62" tall!!!

This photo was taken just a few days ago on October 25, 2010 here in lovely Arizona.

Arizona garden in April of 2010

I found this old footage of our Arizona garden from April 2010 as we were just starting out.

Half way finished painting our garden hutch

Wanted to show you a photo of our old garden hutch. We picked this item up at a Goodwill type store a while back. The rain and extreme sun have taken a toll on this hutch in record time, so I thought I better paint it to save it. So far I've been able to paint the drawers and window frames a great yellow color and will later paint the rest a nice dark green color.

The paint will help seal the wood split that has occurred and will also help with weather conditions. The plant you see next to the garden hutch is one of our jalapenos.



Look how many flowers are on our jalapeno pepper plant!

Quite a number of flowers on our 56+ inch tall jalapeno pepper plant. Makes me hungry for salsa!!!

Look how tall our jalapeno pepper plant is!!!!!!!!!

Just took this photo the other day. 54" tall, can you believe it! Yeah for organic gardening :)

A few peppers drying in the west side window

A few Anaheim peppers drying in a sunny, west facing window. The longest pepper is approx. 6" long. They are really good in eggs and salsa.

P.S.- I chopped up and ate ONLY ONE small, very small jalapeno pepper on some nachos the other day and almost burned my tongue right out of my mouth! lol

Make sure you wear your gloves when picking these hot peppers like jalapeno, habanero, serrano and others.

Shade cloth to the rescue!

Thinking about the increase in heat recently, I think I'll try some shade cloth over a couple peppers.

First pepper to get some shade cloth covering will be our Anaheim pepper. I'm wondering if some shade
will correct the strange upside down growing habit this pepper has grown to like?

Second pepper is our great tasting jalapeno pepper. This girl is growing fantastic! Almost 4' tall! The reason for the shade cloth is that one of the stems is looking a little sun burnt which I think is coming from a reflection of a nearby window? This is why it has a little different looking shade frame. We'll see by first thing tomorrow...

I don't like to use shade cloth unless there is no other choice to save a plant or tree. I think the plants need to adapt to the heat and weather in order to do well here, and if your using shade cloth your babying them to much.

I used some landscaper's tree stake wire, I guess that's what it would be called, lol. It's the green coated wire that you see on tree stakes with the piece of hose over it. It holds really nice and you can hold the cloth on with clothes pins. If you bend the wire so that a piece of it will hit against the wall, it will hold itself up for you.

Here are some pics: