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Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The Garden Is Finally Done

With some pretty cold weather predicted, I harvested the remainder of my peppers and I'm glad the garden is done for the year but I had a banner year for peppers.  In addition to the shots below, we ate all we wanted and I probably gave away 10 plastic supermarket bags full.  This shot was from my post for early August which was from those that set on in the spring.

Then last week, I posted these shots.



And finally this week, I got the last harvest and still left a lot of little ones on the plants.  These are sweet on the left, various chiles in the center, and pasilla chilles on the right.

I'd never grown these before, but notice many recipes use pasilla peppers and while looking around at a plant sale this spring, I decided to try one of theirs.  They languished around the garden with odd shaped leaves, like a mutants, with no blooms or peppers, then mid summer, they took off.  In doing a little research, it seems the pasilla is really the dried version of a chilaca pepper, just as the ancho is a dried poblano.  My understanding is they ripen to brown and a few of them had started, but most were green - not sure how they will turn out, but I dried them and will see what happens.

For the chiles, I roasted, peeled, and froze them whole providing the option of stuffing for rellenos or other dishes.  Here are some of the anaheims roasting and frozen - the poblanos were already bagged.

I'm sure it would be much easier to go buy canned or fresh chiles for roasting at time of need, but there's just something special about growing and preserving my own.  Since we plan to travel rather than garden next summer, we are putting up more than normal this year - the frozen peppers will easily last two seasons if vacuum sealed. 

This is the last of the sweet peppers headed for the freezer.
 
All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.
Larry

14 comments:

  1. I'm thinking you should open a road side market....and BBQ Stand.

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  2. Well, you have always been "The Breakfast King" to me, but now I'm thinking that I'll have to add, "The Pepper King."

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  3. We had a banner year for peppers up here, too . . . at least I thought so, til I saw yours. WOW! I'm with you on pulling fresh frozen roasted chilies out of the freezer. They are perfect in soups, enchiladas and all sorts of dishes. Love all the beautiful pictures, Larry!

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  4. Holy Cow.. that's a serious pepper crop you had! I'm so jealous!!!! :)

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  5. Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers indeed!! Peter doesn't have squat on Big Dude! WOW that's a LOT of peppers, I'm really impressed! Enjoy your bounty thru this winter & beyond!!

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  6. That's quite a harvest, Larry. As I use more peppers in my cooking I am beginning to recognize the unique flavors of many of them. There is nothing like growing your own.

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  7. Wow Larry! You did have a banner year!
    I wish my little garden would grow that good. Any good gardening tips for growing basil indoors? I have to have my pesto even in the winter!

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  8. Larry... The pepper pictures pop! Lots of color, even more than our fall colors. You sure had a productive garden this past year... Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

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  9. I am allergic, but your peppers are so very pretty! Your garden was fabulous this year!

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  10. love the peppers!Unfortunately not soing so wellin my garden.Waiting for my strawberries field in couple of weeks:)

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  11. Wow, wow, wow! I hope to be as good of a gardener someday. Nicely done Larry.

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  12. Larry, I wish I could grow peppers like you. We are just getting into "season" down here in South Florida when it's not too hot to grown fruits and veggies. I"m going to give peppers another go! My last batch got eaten by mites but I"m not giving up!!

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  13. Great pics and what a beautiful crop of peppers you had! I wish I had that stash in my freezer! :)

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  14. What a great variety of peppers! Looks delicious :)

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