Growing Colorful Peppers

Growing vegetables in your front yard doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice a good looking flower bed. I frequently mix my vegetable plants in with my flowers. Some plants like tomatoes get hidden by a nice wall of marigolds (they are also companion plants, but that is a post for another day). Other plants like peppers are beautiful to look at on their own.

There are many varieties of peppers: some are sweet and some have varying degrees of heat. I try to mix it up and grow different varieties every year. This summer, my jalapeño plants are doing great. I’ve made jalapeño poppers several times from my harvest. The key to keeping the peppers from being overly spicy is to pick them when they are young and smooth. As they age, they get striations in their skin which indicates a high level of heat.

My simple recipe for poppers is as follows:

Mix one tablespoon of cream cheese with 1 teaspoon chopped fresh garlic per pepper. Stuff the pepper halves with the mixture and bake them at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Sprinkle cheddar cheese and plain bread crumbs on top and bake for another 5 minutes. Then enjoy an easy snack that packs a punch of flavor.

I am also growing Thai chili peppers this season. The peppers start off green and turn red. The red version is hotter than the young green peppers. At the end of the season, you can harvest all of the peppers and dry them out. They can then be ground up to make your own hot pepper flakes for sauces and pizza!