Search Results

Make Hot Pepper Infused Vodka for a Gift This is very easy and makes an impressive gift for Christmas or birthdays. First - Buy a bottle of vodka. Second - Place a small piece of habanero into the vodka and replace cap. Third - After one week remove the habanero piece. Fourth - Label and gift it! The first step is to buy good vodka in the mid-price range. Brands like Svedka, Absolut or Smirnoff work well for infusing. The second step is to use a hot pepper that hasn’t been in the refrigerator and is blemish free. Good choices are ch...

Seed Planting Information It is easy to start seeds indoors. You will need small containers, filled with soil, water, seeds, warmth, and bright light. Tip: Seeds germinate in half the time with a heated seedling mat under them. Small styrofoam /plastic cups or plastic seedling trays with individual cells work best. Your pots must have drainage holes so water can drain completely out. Fill each cup/cell with at least 3” (up to 5-6” is fine) of bagged potting soil. Moisten the soil completely with water. Tip: Seedling ...

Good Crop Rotation is Important A good crop rotation plan is critical for a productive vegetable garden. One of the rules of organic gardening is to rotate plant families from one season to the next, so related crops are not planted in the same spot more often than every three years. The purpose of crop rotation is to help maintain the balance of nutrients, organic matter, and micro-organisms necessary for healthy soil. When the same vegetable, like hot peppers, are planted year after year in the same plot, they become dise...

10 Reasons Growing Peppers is Good for Your Health! Did you know that growing green chile, hot peppers & veggies is good for your health? Here's our favorite 10 reasons: Gardening burns calories - up to 330 calories an hour for light gardening work! Gardening helps your heart! Gardening for 30 minutes a few times a week can help reduce heart disease. Gardening reduces stress! Being surrounded by plants improves your health by enhancing your mood Gardening gives meaning to your day – growing vegetables, especially green chile peppers i...

Grow Big Tomatoes! This tomato looks good and smells even better, but I’m not buying it for $6.99/lb! It’s just too easy to grow huge yummy tomatoes all summer long. Start with beef-steak seed varieties like Mortgage Lifter, Big Rainbow, Hillbilly, Pineapple, and Brandywine. Transplant seedlings into larger containers at least twice before moving them to the garden. Transplant your tomatoes outside as early as possible into good soil. Harden them off, set the plants deeply, and protect new transplants with wate...

Plant Seeds for 2016 Now! The time is now to plan your garden and get your seeds started indoors! Every garden has its own personality, just like every gardener has their own personality. Is your garden the ‘very precise decisions all the way’ or a ‘let’s just see what happens’ plan? It really doesn’t matter, but what matters now is starting tomato and pepper seeds indoors. If you start your seeds early, your plants will be larger and have better root systems developed before being transplanted outside. If you're ...

Growing Tomatoes from Seed It takes about six to eight weeks to grow tomatoes from a seed to a seedling plant that is ready to transplant outside. Start seeds indoors for best results. In 5 to 12 days your tomato seeds should germinate. Germination is best in warm temperatures (70° to 80° Fahrenheit). A heat mat for seed starting will dramatically hasten tomato seed germination. Sow seeds in cells filled with seedling mix and lightly sprinkle a bit on top to cover. Gently moisten the cells with water and place on a see...

Gifts for Gardeners Gifts for your favorite gardener! We have tried everything listed, and I have wrote my personal opinion for each one. The pictures are at the bottom. I hope this list gives you an idea for your special gardener. ~ Patsy Coles - Owner Sandia Seed Company Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. Looking for the perfect gardening gift? This food garden seed col...

Manzano - Rare Chile with Black Seeds The Manzano Pepper is the only chile to have black seeds. The flowers are a stunning purple and the plant has fuzzy leaves. It is part of the Capsicum pubescens species from the Andes region making it a cool climate chile pepper. It prefers to grow in a protected spot out of fierce sunlight and wind, such as on your patio. Provide it with a large container and a climbing trellis. If protected from frost it can live for 15 years and grow a vine over 10' high. The thick fleshed apple-sh...

Green Chile List by Heat - Mild to Hot List of Green Chile by Heat: Our seed varieties range from Mild to Extra Hot! When choosing a green chile variety to grow and eat, it is a good idea to choose the heat level you prefer. You may like them super hot, or you may love the flavor but want mild heat. Here is a quick list of green chile seeds we offer in mild to hot order. Not sure which green chile seeds to start growing? Check out our Green Chile Intro 3-Pack with our best-selling favorites, ranging from mild to hot! There's s...

Hybrid vs. Open-Pollinated and Heirloom Seeds This is the time of year that many gardeners start planning their spring gardens. It can be helpful to know the difference between hybrid, and open-pollinated (OP) seeds. The OP seeds are the best choice if seeds from the fruits will be saved and replanted the following year. The produce from OP seeds often tastes better, but the plants may not have the disease resistance that hybrids do. All heirlooms are OP, so the two words are often used synonymously. The main difference is that heirloom ...

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Look at all the hot capsacin inside this pepper! Capsicum chinense (120 days) Pods are 2-1/2" wide with wrinkled reddish orange skin.They have a fruit like flavor, with nuclear heat! This pepper contains so much capsacin that the chemical blasts past the numbing response and keeps activating receptors in the nerve endings in your mouth. This produces ferocious burning sensations. Chile burns and heat burns are similar at the molecular, cellular, and sensory levels...

Ripen Green Tomatoes Indoors When it comes to ripening any fruit, ethylene is your friend. This gaseous plant hormone is produced by all fruits as they ripen, and will prompt unripe tomatoes into turning red. Place the fruit in a paper bag, cardboard box or wooden drawer with a ripe banana or apple, ensuring you leave out any damaged or diseased fruit which will rot the lot. Check them regularly and you should find the tomatoes are ripe within a couple of weeks. Fun Tip: Place half your immature green tomatoes in a box ...

Guajillo, Fresno and Red Cherry Hot Peppers... ...are just a few of the new varieties we will offer for the 2016 season! Also included will be Trinidad Scorpion 'Butch T', 7 Pot Douglah, 7 Pot Jonah, 7 Pot Barrackpore, Yellow Brain Strain, Peach Bhut Jolokia, White Bhut jolokia, Sweet Banana, Golden Greek Pepperoncini, Pimiento, Legacy Big Jim, Jamaican Hot Chocolate and a few more! We are so excited to be adding these the great peppers to our collection. They will all be available the first week of November!

Fresh hot reaper! Wow! This is such a productive pepper! The plants are overflowing with fruit and when it's cut open it is wet with capsaicin! Now to see what it's like to chew on a little piece. Wish me luck, and get some seeds to grow your own!

Pepper Seeds Sandia Seed has pepper seeds from all the chile peppers you can think of: hatch chile pepper seeds, anaheim pepper seeds, bhut jolokia ghost pepper seeds, habanero seeds, jalapeno seeds, and sweet pepper seeds such as shishito pepper seeds, which are wonderful japanese peppers that are very popular with chefs! Our GMO-free Pepper seeds are gathered fresh every year from New Mexican farms, bringing you the authentic New Mexican hatch chile varieties, as well as some of the hottest pepper seed...

How to Germinate Pepper Seeds What You will need: Pepper seeds Indoor/Outdoor potting soil Plastic growing tray, at least 2” deep with holes for drainage Seed germination warming mat Grow light or bright window Distilled water Labels. Fill growing tray almost to the top with potting soil. Moisten thoroughly with water and allow to drain completely. Always use distilled water. Make an indentation with a pencil eraser approx. a quarter of an inch deep or less, about every 2 inches in the soil. Place one pepper seed int...

What makes a Hatch Chile Hatch? What makes a Hatch Chile, Hatch?New Mexico is home of the famous Hatch Chiles that are grown in the Hatch Valley. Hatch Chiles are special and unique to the Hatch region in New Mexico, you can grow the same varieties in other areas or states, but, like Champagne, then it isn't a true Hatch chile. What gives the Hatch chiles the special flavor is the unique soil and climate in this part of New Mexico along with the people who plant, nurture and harvest the chiles over many generations. But...

Shishito Pepper Appetizer Harvest about 15 peppers from your plant and rinse. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in amedium hot skillet. Place peppers in skillet after poking each with a fork to prevent from exploding while they cook. Fry about 5 minutes until the peppers are a little brown and soft. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve warm. When eating, pick up the pepper by the stem and eat the entire pepper, seeds and all. Discard the stem. View more of our chile pepper recipes »

Roasting Green Chile is Easy! Put fresh green chiles on a propane grill on medium high heat. Grill until the outer skin is brown and bubbly. Keep turning until entire chile has brown thin paper skin. Remove from grill and place into a plastic bag with 1/4 cup water. Steam for 5 minutes. Remove from bag and peel outer skin away! Yum! Grow your own Hatch chile seeds and you can harvest and roast chiles right from your own garden. Hatch Chiles are actually quite easy to grow around the world, the plants love summer heat. ...