What do you love about GardeningWhat's not to love about Gardening? Seeing seeds sprout and grow into giant plants loaded with an abundance veggies and fruits like peppers, tomatoes, herbs and seed-filled flowers is like witnessing a miracle every time. And when the birds and pollinators show up, it is pure bliss. Watching a swallowtail butterfly and bumblebees visit the blooms, or a goldfinch enjoying the seeds of coneflowers and sunflowers is... time-stopping. We asked you... What do you love about Gardening? Here ...
Green Habanero Peppers - What to do with unripe HabanerosWondering what to do with unripe green habanero peppers?Yep, you can eat green habaneros! Like with most peppers, they are still good when green! Full size but still not fully ripe green habaneros have a sharper spice and somewhat earthier/smokier/grassier flavor, and can be a little less hot – but don't worry they still pack a punch! Of course they have more fruity flavor when fully ripe, but sometimes you have to harvest them when they are still unripe and green due to weather or other ...
Best way to Preserve Dill - Top TechniquesWe recently received this question from a customer about storing homegrown Dill: It's going to frost so I harvested some volunteer dill from my garden. What is the best way to preserve it for pickles next summer? Can I use the stems also? Should I separate the leaves from the stems? Best Way to Store Dill: We like freezing fresh dill in glass storage dishes to retain the fresh flavor of dill, but you can also dehydrate/dry it easily as well. Yes, you can use the stems if not woody! We...
How many Hatch chiles per plant?We recently had a customer ask us this in an email: “How many Hatch Chilis per plant? I want to grow enough for a bushel!” Answer: Each Hatch chile plant typically produces between 10 and 20+ pods, depending on variety and growing conditions. So if you want to grow a bushel of large green chile pods like Big Jims – assuming that an average bushel includes about 80-110 pods per bushel, depending on the size of the pods – we'd recommend growing at least 8-10+ Hatch chile plants so they ca...
What zone do Hatch chiles grow in?Hatch Chile can be grown outdoors in zones 5-11. Pretty much anywhere you can grow tomatoes you can grow Hatch chile! Hatch chile varieties are easy to grow! Find all of our green chile seeds including Hatch chile seeds » Learn more about what makes Hatch chiles so special » Find our top tips for How to Grow Hatch Chile »
How to Preserve Peppers: 7+ Ways!When you have a glut of peppers, you want to save your harvest to enjoy in the future months to come. Here are our favorite 7+ ways to preserve peppers now: Roast Chile Peppers: Roast or grill until charred, chill, peel & de-seed, use some now and freeze some for later! Great for making green chile stew, for topping pizza, dips, in burritos, eggs, served over mashed potatoes, you name it! Try some of our green chile recipes » Cowboy Candy, shown above, before brine was poured in. Pi...
Freezing Jalapeno PoppersKeep it simple and warm up your winters by freezing jalapeño poppers when you have an abundance of jalapeños from the garden. How to freeze jalapeno poppers: 1. To make freeze poppers, first prepare the jalapeños* by slicing in half, and using a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Then, fill them with cream cheese (you can add other ingredients like shredded cheddar, chopped olives, minced garlic, bacon bits, etc if desired). 2. Put them on a baking sheet and "flash freeze" them in a sing...
Best Peppers for Hot SauceWe've picked out our favorite peppers for hot sauce (and some of your favorites) that you can grow in your garden to make hot sauce! Find our favorite hot sauce recipes and make them your own with any of these hot peppers. You can use any hot pepper or combination of peppers to make hot sauce, so don't feel limited, experiment! The sky's the limit. You'll find that some you love some peppers even more than others, but it's fun to try them all. Hot sauce captures the essenc...
Should I harvest peppers before frost?Should I harvest peppers before frost? Absolutely! Don't let the pepper pods freeze outside on the plants, as they will turn to mush. Harvesting peppers before frost: Do you have to harvest your peppers before a frost, but they're not ripe? Here are our suggestions: Pick your Peppers:You can pick the peppers, and if they are close enough to ripe, they may turn color on your counter. Many peppers like jalapeños are often picked green, so enjoy them green – you'll find that super...
Jalapenos Turning Black?Don't worry if your jalapenos are turning black! Most Jalapeños turn black often during their to natural ripening process. Most Jalapeño varieties mature from green to red, and during this time they often turn partially black or deep purple – this is totally normal. You may be worried that there is something wrong with your Jalapeño peppers, but it's common for them to turn partially dark or black as they ripening to red. Green to black to red is how they ripen!Jalapeños peppers can b...
Shishito RecipesThere are lots of delicious Shishito Recipes! Shishitos are great sweet peppers to grow in the garden as they are fast growing so they are one of the first peppers to harvest, and then they just keep producing all season long. They are one of the easiest peppers to grow, and are great for beginner gardeners. Shishitos grow happily in pots, too. You can pick them often to eat fresh or make a variety of dishes with them. Here are a few of our favorite Shishito Recipe ideas: Sautéed Shishitos ...
Safe Seed PledgeSandia Seed Company is proud to sign the Safe Seed Pledge! We believe in selling only non-GMO seeds. THE SEED INTEGRITY PLEDGE: Seeds are essential for the provision of healthy food, our well-being, and that of our environment and planet. We must protect the diversity and genetic integrity of our seeds to provide the foundation for a stable, safe food supply for us and for generations to come. The mechanical alteration of genetic material outside of natural reproductive methods within or bet...
How Cold can Cabbage Tolerate?We love growing cabbage for our spicy Mexican Coleslaw / Cabbage Coleslaw recipe! Brunswick Cabbage is great to grow this time of year, as it can stay growing in the garden with cold temps long after the peppers and tomatoes can... and it's great Cabbage can typically withstand temperatures down to the mid-to-low 20s°F before it begins to freeze, but its exact freezing point depends on the variety and how it has been preconditioned by weather. A light frost (28–32°F) is generally n...
Chili Recipe with Homegrown Red Chiles!Make this delicious red chili from chiles and other ingredients from your garden! Ingredients: 3 whole dried Guajillo chiles 3 whole dried Ancho chiles 3 whole dried Red New Mexico chiles 1-2+ green bell peppers or roasted/peeled New Mexico or Pueblo Green Chiles, chopped 1 large poblano pepper, chopped, seeds removed (can also roast) 2 (16 oz.) cans red kidney beans 1 (16 oz.) can pinto beans 1 cup of fresh or canned diced tomatoes (optional) 1 Onion 4-6+ Garlic Cloves, minced (2+ ...
Biggest Selection of Green Chile Seeds - in all heat levels!If you love green chile, make sure to check out our huge selection at Sandia Seed! In 2008, we were founded on the idea that seeds for green chile peppers should be available for everyone. We were the first seed packet company to focus exclusively on pepper seeds from around the world. At that time large seed packet companies sold only one or two peppers alongside their vegetable seed selection and they were not green chile seeds! We decided something had to change, so Sandia Seed started...
Largest Jalapenos you can GrowGrow bigger jalapeños next season! You can do this by growing larger Jalapeño varieties such as Jalapeño Traveler and Jalmundo NuMex – they will reward you with pods that can get up to 4 inches to make the perfect poppers!Note that the size of jalapenos varies depending on the growing conditions. Weather, especially, can affect the size of peppers in general, some seasons result in much larger pods than other seasons. Sometimes pods will start out smaller and get larger as the season progress...
Specialty peppersLooking to grow specialty peppers in your garden to make recipes with? Sweet specialty peppers can add a ton of color and flavor to your dishes. Sweet peppers don't include just bell peppers and snack peppers, there are so many wonderful sweet pepper specialties! Read about all of our favorite specialty peppers below... Marconi sweet peppers, shown above, are so deliciously wonderful when roasted! Cubanelle Peppers, shown above, are beloved by chefs for their crispy texture and thin wa...
What peppers would you consider a must grow?While there are hundreds of peppers of the world you can grow (see just some of them above), we have a (fairly long & evergrowing) list of our favorite peppers that we grow each and every season. Many of these varieties are hard to find at the store, so they are great to grow – plus, all homegrown peppers (like tomatoes) taste better than store-bought! You can also let them fully ripen to get the maximum flavor that you'll want to taste and grow again and again. Here's our top pi...
What are the best pepper seeds for beginners?What are the best pepper seeds for beginners? Beginners should start with some of the fastest growing peppers. These peppers are great for people who are just starting to grow pepper seeds as they germinate quickly and grow into productive pepper plants even in short seasons. Many of these peppers are great for container gardening and for short seasons with late or early frosts in the spring and fall. These easy pepper seeds will give you the confidence to grow more and more each season. Som...
Best Pepper Seeds for PlantingIf you're looking for the best pepper seeds for planting, you've come to the right place! Sandia Seed carries over 101+ pepper seeds from super hot peppers to sweet peppers and everything in between. Check out our List of Peppers by Heat to find a heat level that is just right for you. Our Peppers of the World are easy to grow in any vegetable garden, so you can taste some of the best flavors from all over the planet. Peppers don't all taste the same, they have a wide variety of f...
What do you love about Gardening
What's not to love about Gardening? Seeing seeds sprout and grow into giant plants loaded with an abundance veggies and fruits like peppers, tomatoes, herbs and seed-filled flowers is like witnessing a miracle every time. And when the birds and pollinators show up, it is pure bliss. Watching a swallowtail butterfly and bumblebees visit the blooms, or a goldfinch enjoying the seeds of coneflowers and sunflowers is... time-stopping. We asked you... What do you love about Gardening? Here ...
Green Habanero Peppers - What to do with unripe Habaneros
Wondering what to do with unripe green habanero peppers?Yep, you can eat green habaneros! Like with most peppers, they are still good when green! Full size but still not fully ripe green habaneros have a sharper spice and somewhat earthier/smokier/grassier flavor, and can be a little less hot – but don't worry they still pack a punch! Of course they have more fruity flavor when fully ripe, but sometimes you have to harvest them when they are still unripe and green due to weather or other ...
Best way to Preserve Dill - Top Techniques
We recently received this question from a customer about storing homegrown Dill: It's going to frost so I harvested some volunteer dill from my garden. What is the best way to preserve it for pickles next summer? Can I use the stems also? Should I separate the leaves from the stems? Best Way to Store Dill: We like freezing fresh dill in glass storage dishes to retain the fresh flavor of dill, but you can also dehydrate/dry it easily as well. Yes, you can use the stems if not woody! We...
How many Hatch chiles per plant?
We recently had a customer ask us this in an email: “How many Hatch Chilis per plant? I want to grow enough for a bushel!” Answer: Each Hatch chile plant typically produces between 10 and 20+ pods, depending on variety and growing conditions. So if you want to grow a bushel of large green chile pods like Big Jims – assuming that an average bushel includes about 80-110 pods per bushel, depending on the size of the pods – we'd recommend growing at least 8-10+ Hatch chile plants so they ca...
What zone do Hatch chiles grow in?
Hatch Chile can be grown outdoors in zones 5-11. Pretty much anywhere you can grow tomatoes you can grow Hatch chile! Hatch chile varieties are easy to grow! Find all of our green chile seeds including Hatch chile seeds » Learn more about what makes Hatch chiles so special » Find our top tips for How to Grow Hatch Chile »
How to Preserve Peppers: 7+ Ways!
When you have a glut of peppers, you want to save your harvest to enjoy in the future months to come. Here are our favorite 7+ ways to preserve peppers now: Roast Chile Peppers: Roast or grill until charred, chill, peel & de-seed, use some now and freeze some for later! Great for making green chile stew, for topping pizza, dips, in burritos, eggs, served over mashed potatoes, you name it! Try some of our green chile recipes » Cowboy Candy, shown above, before brine was poured in. Pi...
Freezing Jalapeno Poppers
Keep it simple and warm up your winters by freezing jalapeño poppers when you have an abundance of jalapeños from the garden. How to freeze jalapeno poppers: 1. To make freeze poppers, first prepare the jalapeños* by slicing in half, and using a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Then, fill them with cream cheese (you can add other ingredients like shredded cheddar, chopped olives, minced garlic, bacon bits, etc if desired). 2. Put them on a baking sheet and "flash freeze" them in a sing...
Best Peppers for Hot Sauce
We've picked out our favorite peppers for hot sauce (and some of your favorites) that you can grow in your garden to make hot sauce! Find our favorite hot sauce recipes and make them your own with any of these hot peppers. You can use any hot pepper or combination of peppers to make hot sauce, so don't feel limited, experiment! The sky's the limit. You'll find that some you love some peppers even more than others, but it's fun to try them all. Hot sauce captures the essenc...
Should I harvest peppers before frost?
Should I harvest peppers before frost? Absolutely! Don't let the pepper pods freeze outside on the plants, as they will turn to mush. Harvesting peppers before frost: Do you have to harvest your peppers before a frost, but they're not ripe? Here are our suggestions: Pick your Peppers:You can pick the peppers, and if they are close enough to ripe, they may turn color on your counter. Many peppers like jalapeños are often picked green, so enjoy them green – you'll find that super...
Jalapenos Turning Black?
Don't worry if your jalapenos are turning black! Most Jalapeños turn black often during their to natural ripening process. Most Jalapeño varieties mature from green to red, and during this time they often turn partially black or deep purple – this is totally normal. You may be worried that there is something wrong with your Jalapeño peppers, but it's common for them to turn partially dark or black as they ripening to red. Green to black to red is how they ripen!Jalapeños peppers can b...
Shishito Recipes
There are lots of delicious Shishito Recipes! Shishitos are great sweet peppers to grow in the garden as they are fast growing so they are one of the first peppers to harvest, and then they just keep producing all season long. They are one of the easiest peppers to grow, and are great for beginner gardeners. Shishitos grow happily in pots, too. You can pick them often to eat fresh or make a variety of dishes with them. Here are a few of our favorite Shishito Recipe ideas: Sautéed Shishitos ...
Safe Seed Pledge
Sandia Seed Company is proud to sign the Safe Seed Pledge! We believe in selling only non-GMO seeds. THE SEED INTEGRITY PLEDGE: Seeds are essential for the provision of healthy food, our well-being, and that of our environment and planet. We must protect the diversity and genetic integrity of our seeds to provide the foundation for a stable, safe food supply for us and for generations to come. The mechanical alteration of genetic material outside of natural reproductive methods within or bet...
How Cold can Cabbage Tolerate?
We love growing cabbage for our spicy Mexican Coleslaw / Cabbage Coleslaw recipe! Brunswick Cabbage is great to grow this time of year, as it can stay growing in the garden with cold temps long after the peppers and tomatoes can... and it's great Cabbage can typically withstand temperatures down to the mid-to-low 20s°F before it begins to freeze, but its exact freezing point depends on the variety and how it has been preconditioned by weather. A light frost (28–32°F) is generally n...
Chili Recipe with Homegrown Red Chiles!
Make this delicious red chili from chiles and other ingredients from your garden! Ingredients: 3 whole dried Guajillo chiles 3 whole dried Ancho chiles 3 whole dried Red New Mexico chiles 1-2+ green bell peppers or roasted/peeled New Mexico or Pueblo Green Chiles, chopped 1 large poblano pepper, chopped, seeds removed (can also roast) 2 (16 oz.) cans red kidney beans 1 (16 oz.) can pinto beans 1 cup of fresh or canned diced tomatoes (optional) 1 Onion 4-6+ Garlic Cloves, minced (2+ ...
Biggest Selection of Green Chile Seeds - in all heat levels!
If you love green chile, make sure to check out our huge selection at Sandia Seed! In 2008, we were founded on the idea that seeds for green chile peppers should be available for everyone. We were the first seed packet company to focus exclusively on pepper seeds from around the world. At that time large seed packet companies sold only one or two peppers alongside their vegetable seed selection and they were not green chile seeds! We decided something had to change, so Sandia Seed started...
Largest Jalapenos you can Grow
Grow bigger jalapeños next season! You can do this by growing larger Jalapeño varieties such as Jalapeño Traveler and Jalmundo NuMex – they will reward you with pods that can get up to 4 inches to make the perfect poppers!Note that the size of jalapenos varies depending on the growing conditions. Weather, especially, can affect the size of peppers in general, some seasons result in much larger pods than other seasons. Sometimes pods will start out smaller and get larger as the season progress...
Specialty peppers
Looking to grow specialty peppers in your garden to make recipes with? Sweet specialty peppers can add a ton of color and flavor to your dishes. Sweet peppers don't include just bell peppers and snack peppers, there are so many wonderful sweet pepper specialties! Read about all of our favorite specialty peppers below... Marconi sweet peppers, shown above, are so deliciously wonderful when roasted! Cubanelle Peppers, shown above, are beloved by chefs for their crispy texture and thin wa...
What peppers would you consider a must grow?
While there are hundreds of peppers of the world you can grow (see just some of them above), we have a (fairly long & evergrowing) list of our favorite peppers that we grow each and every season. Many of these varieties are hard to find at the store, so they are great to grow – plus, all homegrown peppers (like tomatoes) taste better than store-bought! You can also let them fully ripen to get the maximum flavor that you'll want to taste and grow again and again. Here's our top pi...
What are the best pepper seeds for beginners?
What are the best pepper seeds for beginners? Beginners should start with some of the fastest growing peppers. These peppers are great for people who are just starting to grow pepper seeds as they germinate quickly and grow into productive pepper plants even in short seasons. Many of these peppers are great for container gardening and for short seasons with late or early frosts in the spring and fall. These easy pepper seeds will give you the confidence to grow more and more each season. Som...
Best Pepper Seeds for Planting
If you're looking for the best pepper seeds for planting, you've come to the right place! Sandia Seed carries over 101+ pepper seeds from super hot peppers to sweet peppers and everything in between. Check out our List of Peppers by Heat to find a heat level that is just right for you. Our Peppers of the World are easy to grow in any vegetable garden, so you can taste some of the best flavors from all over the planet. Peppers don't all taste the same, they have a wide variety of f...
