Best Tomatoes for SauceGrow the best Sauce Tomatoes! If you love growing tomatoes to make your own sauce, we have some of our top recommendations for great tomato varieties to grow that will be bountiful and have nice meaty flesh that make beautifully thick tomato and marinara sauces. Of course, don't stop at this list below, all tomatoes can make an amazing sauce!!We'll start out with the classic tomatoes that are known for using for tomato sauce, which include Romas and Marzanos: San Marzano Roma Tom...
Free Seeds with a Seed Catalog Order!Order our printed Seed Catalog and get some FREE SEEDS*! For a limited time, get a FREE PACKET OF SEEDS with every print seed catalog ordered ($3 includes domestic shipping). We will pick the variety, so it will be a surprise! This is your chance to grow something new, and share with gardening friends and family. What seed packet will you get with your catalog? *Free seeds will be added to your order automatically, varieties vary. With over 100+ peppers of the world, this is a fun seed ...
Interesting Sweet Pepper Varieties with Zero HeatIf you want to share your pepper harvest with friends and family (including kids) who don’t tolerate spiciness... but you still want some flavorful, unusual specialty peppers, check out this list of interesting sweet peppers. At Sandia Seed, we carry sweet peppers from around the world so you can taste the rainbow of pepper colors and flavors picked fresh from your garden. Cubanelles are loved by chefs and are sweet and crispy with thin skins - great for stir fries or salads. Fushimis are ...
Martha Stewart's Biquinho Peppers Post - Grow your own Sweety Drops!In November this year, Biquinho peppers got a nod from Martha Stewart in her Instagram post about harvesting & pickling them. We love these Sweety Drop Brazilian peppers, too! She includes a simple recipe idea in her post, but you can see our full recipe below if you want to make some Sweety Drops from your own garden! The famous Biquinho is a sweet yellow Brazilian pepper that is a real treat and super easy to grow in your garden—they're as charming as they are tasty! Their flavor...
Growing Peppers in ColoradoThere are many different growing zones in Colorado, and you can grow peppers in any areas that you can grow tomatoes and other veggies! For Colorado gardeners, starting peppers indoors is a must with short season gardening, we recommend starting your pepper seeds at least 6-8 weeks before mid-to-late May when you will transplant them into the garden. Use a seedling heat mat to keep the pepper seeds warm during germination, they like to germinate around 80˚F! Choose short season peppers for...
Companion Planting HerbsHerbs, like Sage, make great companion plants for vegetable gardens! Ladybugs love herbs like Sage (shown above). Yes, herbs are excellent companion plants because they can attract beneficial insects, repel pests, improve soil quality, and even enhance the flavor of other vegetables! Herb seeds are easy to start and many of our herbs are perennial (Oregano, Sage, and Garlic Chives) so you can plant them once and they'll provide you with an endless supply of flavor for years to come.Plan...
Ristra Pepper SeedsGrow your own red chile and you never have to buy a ristra again... every strand starts with a seed in your soil! From seed to ceiling. 🌶️ What kind of pepper do you grow to make your own Ristra? While many types of peppers can be dried in ristras, the most common peppers used are New Mexico Chile varieties.The best peppers for a ristra are typically New Mexico Chile varieties, especially varieties like Sandia Hot or the mild 6-4 chile, which are known for their excellent drying quality, vi...
Why grow Squash?Why grow squash? Every gardener should plant squash because they are nutritious, easy to grow, and produce a high yield. Squash are a great source of vitamins A and C, and fiber. They are also very resilient and can produce a large amount of food, even in the heat of summer when other crops struggle. Zucchini is especially fast growing, so it's great for short seasons. The plants will provide you with an endless supply of versatile zucchini that can be used to make spicy fritters, bread...
Best Vinegar for Hot SauceMaking your own hot sauce recipes from homegrown hot peppers? Some people like to make fermented hot sauce recipes (and SOMETIMES they add vinegar at the end after it's fermented), some like to cook hot peppers down in a sauce pan and add vinegar for a quick hot sauce, and some people like to pickle whole hot peppers in vinegar for a spicy vinegar treat. You can even add lime or lemon juice to hot sauces for a tropical burst of flavor and acidity. There is no wrong way to make hot sauce, ...
Pickling Biquinho PeppersPickling Biquinho peppers is the best way to enjoy these delicious morsels. Here is a simple recipe to use up your abundant harvest of Biquinho pods! Pickled Biquinho Peppers Recipe(Also known as Pickled Sweety Drops) 2 cups+ Biquinho peppers (ranging from yellow to red) 1 Part (1 cup) white wine vinegar or other clear vinegar 1 Part (1 cup) water 3 garlic cloves 10 black peppercorns 1 dried bay leaf or fresh 1 pinch salt (to taste) 1 pinch white sugar (to taste) InstructionsWash and dry th...
BLACK FRIDAY SALE!Spice up your garden this season! 🌶️ Our premium pepper seeds are ready to heat things up with bold flavors and easy growth. Grab yours at special limited-time prices for our Black Friday Sale!We're having our Black Friday Sale at SandiaSeed.com so you can save on all of our seeds. Seed packets make great stocking stuffers and gifts for every gardener!25% OFF Sitewide!USE CODE: BLACK25 to save 25% on all non-discounted seedsExpires on 12/1/25 at Midnight MSTBy clicking here, the BLACK25 d...
Heat Loving Vegetables - grow from seed!This year was an exceptionally hot season for growing fruit and vegetables in Colorado. Some veggies thrived, while others struggled. Larger tomatoes had a hard time setting fruit when we had nearly two months of 95˚ F + temperatures straight. So while they are finally starting to come in now, during the heat of the summer many were dropping blossoms or if they had fruit a lot of it was getting blossom end rot, most likely from inconsistent soil moisture due to the super dry heat. There ar...
When to Harvest TomatillosWhen to Harvest Tomatillos One of the best indications that your Tomatillos are getting ripe is when you see a few start to fall off the plant. Tomatillos will often fall off when ready, or if you touch them they'll detach easily off of the plant when ripe. When ripe, the green husks also will turn to a pale light brown color and be more papery, and the fruit inside starts to turn more yellow-lime green from the original green color. If it's a purple tomatillo, it will turn more pur...
2027 Seed Catalog - Peppers of the World!Our 2027 Seed Catalog is shipping!Your next garden adventure starts here!Manually flip through our seed catalog lower below. For nearly 20 years, Sandia Seed Company has been chasing one deliciously fiery dream: helping gardeners grow the world’s most amazing peppers right at home. Back in 2008, truly authentic green chiles and one-of-a-kind heirloom peppers were hard to track down on ordinary seed racks. So, we decided to bring the heat! We began with our favorite Hatch green chiles and ...
Wholesale Seeds - Sell Unique Varieties in your Garden Center– Wholesale Seeds - order a collection with display to sell seeds instantly! We have both table top and floor displays to fit your garden center or shop's space. All of Sandia Seed Company's seeds are non-GMO, untreated, and organically-sourced, so you know you're getting a quality product. Shop all of our Wholesale Seeds » Selling seeds from the Sandia Seed Company allows retailers and garden centers to offer unique, hard-to-find pepper and vegetable varieties that differentiate...
Roasted Giant Marconi Peppers with Garlic & ParmesanRoasted Giant Marconi Peppers with Garlic & Parmesan Recipe A delicious way to enjoy the wonderful taste of Giant Marconi peppers! 2-4 Giant Marconi Peppers 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced ¼ teaspoon salt Freshly ground black pepper ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, optional Heat oven to 425°F. Cut the Giant Marconi peppers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and stems. Place them cut side up on a ba...
Caribbean Red Habanero Pineapple Hot Sauce RecipeCaribbean Red Habanero Pineapple Hot Sauce If you have a lot of red habaneros, make sure to make this recipe for a spicy culinary delight! This hot sauce goes great on everything from tacos to pizza. Ingredients:20 Caribbean Red habaneros, stems removed1 medium sweet onion, chopped5 cloves garlic1½ cups white vinegar½ cup water2 tablespoons lime juice2 tablespoons honey or brown sugar1½ teaspoons salt1 cup fresh pineapple chunks Directions:Wear gloves when handling the habaneros. Cut them in ...
What to do in your Garden in SeptemberWhat to do in your Garden in September It depends on where you live, but here in the West, our 5B growing season can end as early as late September, or can last through October or even November, depending on the weather! We always hope for a long summer without frosts until November, but mother nature does her thing as she likes. Here are some of the things we do in September in our garden: Harvest and Clean Up Pick crops: Harvest your tomatoes, peppers, and warm-season veggies. Harvesting ...
Grow Your Own Chipotle PeppersChipotle (chih-POHT-lay) peppers start as jalapeños! Grow your own jalapeños from seed, let them fully ripen to a deep red, then smoke and dry them to create rich, smoky homemade chipotle peppers. Grow: Start jalapeño seeds indoors 8–10 weeks before the last frost. Keep the soil warm, around 80–85°F, for best germination. Transplant outdoors after the danger of frost has passed. Ripen: Instead of picking your jalapeños green, leave them on the plant until they turn completely red. Fully ripe ...
What are the benefits of garlic chives?Garlic Chives are very easy to grow, and are a perennial* herb that will last for years in the garden. They are very useful in the kitchen, plus the blooms are beautiful and attract a ton of pollinators and beneficial insects. If you love garlic, then you'll love garlic chives! Above: A beautiful gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus) butterfly on Garlic Chives – not only are they useful in the kitchen, they also attract a ton of pollinators including bees, moths, hoverflies, and beneficial...
Best Tomatoes for Sauce
Grow the best Sauce Tomatoes! If you love growing tomatoes to make your own sauce, we have some of our top recommendations for great tomato varieties to grow that will be bountiful and have nice meaty flesh that make beautifully thick tomato and marinara sauces. Of course, don't stop at this list below, all tomatoes can make an amazing sauce!!We'll start out with the classic tomatoes that are known for using for tomato sauce, which include Romas and Marzanos: San Marzano Roma Tom...
Free Seeds with a Seed Catalog Order!
Order our printed Seed Catalog and get some FREE SEEDS*! For a limited time, get a FREE PACKET OF SEEDS with every print seed catalog ordered ($3 includes domestic shipping). We will pick the variety, so it will be a surprise! This is your chance to grow something new, and share with gardening friends and family. What seed packet will you get with your catalog? *Free seeds will be added to your order automatically, varieties vary. With over 100+ peppers of the world, this is a fun seed ...
Interesting Sweet Pepper Varieties with Zero Heat
If you want to share your pepper harvest with friends and family (including kids) who don’t tolerate spiciness... but you still want some flavorful, unusual specialty peppers, check out this list of interesting sweet peppers. At Sandia Seed, we carry sweet peppers from around the world so you can taste the rainbow of pepper colors and flavors picked fresh from your garden. Cubanelles are loved by chefs and are sweet and crispy with thin skins - great for stir fries or salads. Fushimis are ...
Martha Stewart's Biquinho Peppers Post - Grow your own Sweety Drops!
In November this year, Biquinho peppers got a nod from Martha Stewart in her Instagram post about harvesting & pickling them. We love these Sweety Drop Brazilian peppers, too! She includes a simple recipe idea in her post, but you can see our full recipe below if you want to make some Sweety Drops from your own garden! The famous Biquinho is a sweet yellow Brazilian pepper that is a real treat and super easy to grow in your garden—they're as charming as they are tasty! Their flavor...
Growing Peppers in Colorado
There are many different growing zones in Colorado, and you can grow peppers in any areas that you can grow tomatoes and other veggies! For Colorado gardeners, starting peppers indoors is a must with short season gardening, we recommend starting your pepper seeds at least 6-8 weeks before mid-to-late May when you will transplant them into the garden. Use a seedling heat mat to keep the pepper seeds warm during germination, they like to germinate around 80˚F! Choose short season peppers for...
Companion Planting Herbs
Herbs, like Sage, make great companion plants for vegetable gardens! Ladybugs love herbs like Sage (shown above). Yes, herbs are excellent companion plants because they can attract beneficial insects, repel pests, improve soil quality, and even enhance the flavor of other vegetables! Herb seeds are easy to start and many of our herbs are perennial (Oregano, Sage, and Garlic Chives) so you can plant them once and they'll provide you with an endless supply of flavor for years to come.Plan...
Ristra Pepper Seeds
Grow your own red chile and you never have to buy a ristra again... every strand starts with a seed in your soil! From seed to ceiling. 🌶️ What kind of pepper do you grow to make your own Ristra? While many types of peppers can be dried in ristras, the most common peppers used are New Mexico Chile varieties.The best peppers for a ristra are typically New Mexico Chile varieties, especially varieties like Sandia Hot or the mild 6-4 chile, which are known for their excellent drying quality, vi...
Why grow Squash?
Why grow squash? Every gardener should plant squash because they are nutritious, easy to grow, and produce a high yield. Squash are a great source of vitamins A and C, and fiber. They are also very resilient and can produce a large amount of food, even in the heat of summer when other crops struggle. Zucchini is especially fast growing, so it's great for short seasons. The plants will provide you with an endless supply of versatile zucchini that can be used to make spicy fritters, bread...
Best Vinegar for Hot Sauce
Making your own hot sauce recipes from homegrown hot peppers? Some people like to make fermented hot sauce recipes (and SOMETIMES they add vinegar at the end after it's fermented), some like to cook hot peppers down in a sauce pan and add vinegar for a quick hot sauce, and some people like to pickle whole hot peppers in vinegar for a spicy vinegar treat. You can even add lime or lemon juice to hot sauces for a tropical burst of flavor and acidity. There is no wrong way to make hot sauce, ...
Pickling Biquinho Peppers
Pickling Biquinho peppers is the best way to enjoy these delicious morsels. Here is a simple recipe to use up your abundant harvest of Biquinho pods! Pickled Biquinho Peppers Recipe(Also known as Pickled Sweety Drops) 2 cups+ Biquinho peppers (ranging from yellow to red) 1 Part (1 cup) white wine vinegar or other clear vinegar 1 Part (1 cup) water 3 garlic cloves 10 black peppercorns 1 dried bay leaf or fresh 1 pinch salt (to taste) 1 pinch white sugar (to taste) InstructionsWash and dry th...
BLACK FRIDAY SALE!
Spice up your garden this season! 🌶️ Our premium pepper seeds are ready to heat things up with bold flavors and easy growth. Grab yours at special limited-time prices for our Black Friday Sale!We're having our Black Friday Sale at SandiaSeed.com so you can save on all of our seeds. Seed packets make great stocking stuffers and gifts for every gardener!25% OFF Sitewide!USE CODE: BLACK25 to save 25% on all non-discounted seedsExpires on 12/1/25 at Midnight MSTBy clicking here, the BLACK25 d...
Heat Loving Vegetables - grow from seed!
This year was an exceptionally hot season for growing fruit and vegetables in Colorado. Some veggies thrived, while others struggled. Larger tomatoes had a hard time setting fruit when we had nearly two months of 95˚ F + temperatures straight. So while they are finally starting to come in now, during the heat of the summer many were dropping blossoms or if they had fruit a lot of it was getting blossom end rot, most likely from inconsistent soil moisture due to the super dry heat. There ar...
When to Harvest Tomatillos
When to Harvest Tomatillos One of the best indications that your Tomatillos are getting ripe is when you see a few start to fall off the plant. Tomatillos will often fall off when ready, or if you touch them they'll detach easily off of the plant when ripe. When ripe, the green husks also will turn to a pale light brown color and be more papery, and the fruit inside starts to turn more yellow-lime green from the original green color. If it's a purple tomatillo, it will turn more pur...
2027 Seed Catalog - Peppers of the World!
Our 2027 Seed Catalog is shipping!Your next garden adventure starts here!Manually flip through our seed catalog lower below. For nearly 20 years, Sandia Seed Company has been chasing one deliciously fiery dream: helping gardeners grow the world’s most amazing peppers right at home. Back in 2008, truly authentic green chiles and one-of-a-kind heirloom peppers were hard to track down on ordinary seed racks. So, we decided to bring the heat! We began with our favorite Hatch green chiles and ...
Wholesale Seeds - Sell Unique Varieties in your Garden Center
– Wholesale Seeds - order a collection with display to sell seeds instantly! We have both table top and floor displays to fit your garden center or shop's space. All of Sandia Seed Company's seeds are non-GMO, untreated, and organically-sourced, so you know you're getting a quality product. Shop all of our Wholesale Seeds » Selling seeds from the Sandia Seed Company allows retailers and garden centers to offer unique, hard-to-find pepper and vegetable varieties that differentiate...
Roasted Giant Marconi Peppers with Garlic & Parmesan
Roasted Giant Marconi Peppers with Garlic & Parmesan Recipe A delicious way to enjoy the wonderful taste of Giant Marconi peppers! 2-4 Giant Marconi Peppers 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced ¼ teaspoon salt Freshly ground black pepper ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, optional Heat oven to 425°F. Cut the Giant Marconi peppers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and stems. Place them cut side up on a ba...
Caribbean Red Habanero Pineapple Hot Sauce Recipe
Caribbean Red Habanero Pineapple Hot Sauce If you have a lot of red habaneros, make sure to make this recipe for a spicy culinary delight! This hot sauce goes great on everything from tacos to pizza. Ingredients:20 Caribbean Red habaneros, stems removed1 medium sweet onion, chopped5 cloves garlic1½ cups white vinegar½ cup water2 tablespoons lime juice2 tablespoons honey or brown sugar1½ teaspoons salt1 cup fresh pineapple chunks Directions:Wear gloves when handling the habaneros. Cut them in ...
What to do in your Garden in September
What to do in your Garden in September It depends on where you live, but here in the West, our 5B growing season can end as early as late September, or can last through October or even November, depending on the weather! We always hope for a long summer without frosts until November, but mother nature does her thing as she likes. Here are some of the things we do in September in our garden: Harvest and Clean Up Pick crops: Harvest your tomatoes, peppers, and warm-season veggies. Harvesting ...
Grow Your Own Chipotle Peppers
Chipotle (chih-POHT-lay) peppers start as jalapeños! Grow your own jalapeños from seed, let them fully ripen to a deep red, then smoke and dry them to create rich, smoky homemade chipotle peppers. Grow: Start jalapeño seeds indoors 8–10 weeks before the last frost. Keep the soil warm, around 80–85°F, for best germination. Transplant outdoors after the danger of frost has passed. Ripen: Instead of picking your jalapeños green, leave them on the plant until they turn completely red. Fully ripe ...
What are the benefits of garlic chives?
Garlic Chives are very easy to grow, and are a perennial* herb that will last for years in the garden. They are very useful in the kitchen, plus the blooms are beautiful and attract a ton of pollinators and beneficial insects. If you love garlic, then you'll love garlic chives! Above: A beautiful gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus) butterfly on Garlic Chives – not only are they useful in the kitchen, they also attract a ton of pollinators including bees, moths, hoverflies, and beneficial...
