Gardening ChallengesWhat are your biggest garden challenges? Every gardener has challenges, it's part of what makes gardening fun! Learning something new every year, gardeners accumulate lots of knowledge over time via experience. What are some of your top challenges in your garden? WeatherWeather can be harsh sometimes, especially with late spring storms, hurricanes and tropical storms, non-stop rain, freezing cold temperatures, super hot 90˚F+ temperatures, you name it. We like to start many vegetables suc...
What is the best way to transplant tomato plants?Transplanting tomatoes? Here's our five top tips for the best way to transplant tomato plants into your garden: 1. Harden off your indoor-started tomato seedlings first so they don't get shocked by sun, pick an overcast day, or plant in the morning or evening so you aren't planting in full sun. 2. Amend soil where you will be planting with homemade compost if you have it. You can also put some compost deep into the planting hole. 3. Pinch off some of the lower leaves. 4. Remove s...
Roasted Green Chile ChickenGreat for lazy days you want to throw things in a pot and walk away. Ingredients:1 tsp Oregano1 tsp Cumin 3 pounds Chicken (bone-in preferred)4 slices of bacon (chopped)1/2 Yellow onion (large dice)1 10oz. can crushed tomatoes (or finely chopped fresh tomatoes)1/2 C chopped hatch green chiles (roasted)Cilantro for garnishInstructions:1. In a Dutch oven or heavy bottom pot. Bring to medium heat. Throw in dried spices and roast for 2 minutes, stirring constantly so they don't burn (no oil)....
Green Chile Sauce RecipeGreen Chile Sauce Goes great on everything! Use it on top of burritos, roasted vegetables, potatoes, tacos, sandwiches, burgers, or use it as a salsa with chips. Ingredients:4 Tbs butter1/2 yellow onion (diced)6 Tbs all purpose flour1Tbs chicken bullion1 1/2 C water 1/2 cup chopped hatch green chile (roasted)salt and pepper to taste Directions:1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter and add in onions. Saute onions until they become fragrant and translucent. 2. Once onions are cooked, turn down t...
Short Season Heirloom TomatoesLooking to grow Short Season Heirloom Tomatoes this season? If you are looking to grow early tomato varieties, you've come to the right place. If you are in a short season climate, or, if you just want to enjoy juicy homegrown heirloom tomatoes from your garden, any of these varieties would be a great pick! Best Short Season Tomatoes: Heirloom Pineapple Tomato These plants will fruit fairly early, and also ripen quickly. In mid-summer, they seemed to stop blooming, then they put on ano...
Winter SowingWinter Sowing: We just learned about Winter Sowing a few years ago, it's a wonderful way to start seeds using recycled containers outside! With winter sowing, you don't need room inside to start seeds, you can start them outdoors in the winter/spring months with recycled jugs and other containers. These containers serve as miniature greenhouses that do an incredible job of germinating all sorts of seeds including vegetables, herbs, and native plants. Winter Sowing Seeds in Milk...
Types of PeppersThere are many types of peppers to grow in your garden! There are the five major types of peppers: Capsicum annuum: Life span: 1.5-3 years These include a lot of the largest peppers including Bell Peppers, sweet/Italian Peppers, Serrano, Cayenne, Paprika, Hatch Chile Peppers, ornamental peppers like the gorgeous NuMex Twilight pepper, and all of the fast growing Jalapeños. These pepper plants can live between 1.5-3 years. We find that the New Mexican Chile varieties really produce t...
Grow Peppers in PotsDid you know you can grow peppers in pots? Most pepper varieties do great in pots! Check our list of Best Peppers to Grow in Pots Add some peppers to your garden this year! Growing peppers in pots is a great way to expand your garden, or peppers if you don't have a garden bed! You can place pots on patios, decks, or balconies to increase your harvest each season. The Easter Pepper, shown above, makes an absolutely stunning centerpiece in a tall ceramic pot in a pollinator garden. The lar...
Five Mild Green ChilesIf you like green chile but not the burn in your mouth we suggest growing a few of the milder varieties. AnaheimScoville 500-1,000 This can be is the mildest New Mexico pod-type pepper. It has less flavor than the NM 6-4. This heirloom has genetics that trace back to the original No. 9 pepper developed by Fabian Garcia in the early 1900s.Anaheim Sonora MildScoville 600 Very mild and like the Anaheim, but with larger pods. The flesh is thick and this variety is TMV resistant. Not heirloom....
Cabbage Salsa / Mexican Coleslaw RecipeIf you haven't had cabbage salsa before (also known as Mexican Coleslaw), you're missing out! This crunchy, spicy, tangy salsa is a real treat – eat it with tortilla chips, or serve as a delicious side or topping for tacos. We first had it at a Mexican restaurant in Colorado a few years back and it was so good we had to find some recipes. Here's our version that we make every summer now: Cabbage Salsa / Mexican Coleslaw Recipe Ingredients 4 cups chopped or shredded cabbage (we ...
Cool Weather VegetablesThere are a lot of cool weather vegetables that are great for winter growing as well as for early spring! Sandia Seed has a good selection of cool season vegetables that are great for growing in the cold months, especially early spring! When to plant cool weather crops:Cool-season vegetables can be planted anytime from several weeks to a couple of months before the last frost date. These early vegetables prefer cooler temperatures for growing. Some people start seeds indoors to get them ...
Best Light for SeedlingsBest Light for Seedlings "What are you guys using as grow lights for seed starting?"We recently had a question from a customer on what kind of lights we're using to start seeds. You can use lots of different lights to start seeds, you'd be surprised, even a regular old standard fluorescent white light will do the trick! These days though you'll find LED lights at any garden center, nursery or hardware store. LED lights work well for starting seeds and getting your see...
Hottest Pepper in the WorldThe hottest pepper in the world in 2023 is now Pepper X! However, you CANNOT buy Pepper X seeds or grow the plants, they are patented by the developer of the hot pod, Ed Currie. It doesn't sound like he's planning on releasing them anytime soon or ever. So, in the meantime, grow his infamous predecessor, the Carolina Reaper, which held the Guinness World Record crown from 2013-2023. The Carolina Reaper was the Guinness world record holder for being the hottest pepper in the world fr...
How long does it take to grow peppers from seed?How long does it take to grow peppers from seed? Well, it depends on the pepper! Some peppers, like our Orange Jalapeno, Yellow Jalapeno and our Early Jalapeno seeds are all super fast growing, which start harvesting at around 65 days after starting from seed. Or you can grow our Sweet Chocolate Bell Pepper seeds, which is our earliest pepper to harvest, with the first peppers ripening at around 57 days! Find other fastest growing peppers here.Growing short season peppers is one way to sh...
New PeppersNEW PEPPERS Grow something new this year! In 2022 we have a lot of new peppers to grow in your garden! We are introducing Hatch Green Mild – Guizeppi as one of the mildest Hatch chile varieties we offer; Alma Paprika, the best paprika for drying; Anaheim Sonora Mild, a delicious and very large pepper; Biquinho Yellow, mild and fruity from Brazil; Cascabella, small and tangy these are the peppers that Mezzetta uses; Cayenne Purple, both the pepper and plant are pretty, Corno de Toro Gai...
Brazilian Pepper SeedsBrazilian Pepper Seeds:Biquinho Pepper SeedsA rare yellow heirloom pepper! Looking to grow Brazilian peppers? Easy to grow from seed, the Biquinho Yellow Pepper is a rare pepper that is crunchy and juicy with a mix of tropical flavors that are described as citrus and fruity with slightly smoky tones. These are citrusy little peppers are also called Sweety Drop Peppers, Inca Reds, or Chupetinho (which literally translates to “little beak.”) These sweet yellow Brazilian peppers are a culinary ...
Growing Chili Peppers in PotsGrowing Chili Peppers in Pots is a great way to expand your pepper garden! Potted pepper plants can be started earlier in the season, and you can bring them in if a late or early frost is forecasted so that you can have a longer harvest season. Some people even bring in their pepper plants and grow them year-round by keeping them under lights in the winter months indoors. Or, if they're even luckier and live in warmer frost-free regions, they don't have to bring in their pepper plants...
What to plant in JanuaryAhhh, the middle of winter! It's just about now that we're excited to start planting seeds for spring. January is a good time to start planning what to plant in your garden if you haven't done it already. Deciding what vegetables to grow each year is part of the fun, though sometimes difficult to narrow down which varieties to grow! With over 100 peppers from around the world plus lots of veggies and tomato seeds, too, our Seed Catalog makes it hard to narrow down the choices! But...
Hottest Pepper 2022Hottest Pepper 2022 The hottest pepper in 2022 is, you guessed it, the Carolina Reaper! Yep, the Hottest Pepper in 2022 is still the Carolina Reaper! The wickedly hot Carolina Reaper is still holding the Guinness World Record crown again in 2022 for being the world's hottest pepper.Until a new pepper comes on the scene and invests in getting a pepper tested prior to the end of 2022, the Carolina Reaper will hold the crown. Getting into the book of Guinness Records is difficult...
Hot Pepper Podcast from Craft Hot SauceThanks to Craic Sauce and crafthotsauce.com for the mention of Sandia Seed in their latest Maker Stories Podcast, featuring an interview with Hoot Sauce Co based in England. Their Hoot Sauce sounds delicious! Make sure to give this podcast a listen, they even discuss the loch ness monster in addition to stories about making hot sauce. Check out all their Craft Hot Sauce Podcasts » Many of our seed customers grow peppers for hot sauce, and we love hearing about your hot sauce creations! Hot ...
Gardening Challenges
What are your biggest garden challenges? Every gardener has challenges, it's part of what makes gardening fun! Learning something new every year, gardeners accumulate lots of knowledge over time via experience. What are some of your top challenges in your garden? WeatherWeather can be harsh sometimes, especially with late spring storms, hurricanes and tropical storms, non-stop rain, freezing cold temperatures, super hot 90˚F+ temperatures, you name it. We like to start many vegetables suc...
What is the best way to transplant tomato plants?
Transplanting tomatoes? Here's our five top tips for the best way to transplant tomato plants into your garden: 1. Harden off your indoor-started tomato seedlings first so they don't get shocked by sun, pick an overcast day, or plant in the morning or evening so you aren't planting in full sun. 2. Amend soil where you will be planting with homemade compost if you have it. You can also put some compost deep into the planting hole. 3. Pinch off some of the lower leaves. 4. Remove s...
Roasted Green Chile Chicken
Great for lazy days you want to throw things in a pot and walk away. Ingredients:1 tsp Oregano1 tsp Cumin 3 pounds Chicken (bone-in preferred)4 slices of bacon (chopped)1/2 Yellow onion (large dice)1 10oz. can crushed tomatoes (or finely chopped fresh tomatoes)1/2 C chopped hatch green chiles (roasted)Cilantro for garnishInstructions:1. In a Dutch oven or heavy bottom pot. Bring to medium heat. Throw in dried spices and roast for 2 minutes, stirring constantly so they don't burn (no oil)....
Green Chile Sauce Recipe
Green Chile Sauce Goes great on everything! Use it on top of burritos, roasted vegetables, potatoes, tacos, sandwiches, burgers, or use it as a salsa with chips. Ingredients:4 Tbs butter1/2 yellow onion (diced)6 Tbs all purpose flour1Tbs chicken bullion1 1/2 C water 1/2 cup chopped hatch green chile (roasted)salt and pepper to taste Directions:1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter and add in onions. Saute onions until they become fragrant and translucent. 2. Once onions are cooked, turn down t...
Short Season Heirloom Tomatoes
Looking to grow Short Season Heirloom Tomatoes this season? If you are looking to grow early tomato varieties, you've come to the right place. If you are in a short season climate, or, if you just want to enjoy juicy homegrown heirloom tomatoes from your garden, any of these varieties would be a great pick! Best Short Season Tomatoes: Heirloom Pineapple Tomato These plants will fruit fairly early, and also ripen quickly. In mid-summer, they seemed to stop blooming, then they put on ano...
Winter Sowing
Winter Sowing: We just learned about Winter Sowing a few years ago, it's a wonderful way to start seeds using recycled containers outside! With winter sowing, you don't need room inside to start seeds, you can start them outdoors in the winter/spring months with recycled jugs and other containers. These containers serve as miniature greenhouses that do an incredible job of germinating all sorts of seeds including vegetables, herbs, and native plants. Winter Sowing Seeds in Milk...
Types of Peppers
There are many types of peppers to grow in your garden! There are the five major types of peppers: Capsicum annuum: Life span: 1.5-3 years These include a lot of the largest peppers including Bell Peppers, sweet/Italian Peppers, Serrano, Cayenne, Paprika, Hatch Chile Peppers, ornamental peppers like the gorgeous NuMex Twilight pepper, and all of the fast growing Jalapeños. These pepper plants can live between 1.5-3 years. We find that the New Mexican Chile varieties really produce t...
Grow Peppers in Pots
Did you know you can grow peppers in pots? Most pepper varieties do great in pots! Check our list of Best Peppers to Grow in Pots Add some peppers to your garden this year! Growing peppers in pots is a great way to expand your garden, or peppers if you don't have a garden bed! You can place pots on patios, decks, or balconies to increase your harvest each season. The Easter Pepper, shown above, makes an absolutely stunning centerpiece in a tall ceramic pot in a pollinator garden. The lar...
Five Mild Green Chiles
If you like green chile but not the burn in your mouth we suggest growing a few of the milder varieties. AnaheimScoville 500-1,000 This can be is the mildest New Mexico pod-type pepper. It has less flavor than the NM 6-4. This heirloom has genetics that trace back to the original No. 9 pepper developed by Fabian Garcia in the early 1900s.Anaheim Sonora MildScoville 600 Very mild and like the Anaheim, but with larger pods. The flesh is thick and this variety is TMV resistant. Not heirloom....
Cabbage Salsa / Mexican Coleslaw Recipe
If you haven't had cabbage salsa before (also known as Mexican Coleslaw), you're missing out! This crunchy, spicy, tangy salsa is a real treat – eat it with tortilla chips, or serve as a delicious side or topping for tacos. We first had it at a Mexican restaurant in Colorado a few years back and it was so good we had to find some recipes. Here's our version that we make every summer now: Cabbage Salsa / Mexican Coleslaw Recipe Ingredients 4 cups chopped or shredded cabbage (we ...
Cool Weather Vegetables
There are a lot of cool weather vegetables that are great for winter growing as well as for early spring! Sandia Seed has a good selection of cool season vegetables that are great for growing in the cold months, especially early spring! When to plant cool weather crops:Cool-season vegetables can be planted anytime from several weeks to a couple of months before the last frost date. These early vegetables prefer cooler temperatures for growing. Some people start seeds indoors to get them ...
Best Light for Seedlings
Best Light for Seedlings "What are you guys using as grow lights for seed starting?"We recently had a question from a customer on what kind of lights we're using to start seeds. You can use lots of different lights to start seeds, you'd be surprised, even a regular old standard fluorescent white light will do the trick! These days though you'll find LED lights at any garden center, nursery or hardware store. LED lights work well for starting seeds and getting your see...
Hottest Pepper in the World
The hottest pepper in the world in 2023 is now Pepper X! However, you CANNOT buy Pepper X seeds or grow the plants, they are patented by the developer of the hot pod, Ed Currie. It doesn't sound like he's planning on releasing them anytime soon or ever. So, in the meantime, grow his infamous predecessor, the Carolina Reaper, which held the Guinness World Record crown from 2013-2023. The Carolina Reaper was the Guinness world record holder for being the hottest pepper in the world fr...
How long does it take to grow peppers from seed?
How long does it take to grow peppers from seed? Well, it depends on the pepper! Some peppers, like our Orange Jalapeno, Yellow Jalapeno and our Early Jalapeno seeds are all super fast growing, which start harvesting at around 65 days after starting from seed. Or you can grow our Sweet Chocolate Bell Pepper seeds, which is our earliest pepper to harvest, with the first peppers ripening at around 57 days! Find other fastest growing peppers here.Growing short season peppers is one way to sh...
New Peppers
NEW PEPPERS Grow something new this year! In 2022 we have a lot of new peppers to grow in your garden! We are introducing Hatch Green Mild – Guizeppi as one of the mildest Hatch chile varieties we offer; Alma Paprika, the best paprika for drying; Anaheim Sonora Mild, a delicious and very large pepper; Biquinho Yellow, mild and fruity from Brazil; Cascabella, small and tangy these are the peppers that Mezzetta uses; Cayenne Purple, both the pepper and plant are pretty, Corno de Toro Gai...
Brazilian Pepper Seeds
Brazilian Pepper Seeds:Biquinho Pepper SeedsA rare yellow heirloom pepper! Looking to grow Brazilian peppers? Easy to grow from seed, the Biquinho Yellow Pepper is a rare pepper that is crunchy and juicy with a mix of tropical flavors that are described as citrus and fruity with slightly smoky tones. These are citrusy little peppers are also called Sweety Drop Peppers, Inca Reds, or Chupetinho (which literally translates to “little beak.”) These sweet yellow Brazilian peppers are a culinary ...
Growing Chili Peppers in Pots
Growing Chili Peppers in Pots is a great way to expand your pepper garden! Potted pepper plants can be started earlier in the season, and you can bring them in if a late or early frost is forecasted so that you can have a longer harvest season. Some people even bring in their pepper plants and grow them year-round by keeping them under lights in the winter months indoors. Or, if they're even luckier and live in warmer frost-free regions, they don't have to bring in their pepper plants...
What to plant in January
Ahhh, the middle of winter! It's just about now that we're excited to start planting seeds for spring. January is a good time to start planning what to plant in your garden if you haven't done it already. Deciding what vegetables to grow each year is part of the fun, though sometimes difficult to narrow down which varieties to grow! With over 100 peppers from around the world plus lots of veggies and tomato seeds, too, our Seed Catalog makes it hard to narrow down the choices! But...
Hottest Pepper 2022
Hottest Pepper 2022 The hottest pepper in 2022 is, you guessed it, the Carolina Reaper! Yep, the Hottest Pepper in 2022 is still the Carolina Reaper! The wickedly hot Carolina Reaper is still holding the Guinness World Record crown again in 2022 for being the world's hottest pepper.Until a new pepper comes on the scene and invests in getting a pepper tested prior to the end of 2022, the Carolina Reaper will hold the crown. Getting into the book of Guinness Records is difficult...
Hot Pepper Podcast from Craft Hot Sauce
Thanks to Craic Sauce and crafthotsauce.com for the mention of Sandia Seed in their latest Maker Stories Podcast, featuring an interview with Hoot Sauce Co based in England. Their Hoot Sauce sounds delicious! Make sure to give this podcast a listen, they even discuss the loch ness monster in addition to stories about making hot sauce. Check out all their Craft Hot Sauce Podcasts » Many of our seed customers grow peppers for hot sauce, and we love hearing about your hot sauce creations! Hot ...
