Why grow cherry tomatoes?Cherry tomatoes are the easiest tomatoes to grow! They produce fruit faster, have better heat tolerance and offer a continuous harvest compared to most full-sized tomatoes. Everyone should be growing at least one or two cherry tomato varieties in their garden. There are a ton of different kinds of cherry tomatoes, too, so try growing some different ones each year in addition to your favorites. Here are some of our top reasons to grow cherry tomatoes: Faster Harvests: They start coming in ...
Is it too late to plant tomato seeds?Is it too late to start tomatoes? Definitely not. You can plant tomato seeds anytime in the spring. Many people around here donβt sow them until April or May, as they are fast germinators and fast growers. We find they often do even better when they are planted in the ground when they're younger (after it warms up and all chance of frost has passed, of course). We are in the West, so we typically start our Tomato seeds in late in April or early May. How early you start them depends on ho...
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 80ΛF! Choose short season peppers for...
What Seeds to Plant in June - Companion Plants!Wondering what seeds you should plant in June? It's not too late to start your garden! June is a great time to plant companion plants with your peppers, tomatoes and other veggies. There is a great range of seeds to choose from that you can plant in June including cilantro, squash, cucumbers, nasturtium, lettuce, basil, and many more. Read about them below... Cilantro - great for salsas, and the flowers attract lots of beneficial insects and produce more seeds (also known as Corian...
Seeds to Plant in May - Direct SowingA summer squash above was direct seeded in mounds in May at a community garden in Denver. Squash is best direct sown as it doesn't like to have it's roots disturbed, so we generally plant it directly in the garden in May and June. Is May too late to direct sow seeds? Answer: Nope! May is a great time to direct sow many seeds in most growing regions in most of the Northern Hemisphere! May marks the transition from spring to summer in many regions, and the days are super long in M...
October Gardening TipsHappy October! Here are some of our top tips for October Gardening: 1. Harvest your Peppers (and other veggies)! Harvest your peppers and other summer vegetables like tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and eggplants. Did you know you can freeze fresh whole peppers or cored tomatoes for later use? Sometimes that's easier when they come in waves and you're short on time. October is also a great time to pick and roast your chiles to freeze or use right away β learn how to roast chile Β» 2. Ma...
Why Are My Tomato Leaves Rolling?Why Are My Tomato Leaves Rolling? It could be heat stress, not disease! This tomato plant (above) looked fine a couple weeks ago, but this Denver garden has had highs of over 95Λ F ever since, and you can see from it's rolling leaves that it is suffering from the heat. Noticing your tomato leaves curling or rolling upward in this super hot summer heat? Did the tomato plants look fine a couple weeks ago before the heat-wave? Donβt worry, this is often a natural response called physiologi...
Best Tomatoes for Salsa - Grow from seeds!The best tomatoes for salsa include a wide range of tomato varieties. Don't limit yourself to just one kind of tomato for your salsa! Often, fresh chopped tomato salsas like pico-de-gallo are made with firm, fleshy tomatoes such as San Marzanos or Roma Tomatoes. However, this is because those are the types that you can find in the stores. But that doesn't mean they are the only (or best) tomatoes for salsa! Good heirloom tomatoes are not often available at the grocery store. But you ...
What can I plant in April?Spinach, shown above, is a great seed to direct sow in your garden in April. Of course, what you can plant in April depends on your growing region! Here in the front range of Colorado in growing zone 5b, our last frost is usually in mid-to-late-May. Indoors, we can start lots of warm weather veggie seeds under lights like pepper seeds, tomato seeds, basil seeds, eggplant seeds in April. Outside, we can start seeds for Lettuce, Spinach, Beets, Carrots, Radishes, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cilantro, Or...
Growing Tomatoes in PotsWant to grow more tomatoes but don't have room? Then grow tomatoes in pots! We do recommend larger pots β half whiskey barrels or pots of that size are best for most regular tomatoes. If you're using grow bags, a 20 gallon or more grow bags or 20 inch deep and wide pots or larger is best for most tomato varieties. Make sure to place them in full sun and provide support for them as they grow taller.That said, you can also grow tomatoes in smaller pots... read on... What type of tomat...
Can you grow peppers in London?Some of our customers ask us, can you grow peppers in London? Sure! Of course you can grow peppers in London and the UK. We have customers growing our chile seeds around the world with great success, from everywhere from Florida to the UK. The trick is to start chile pepper seeds with lots of heat indoors first to get them to germinate quickly, and grow into strong seedlings before planting outside after it warms up to 60-70Λ consistently. Then, make sure to harden them off before planting o...
Carolina Reaper Salsa RecipeSandia Seed's Carolina Reaper Salsa Recipe This is the hottest salsa you can make with the world's hottest pepper, the wicked Carolina Reaper! Of course, if you like to taste your salsa, you can also add less of the reaper to this recipe. We like to add a little bit of diced reapers, and then add more after tasting as desired until we get it just right. Which is usually wicked hot. It is important to note that this salsa can get hotter overnight. We like to make a big batch of this s...
What to do in your Garden in SeptemberAbove: Picking Shishitos will keep them coming long into fall if the temperatures are good. 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 an...
Tumbling Tomatoes for PotsOne of our all-time favorite tomatoes is the Tumbling Tom Tomato. This cascading tomato plant is perfect for pots, and is a good producer of larger-sized orange-yellow cherry tomatoes that are meaty and great for salads or making sauces. Tumbling Tom pairs perfectly in pots with pepper plants, so you can have a salsa garden in a container! Plant Tumbling Tom, and a Jalapeno plant, and then tuck in some cilantro or green onions. Or grow it with basil or bush beans for the perfect food garden...
Seed Shipping to Canada Resumed!Hey, good news! We're able to ship to Canada once again! ππ¨π¦ Lots of our customers are from Canada, and they love growing our New Mexico Chile varieties as well as other peppers of the world! We also have some of the best vegetables to grow in Canada that thrive in cooler weather and shorter growing seasons, making them ideal for the country's climates. These include leafy greens including lettuce or spinach, root vegetables including beets and carrots, plus peas, radishes, cabbages, ...
Hot Sauce Ingredient IdeasHot Sauces are made from lots of ingredients beyond just hot peppers! Many recipes include fruit, juice (lime, lemon), different types of vinegar, ginger, mustard seeds, carrots, garlic, onions and other ingredients to add more flavor and thicken or extend sauces. It's fun to grow many of your own hot sauce ingredients in your garden for the freshest flavors. Hot sauce is a great way to preserve your harvest for year-round use. Grow your own Hot Sauce Garden and make your own hot sauce t...
Companion Plants for Tomatoes and PeppersThere are a lot of great companion plants that you can pair with tomatoes and peppers in the garden. If you have a small space, companion planting other vegetables and herbs is a great way to get more harvest out of your garden! Can you plant peppers and tomatoes together? While it is said you should plant them apart because they do share pests and diseases and can compete for the same nutrients, often times gardeners just don't have much room in a home garden so we plant peppers and to...
Why are my tomatoes rotten on the bottom?A common question we get from people who grow tomatoes is βWhy are my tomatoes rotten on the bottom?βWhen tomatoes βrotβ on the vine, specifically if they have a brown or black skinned over area that looks like a rotten bottom, this is typically caused by blossom-end rot is caused by insufficient calcium in the tissue of the tomato. Once a tomato develops blossom end rot, it's not fixable β however, you CAN eat the rest of the tomato, we cut off the affected bottom spot, but the rest of t...
Long Hot PeppersLooking for long hot peppers? We have an assortment of spicy long peppers that are a great addition to your pepper and vegetable garden!One of our favorite long hot peppers is the Goat Horn Hot Pepper. It is quite prolific, and has great red color when fully mature. Here are some photos of a loaded down plant. It can be quite pretty in pots too, larger 5+ gallon pots are best. For other long hot peppers, you can also try growing Cayenne Pepper seeds; or Chile de Arbol seeds, with their b...
Garden MemesCheck out our Garden Memes for those who love gardening! I googled my symptoms and it turns out Iβm past due for dilly dallying in the garden. π Learn to identify seedlings in the Cucurbitaceae family by their first set of leaves. π Some people collect watches or jewelry. I collect peppers. Gardener's BrainGarden Meme: If you're not happy single, you won't be happy married. Happiness comes from gardening, not relationships. What did you do this weekend? Plant peop...
Why grow cherry tomatoes?
Cherry tomatoes are the easiest tomatoes to grow! They produce fruit faster, have better heat tolerance and offer a continuous harvest compared to most full-sized tomatoes. Everyone should be growing at least one or two cherry tomato varieties in their garden. There are a ton of different kinds of cherry tomatoes, too, so try growing some different ones each year in addition to your favorites. Here are some of our top reasons to grow cherry tomatoes: Faster Harvests: They start coming in ...
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 80ΛF! Choose short season peppers for...
What Seeds to Plant in June - Companion Plants!
Wondering what seeds you should plant in June? It's not too late to start your garden! June is a great time to plant companion plants with your peppers, tomatoes and other veggies. There is a great range of seeds to choose from that you can plant in June including cilantro, squash, cucumbers, nasturtium, lettuce, basil, and many more. Read about them below... Cilantro - great for salsas, and the flowers attract lots of beneficial insects and produce more seeds (also known as Corian...
Seeds to Plant in May - Direct Sowing
A summer squash above was direct seeded in mounds in May at a community garden in Denver. Squash is best direct sown as it doesn't like to have it's roots disturbed, so we generally plant it directly in the garden in May and June. Is May too late to direct sow seeds? Answer: Nope! May is a great time to direct sow many seeds in most growing regions in most of the Northern Hemisphere! May marks the transition from spring to summer in many regions, and the days are super long in M...
October Gardening Tips
Happy October! Here are some of our top tips for October Gardening: 1. Harvest your Peppers (and other veggies)! Harvest your peppers and other summer vegetables like tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and eggplants. Did you know you can freeze fresh whole peppers or cored tomatoes for later use? Sometimes that's easier when they come in waves and you're short on time. October is also a great time to pick and roast your chiles to freeze or use right away β learn how to roast chile Β» 2. Ma...
Why Are My Tomato Leaves Rolling?
Why Are My Tomato Leaves Rolling? It could be heat stress, not disease! This tomato plant (above) looked fine a couple weeks ago, but this Denver garden has had highs of over 95Λ F ever since, and you can see from it's rolling leaves that it is suffering from the heat. Noticing your tomato leaves curling or rolling upward in this super hot summer heat? Did the tomato plants look fine a couple weeks ago before the heat-wave? Donβt worry, this is often a natural response called physiologi...
Best Tomatoes for Salsa - Grow from seeds!
The best tomatoes for salsa include a wide range of tomato varieties. Don't limit yourself to just one kind of tomato for your salsa! Often, fresh chopped tomato salsas like pico-de-gallo are made with firm, fleshy tomatoes such as San Marzanos or Roma Tomatoes. However, this is because those are the types that you can find in the stores. But that doesn't mean they are the only (or best) tomatoes for salsa! Good heirloom tomatoes are not often available at the grocery store. But you ...
What can I plant in April?
Spinach, shown above, is a great seed to direct sow in your garden in April. Of course, what you can plant in April depends on your growing region! Here in the front range of Colorado in growing zone 5b, our last frost is usually in mid-to-late-May. Indoors, we can start lots of warm weather veggie seeds under lights like pepper seeds, tomato seeds, basil seeds, eggplant seeds in April. Outside, we can start seeds for Lettuce, Spinach, Beets, Carrots, Radishes, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cilantro, Or...
Growing Tomatoes in Pots
Want to grow more tomatoes but don't have room? Then grow tomatoes in pots! We do recommend larger pots β half whiskey barrels or pots of that size are best for most regular tomatoes. If you're using grow bags, a 20 gallon or more grow bags or 20 inch deep and wide pots or larger is best for most tomato varieties. Make sure to place them in full sun and provide support for them as they grow taller.That said, you can also grow tomatoes in smaller pots... read on... What type of tomat...
Can you grow peppers in London?
Some of our customers ask us, can you grow peppers in London? Sure! Of course you can grow peppers in London and the UK. We have customers growing our chile seeds around the world with great success, from everywhere from Florida to the UK. The trick is to start chile pepper seeds with lots of heat indoors first to get them to germinate quickly, and grow into strong seedlings before planting outside after it warms up to 60-70Λ consistently. Then, make sure to harden them off before planting o...
Carolina Reaper Salsa Recipe
Sandia Seed's Carolina Reaper Salsa Recipe This is the hottest salsa you can make with the world's hottest pepper, the wicked Carolina Reaper! Of course, if you like to taste your salsa, you can also add less of the reaper to this recipe. We like to add a little bit of diced reapers, and then add more after tasting as desired until we get it just right. Which is usually wicked hot. It is important to note that this salsa can get hotter overnight. We like to make a big batch of this s...
What to do in your Garden in September
Above: Picking Shishitos will keep them coming long into fall if the temperatures are good. 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 an...
Tumbling Tomatoes for Pots
One of our all-time favorite tomatoes is the Tumbling Tom Tomato. This cascading tomato plant is perfect for pots, and is a good producer of larger-sized orange-yellow cherry tomatoes that are meaty and great for salads or making sauces. Tumbling Tom pairs perfectly in pots with pepper plants, so you can have a salsa garden in a container! Plant Tumbling Tom, and a Jalapeno plant, and then tuck in some cilantro or green onions. Or grow it with basil or bush beans for the perfect food garden...
Seed Shipping to Canada Resumed!
Hey, good news! We're able to ship to Canada once again! ππ¨π¦ Lots of our customers are from Canada, and they love growing our New Mexico Chile varieties as well as other peppers of the world! We also have some of the best vegetables to grow in Canada that thrive in cooler weather and shorter growing seasons, making them ideal for the country's climates. These include leafy greens including lettuce or spinach, root vegetables including beets and carrots, plus peas, radishes, cabbages, ...
Hot Sauce Ingredient Ideas
Hot Sauces are made from lots of ingredients beyond just hot peppers! Many recipes include fruit, juice (lime, lemon), different types of vinegar, ginger, mustard seeds, carrots, garlic, onions and other ingredients to add more flavor and thicken or extend sauces. It's fun to grow many of your own hot sauce ingredients in your garden for the freshest flavors. Hot sauce is a great way to preserve your harvest for year-round use. Grow your own Hot Sauce Garden and make your own hot sauce t...
Companion Plants for Tomatoes and Peppers
There are a lot of great companion plants that you can pair with tomatoes and peppers in the garden. If you have a small space, companion planting other vegetables and herbs is a great way to get more harvest out of your garden! Can you plant peppers and tomatoes together? While it is said you should plant them apart because they do share pests and diseases and can compete for the same nutrients, often times gardeners just don't have much room in a home garden so we plant peppers and to...
Why are my tomatoes rotten on the bottom?
A common question we get from people who grow tomatoes is βWhy are my tomatoes rotten on the bottom?βWhen tomatoes βrotβ on the vine, specifically if they have a brown or black skinned over area that looks like a rotten bottom, this is typically caused by blossom-end rot is caused by insufficient calcium in the tissue of the tomato. Once a tomato develops blossom end rot, it's not fixable β however, you CAN eat the rest of the tomato, we cut off the affected bottom spot, but the rest of t...
Long Hot Peppers
Looking for long hot peppers? We have an assortment of spicy long peppers that are a great addition to your pepper and vegetable garden!One of our favorite long hot peppers is the Goat Horn Hot Pepper. It is quite prolific, and has great red color when fully mature. Here are some photos of a loaded down plant. It can be quite pretty in pots too, larger 5+ gallon pots are best. For other long hot peppers, you can also try growing Cayenne Pepper seeds; or Chile de Arbol seeds, with their b...
Garden Memes
Check out our Garden Memes for those who love gardening! I googled my symptoms and it turns out Iβm past due for dilly dallying in the garden. π Learn to identify seedlings in the Cucurbitaceae family by their first set of leaves. π Some people collect watches or jewelry. I collect peppers. Gardener's BrainGarden Meme: If you're not happy single, you won't be happy married. Happiness comes from gardening, not relationships. What did you do this weekend? Plant peop...
