Category Archives: vegetables

Saving Cucumber Seeds

Posted on August 15, 2025 | 2 comments

These North Carolina heirloom cucumbers from Seed Savers Exchange may look a little funny, but they are easy to grow and very tasty. I pick them when they turn yellow, rub them to remove the little spines, and then peel and eat. This is an heirloom cucumber. I can save the seeds to sow next year. To save the seeds, the cucumber must be botanically mature. That is, the fruit must be mature, and seeds must be fully developed. This is a more mature stage than when most people like to eat their cucumbers. Leave a few on the vine until they turn orange, become bloated, and pull off easily. Then cut open lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.

Put seeds in a glass jar. Cover with water by several inches. Let sit at room temperature for a few days with no lid. It should ferment. Then remove the fermentation and clean the seeds by adding water and mixing and pouring a little off at a time. Rinse and repeat. Eventually the non-viable seeds will pour out and the viable seeds, which are heavier, will stay at the bottom. Do several times until water is clear.

Place seeds on paper coffee filters or cookie sheets to dry. If seeds snap when you bend them, they are dry enough. Store them in an airtight container in a cool dark place. Don’t forget to label and date because you will never remember. Here is a link to more seed saving methods.

The Seed Savers Exchange has a virtual seed saving class from September 29 through November 3, 2025. I took this six-week course last year and it was well worth it. Sessions are recorded and there are plenty of opportunities to ask questions. The curriculum follows along with the book, The Seed Garden, which I purchased because I knew I would use it as a resource for years to come. Registration is open now. If you are interested in saving seeds, this is a great introduction.

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Peter Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers But Were They Ripe?

Posted on August 8, 2025 | Leave a comment

sweet peppers in a container, ready to harvest

Each year I grow several types of sweet peppers from seed. I often try new varieties and plant them in different locations among the tomatoes and basil. But when the peppers appear, I find it more confusing to determine when to pick them compared to when I should pick my other veggies such as tomatoes. I often must go back to the seed packet to remember what they are supposed to look like when ripe.

The time to harvest peppers depends on the specific type of pepper. Different types ripen at different rates and the mature stage can be green, yellow, orange, red, red brown, or purple.  In general, hot peppers are slower to ripen than sweet peppers. I don’t grow hot peppers so mine are ready from July through the fall. Turning color is not always the indicator. For example, jalapenos are usually picked when green. If left on the bush they will turn red but people think they taste better green so that is when they are picked traditionally. Shishitos, serranos, and bell peppers are often picked green.

Proven Winners’ Holy Moly calibrachoa and Burpee’s Sweet Savour pepper, ripe but will leave as is since combines well with the flowers

As long as the pepper is a mature size and has stopped growing, it can be picked and eaten, regardless of color. It may be less sweet or less spicy, but it can be used in the kitchen. I prefer sweeter peppers so even though I know I can pick them green, I wait until they turn the color they are supposed to be when ripe.

Another way to determine if a pepper is ready is to gently pull the pepper upwards. If it is firmly attached, wait. Then try again in a few weeks. Pull the pepper upwards again and if it pops off the plant with ease. it is ready. Some types such as bell peppers don’t always snap off as easily and may need to be cut with gardening snips or pruning shears.

Tolli’s Sweet Italian matures a red color, making it sweet, so this is not ready yet

If you see tan striations, the skin is growing slower than the flesh causing “stretch marks.”  This is called “corking” and is an indication that the pepper is ready to be picked. This is a normal process and not a disease. The peppers may not look pretty but they are edible.

If a light frost is forecasted, you can either cover the plants to protect them or pick them and bring them in the house. If a hard freeze is forecasted, it is best to pick everything or they will become mushy. The peppers can be left on the kitchen counter to continue to ripen for a few days. Any longer and you will have to refrigerate them, dry them (on a plate or in a dehydrator), pickle them, or freeze them in freezer bags.

Peppers are easy to grow and if you grow them from seed, you can get a wide variety. Here are some pepper growing tips and a list of more than 100 seed companies.

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Growing Cucumbers in the DC Metro Area

Posted on July 12, 2025 | 4 comments

An American slicer

Every year I grow cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) and some years are better than others. This year, they are doing great.

I usually grow them for salads, not for pickling. Slicers (American slicers) are about 7 to 9 inches long with a green thick skin. The skin is edible but bitter. In grocery stores, the American slicers may be waxed to preserve the moisture, so it is best to peel them.

Pickling cucumbers are shorter, about 3 to 5 inches long, and can be eaten fresh or pickled. American pickling cucumbers have fewer, larger spines than European pickling cucumbers. European pickling cucumbers have many small spines and are used for baby gherkins and cornichons.

Another European type found in grocery stores is the long slender cucumber wrapped in plastic. These have thin, edible skins likely to dry out. These are mild tasting with smaller or less seeds; often called seedless or burpless since they do not cause digestive issues (i.e., gas).

Asian cucumbers are spiny, slender and long, up to a foot in length. And then there are other species such as the striped Armenian (Cucumis melo).

What are burpless cucumbers? Cucumbers contain cucurbitacins which is responsible for causing digestive issues and a bitter taste. There are many cultivars on the market now that have been bred to have low levels of cucurbitacins. They may be marketed as “bitter free” or “burpless.” However, this bitter quality also has health benefits. If you are looking for burpless cucumbers, most varieties that are seedless and thin skinned have lower levels of curcurbitacins (such as European and Asian types) or look for varieties that are described as bitter-free or non-bitter.

This Kitchen Mini is parthenocarpic, no need for bees to have fruit indoors on your kitchen counter

Cucumbers are warm season vines but there are bush types good for container growing. The world of cucumbers is quite large; there are many different types. As always, you get a wider variety if you grow them from seed.

Cucumbers can be started from seed indoors under lights about 3 weeks before the last frost. I start mine in May, outdoors in small containers on my deck. I then transplant the seedlings in the garden. I do not direct sow because every time I do, it seems that storms wash away the seeds or some critter or bird has removed them. Direct sowing should be done when the soil has warmed to 65-70 degrees. Sow 3 seeds in one place, every 12 inches in a row. Of the three, keep the strongest looking seedling and pinch out the other two.

Cucumbers need full sun, plenty of water, and support. My cucumbers grow in the same location as my tomatoes and peppers on metal A-frames. I like the metal A-frames because they are very stable during strong storms. Cucumber tendrils tenaciously wind around anything so any type of vertical structure can be used.

The soil should be high in organic matter – I add leaf compost every year. In June, July, and August, I broadcast a bag of granular Espoma Organic Tomato-tone fertilizer for my tomatoes and share it with the cucumbers.

Cucumbers need to be picked before they become too mature. Like beans, the more you pick, the more the plant will produce fruit. It is best to snip or cut the fruit off the vine instead of pulling. If the cucumber has a spiny texture, wipe with a dry paper towel first and then wash with water. Refrigerate if you are not going to eat immediately.

Cucumbers can be planted more than once in a growing season. This is done for more cucumbers, especially if your first crop was wiped out by a disease, or for staggered fruit production so you are not overwhelmed. Usually, it takes 50 to 65 days to get a mature crop so work backwards from your first frost date in the fall to figure out if you still have enough time.

Suyo Long is monoecious, having both male and female flowers on one plant

Cucumbers have an unusual sex life so it is important to understand several terms. The plants are monoecious or gynoecious. Monoecious have both male and female flowers. These plants depend on bees for pollination. Because male flowers bloom earlier than female flowers, the fruit production is relatively slower over a protracted period of time. This is preferable for a sustained harvest or one in which the gardener does not want to be overwhelmed with too much fruit.

Gynoecious plants have predominantly female flowers on one plant but will need a plant nearby with male flowers for pollination. This results in a higher and more concentrated yield since all the female flowers on one plant have the potential to create fruit. This may be advantageous to commercial farmers, especially with mechanical harvesters. The seed packet will have about 10 percent monoecious to produce the male flower and the rest will be gynoecious. Or the monoecious may be placed in a separate packet or dyed a particular color.

Parthenocarpic plants also have female flowers but they do not need pollination to set fruit. These types do well in a greenhouse because bees are not necessary. However, if they are accidently pollinated by insects, the resulting fruit may not be desirable.

“Open pollinated” plants rely on bees and the seed can be saved to sow again next year resulting in plants with the same characteristics. These have not been bred for a particular characteristic such as disease resistance. All open pollinated plants are monoecious. Heirlooms are a type of open pollinated plants that have been passed down from generation to generation, usually with a story.

Hybrids have been bred for particular characteristics such as disease resistance or lower levels of cucurbitacins. With hybrids, seeds can be saved but the next generation will not retain the desired characteristics for which it was bred.

This year I am growing two types. Suyo Long is an Asian variety with very thin skin that does not have to be peeled. It is easy for me to wash, cut and put in a salad. I also like the unusual fruit – it grows up to a foot long.

North Carolina, not yet ready to be picked

North Carolina heirloom has 4 to 5-inch, yellow/cream colored fruit. I selected these seeds because I have grown lemon cucumbers in the past and this looked similar. Although I use North Carolina in salads, it can be used for pickling because of its short length.

One disadvantage to growing heirlooms is that they are not bred for disease resistance. Like tomatoes, cucumbers are prone to fungal diseases, bacterial wilt, downy mildew, and powdery mildew. Pests include cucumber beetles, squash bugs, and spider mites.

In this area, the biggest issue is the striped or spotted cucumber beetle which transmits a bacterial wilt from which the plant cannot recover. If infected, the leaves wilt followed by the stems and then the entire plant wilts and dies rapidly. To prevent, you must prevent the beetles by:

  • spraying or dipping plants in a slurry solution of water and kaolin clay (brand name Surround) before planting
  • covering plants with a row cover and removing when flowering so they are pollinated by bees
  • growing plants bred to be resistant to the wilt
  • spraying seedlings or transplants with neem or pyrethrum
  • planting around mid-June, when overwintering adults have emerged and left your garden
  • rotating crops
  • removing plant material in the fall to reduce the overwintering beetle populations

If you are interested in growing from seed, here is a list of more than 100 seed catalogs. Note that there is one company that specializes in cucumbers called the Cucumber Shop in California. I have not ordered from them yet but I am sure they are a good resource for all things cucumber.

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Tips for Growing Peppers in the DC Metro Area

Posted on May 9, 2025 | 1 comment
peppers in container

peppers combined with flowers in a container

Peppers are easy to grow from seed, but you also can purchase small plants at the local garden center in the beginning of the growing season. If you grow peppers from seed, you can grow a wider variety than what is available at the garden centers. All peppers are grown the same way, they have the same cultural requirements. There are almost 30 species of Capsicum, but in the mid-Atlantic area, we tend to grow three: C. annuum, C. chinense, and C. frutescens.

Within C. annum, there are many varieties and hybrids. Bell peppers are large and sweet, maturing in a red, yellow, or green color. These do not have capsaicin, the compound responsible for heat, due to a recessive gene that eliminates the capsaicin. Other peppers without capsaicin are the Italian frying peppers, Jimmy Nardello, Giant Marconi or Marconi, and banana or yellow wax peppers. C. annuum also includes hot peppers, also called chili peppers, which have capsaicin.

Capsaicin is primarily concentrated in the veins, ribs, and seeds. Removing these is one way to reduce the heat. Capsaicin is an oil which is why drinking water when you have eaten a particularly hot pepper does not help get rid of the burn. Instead, drink milk or eat yogurt, a banana, bread, pasta, or potatoes.

The Scoville scale is a measurement of the heat of a chili pepper recorded in Scoville Heat Units. It is based on the concentration of capsaicinoids among which capsaicin is the predominant component. This range is 0 to as high as 2,693,000 (Pepper X according to the Guinness World Records in 2023 whereas previously the Carolina Reaper was the hottest). Sweet peppers are 500 or less and include the bell pepper and the pimiento.

The C. chinense species is the habanero type of pepper – a type of chili pepper Native to South and Central America that includes habanero, scotch bonnet, and ghost pepper.

The C. frutescens species is another chili pepper native to South and Central America that produces small fruit that tend to grow upright. C. frutescens includes the tabasco pepper and the colorful ornamental varieties.

If you are really diving deep into peppers, there are two other species you can try to grow but likely you will have to start from seed as the plants usually are not available in this area.

Mad Hatter, a baccatum type sweet pepper with a unique shape that will turn red at maturity

The C. baccatum species has a wide variety of peppers, from sweet to hot, from South and Central America. Many are beautiful with unique shapes. These include bishop’s crown, Brazilian starfish, lemon drop, and the “aji” peppers (have “aji” in their name although not all aji peppers are in this genus).

The C. pubescens species has apple-shaped fruit and hairy foliage. They can be mild or very hot. Native to Peru and Bolivia, popular varieties include rocoto, manzano, and locoto.

Starting Peppers from Seed

If growing from seed, start indoors under lights about 4 to 6 weeks before the average last spring frost. Sow seeds about ¼ inch deep. They like warm rooms to germinate so if you are doing this in your basement, you may need a heating mat. Peppers are slow to germinate, the hottest peppers are the slowest. It could take more than a week to see anything. Direct sowing seeds is not recommended because the soil in May will be too cold.

sweet peppers in a container

In May, after frost has past, night temperature are consistently above 50 degrees, and soil temperatures are at least 60 degrees, move the plants outside or plant the ones you purchased from the garden center.

If you are moving your seedlings outside, remember to harden them off by gradually exposing them to light and the winds. If there is an unforeseen cold night, cover with a cloche or a 2-liter plastic soda bottle with the end cut off.

Transplanting into the Garden

Don’t rush to plant your peppers. They need warm temperatures so this could be June (or if you live in Virginia, after the dogwood blossoms have fallen). Peppers do best in soil with a pH of 6.5 to 7. Make sure you amend the soil with compost; they do not want too much clay. They need good drainage. Peppers also can be grown in raised beds or in containers that are at least 5 gallons with drainage holes. Place in full sun, at least 8 hours of sun a day, spaced at least 18 inches apart (from central stem to stem). They do not like to be crowded. Make sure your hose reaches them.

Unlike tomatoes, you don’t plant them as deep as possible. Plant the transplant so that the shoots are at the soil line as they were before transplanting.

Peppers are susceptible to sunscald which occurs on the fruit that has been exposed to intense direct sunlight. This could happen when you first plant them but will not kill the plant.

Usually, peppers do not need to be staked, nor do they need to be pruned.

Growing Peppers in the Summer

Peppers optimal temperatures for setting fruit is 65 to 85 degrees. However, the flowers can drop (i.e., not produce fruit) if the temperatures are above 90 degrees during the day and 75 degrees at night.

Jimmy Nardello, a sweet frying pepper

Peppers need fertilizer but withhold it when the plant starts to flower. A slow-release organic fertilizer with more phosphorus and potassium than nitrogen is best. You can use one especially formulated for tomatoes.

Like tomatoes, peppers can get blossom end rot. To prevent this, make sure the soil moisture is consistent, not varying widely between very wet and very dry.

The small fruit varieties do better in the mid Atlantic’s hot and humid summer than the large fruit varieties.

They fruit up until frost so if it is just one night of cold weather, you may be able to cover for the night to extend the harvest season. If you are expecting a freeze, harvest the mature ones.

Harvesting and Eating Peppers

You need to know your varieties’ mature stage fruit color. Although all peppers may be eaten in the green stage, there is more flavor and vitamins in a ripe, colored up pepper.

Temperature influences color on the pepper. Purple pigment develops under cool temperatures so if you see purple streaks on peppers, it is because the temperature is too cool (maybe in the fall). The purple color does not affect the flavor. However, that is why it is difficult for gardeners in the mid-Atlantic area to grow solid purple varieties – it is just too hot in the summer.

red and black ornamental peppers with dark foliage

When picking chili peppers, you may want to wear gloves as the capsaicin may irritate the skin. After cutting and preparing in the kitchen, wash your hands with soap afterwards and do not touch your face or eyes.  Remember that capsaicin is primarily concentrated in the veins, ribs, and seeds so you can reduce the heat in a chili pepper by removing these.

Peppers dry well and can be ground or crushed. Wash the pepper and either cut and leave open on paper plate inside the house or leave whole (but whole will take longer to dry). Often gardeners will string up the whole peppers to hang in the kitchen. Or dry the peppers in a dehydrator, the oven, or outside in the sun. Dried peppers have more flavor and heat.

Saving Pepper Seed

If you want to save pepper seeds, make sure the plant is an open-pollinated plant, not a hybrid. Peppers have perfect flowers (both male and female parts) therefore they can pollinate themselves and do not need bees. However, bees do visit peppers and can cross pollinate the peppers in your garden and with peppers in neighbors’ gardens. This cross pollination occurs within a species. If you grew more than one variety, such as a sweet and a hot in the same genus (C. annum), be aware that bees may have cross pollinated them. Therefore, if you saved sweet pepper seeds and grow the seeds the next year, the resulting fruit could be hot, not sweet. To prevent cross pollination, you would have to separate your varieties of one species by 300 to 1600 feet or grow different species.

To save seeds, simply slice open a very mature pepper and remove the seeds. Place the seeds on wax paper to dry inside the house. Seeds are dry if they snap when you bend them. When dried, put in a container, seal, and label. Store in a cool, dark, and dry place.

You will get good germination rates from saved seeds for about 3 years.

Final Note

The mid-Atlantic units of the Herb Society of America host a Chili Celebration every October at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington DC. This is a free event on Saturday, October 11, 2025, in the afternoon. The Units come to the National Herb Garden and set up tables of peppers to taste as well as products made with chili peppers plus a lot of information on growing peppers. The National Herb Garden also has pepper plants that are fruiting at this time. Yes, some of these are hot so we also provide milk and bread. See you there!

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Twenty-One Tips for Growing Tomatoes Successfully

Posted on April 12, 2025 | Leave a comment

By now you should have started your tomato seeds indoors under lights. This is just if you want a head start of course, it is not necessary. You can also purchase tomato plants but be aware that the night temperatures are still cold for them to be out in the garden now. They prefer warmer weather. Waiting to plant tomatoes until the beginning of May or Mother’s Day will give you the best results. For tomato success, read these twenty tips for growing tomatoes in the Washington DC metro area.

First, know what you grow. Tomatoes have determinate or indeterminate growth habit. Determinate types produce fruit at the end of the branches so most of the crop ripens at one time and you will have one or two harvests per growing season. This is advantageous for canning. The determinate types are more compact and are better for containers than the indeterminate tomato plants; however, you may still have to stake the vines or add a trellis. Indeterminate plants produce fruit along the branches so you can pick tomatoes all season long. They can be large, vining plants; a support system such as hoops or stakes should be used.

Sun Dipper, from PanAmerican Seed Handpicked Vegetables.

2. Tomatoes come in many sizes, shapes, colors, and flavors. Grow what you like to eat or use in the kitchen. For example, determine if you prefer to use tomatoes for salad, snacking, pasta sauce, sandwiches, etc. There are more specialized varieties for specific uses such as the Sun Dipper pictured to the right which is elongated to make it easier to hold while dipping into a dip.

3. If you are limited to containers, grow the determinate type and use a container at least 5 gallons large with drainage holes or an Earthbox. Or look for varieties especially bred for containers such as window box types (usually these will be the small, cherry types).

4. Determine if growing an heirloom plant is particularly important to you. Heirlooms may be tastier, and seeds can be saved for next year, but these plants may be more susceptible to diseases. Hybrids are often bred to be disease resistant. However, if you save and sow the seed next year, the plants may not have the same traits as before. Seed catalogs and packages often have letters after the plant’s name to indicate disease resistance. For example, F is for fusarium, V for verticillium, LB for late blight, TMV for tobacco mosaic virus, and N for nematodes.

tomato

Early Girl gives you fruit earlier than most other tomato plants, photo courtesy of Ball Horticultural Company

5. Days to maturity is the number of days it will take on average for a transplant to produce a tomato (fruit) when planted in the beginning of the summer. It is not the number of days from seed. This varies quite a lot with tomatoes from plants with a lower number of days which will provide an early season harvest, to mid-season, to those with larger numbers, resulting in a late season harvest in late summer. If you have the space and want tomatoes throughout the growing season, you can plant early, mid, and late season plants.

6. If starting from seed, sow seeds about a month before average last frost date (Mother’s Day here). Start inside under lights. When the seedlings produce a set of true leaves, you can pot up the plant into a larger container and put outside for a few hours a day. Gradually introduce seedlings to more daylight and more time outside in order to harden off before putting in the ground. Hardening off is the process of acclimatizing seedlings to higher light levels, cooler (than your home) temperatures, and breezes so they can withstand being outside. Here is a link to tips for starting seeds indoors.

7. At first the nighttime temperatures may be too cold (forties and below) to leave these transplants outside so you may have to bring the pots inside for the night.

8. Seedlings and transplants in the spring may develop purple tinged leaves which means cool temperatures are preventing phosphorus absorption. In the summer, when it gets warmer, they will grow out of this so no need to do anything.

tomato

The purple coloring on Indigo sun tomato is intentional, it is a higher level of anthocyanins, which is healthy for you, photo courtesy of Ball Horticultural Company

9. Tomato plants need at least six hours of sun and like warm soil, which is why it is best to put the transplant in the ground after Mother’s Day. If you plant them in cold soil, they will sit, unhappy.

10. Tomatoes like fertile, well-composted soil, not clay. In this area, you may have to amend your garden bed with compost. In the spring, a raised bed and a container will have warmer soil than the ground.

11. When nighttime temperatures are in fifties and the transplant is hardened off, plant in ground. For the indeterminate types, insert staking or hoops immediately after planting. Make sure you have spaced your tomato plants so there is a minimum of 2 feet apart for air circulation (to decrease a pathogen’s ability to spread).

12. Tomato stems will develop roots if covered with soil. Some gardeners will bury as much stem as possible to encourage root production. The theory is that if there are more roots, the plant will be able to take up more water and nutrients. Some people lay the transplant down on the ground, horizontally, burying the stem, but leaving 1 to 2 set of leaves above ground. Some people plant vertically, but very deep, leaving 1 to 2 sets of leaves above ground. Before you submerge the stem, strip off the leaves and little branches that would be underground.

13. A lot of gardeners add calcium in the form of crushed eggshells to the soil or 1/4 cup of lime before planting to prevent blossom end rot. If you do not do this, then pick a fertilizer especially formulated for tomatoes because it should have the added calcium.

14. In the beginning of the summer, mulch with straw, leaves, or compost to prevent weeds and to keep a constant level of soil temperature and moisture. Try Maryland’s Leaf-Gro; do not use composted manure.

15. Tomatoes will need to be watered so make sure a hose or watering can is available. Water the soil, not the plant, and water in the morning to decrease possibility of fungal disease. It isn’t that tomato plants need a lot of water, it is that the soil moisture must be consistent, and not fluctuate often. Mulching helps with this.

tomato

Think of how much water, sun and fertilizer it will take to produce this large slicer, Beefmaster. Photo courtesy of Ball Horticultural Company.

16. In mid-summer, tomatoes will need to be fertilized, especially if grown in containers. Espoma has organic Tomato-Tone and Neptune’s Harvest has a Tomato and Vegetable Formula.

17. To obtain fruit, temperatures must be above 55 degrees at night but temperatures of 75 or higher will inhibit fruit set and may cause blossoms to drop. However, there are heat-tolerant varieties.

18. Tomatoes are wind pollinated. Some gardeners hand-pollinate with a paintbrush if they feel the plant is not setting fruit. All the more reason why there should be good air circulation. Harvest frequently to encourage plants to produce fruit.

19. Pruning is optional, but only indeterminate plants should be pruned. Pruning here refers to removing the side shoots or suckers. Some gardeners do this to increase or to have more uniform fruit size and to help tomatoes ripen faster. It will not increase the number of tomatoes. If prune, start when plants are about 2 feet tall and suckers are small. Do this when the plant is dry, not wet from rain.

20. If possible rotate crops to prevent soil-borne diseases. If your tomato plants are having problems, check out the Virginia Tech Extension site on growing tomatoes, tomato diseases, and tomato pests; and the University of Maryland Extension site on tomato diseases, pests, and nutritional issues, growing tomatoes, and tomato topics; or contact your local extension agent.

21. Pick the fruit when it begins to color and bring inside. Ripen at room temperature and do not put in the refrigerator. This also prevents animals from eating the fruit before you do.

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Plant Now for the Fall and Winter Garden

Posted on August 10, 2024 | 1 comment
mustard

mustard

August is the time for harvesting the summer’s bounty in the vegetable garden. But it is also the time to sow seeds for cool season veggies that thrive in the fall and winter. Even though it is hot and humid, by sowing now, your veggies will have the time to achieve maturity before day length gets too short. Also, it takes just a little longer to achieve maturity in the fall. But the good news is that often these plants are not bothered by as much disease and pests as in the summer.

Cool season crops include carrots, green onions (scallions), cauliflower, broccoli, broccoli raab, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, spinach, Swiss chard, radish, turnip, and Asian or hardy greens such as mustard, tatsoi, mache, and kale. You still have time to plant garlic: that’s in October.

tatsoi

You can either purchase transplants from local garden centers or sow seed. To determine when to sow seed, look at the “days to maturity” on the seed packet. Count backwards from the average first frost date to determine when to plant. I use Halloween as my marker for a frost in Northern Virginia. When you are sowing seeds in the fall you have to take into account that day length is getting shorter. This “Short Day” factor is not addressed on the seed packet. If you are going to sow seed instead of purchasing a transplant from the garden center, you have to add 2 weeks to the numbers on the seed packet to allow for the cooler night temperatures and the shorter day lengths.  For example, to sow spinach seeds add 7 to 10 days for germination, 35 days to reach maturation, and 14 days for the Short Day factor for a total of 56 to 59 days.

One of the reasons why you start your seeds in August for a fall/winter garden is the Persephone period, where daylight starts to be less than 10 hours per day. When daylight is less than 10 hours, the plant stops growth. It is still alive, just “dormant” until daylight begins to increase a month later. This is based on latitude. Enter your zip code in the almanac website. Where I live, I entered November dates randomly in the almanac until I found a date close to 10 hours. I decided to use November 15, 2024, as the marker: it will be 10 hours and 5 minutes. I can then calculate that from August 1, I have 15 weeks to start a plant from seed to maturity. From September 1, it is 11 weeks. It is important to start the seeds early so the plant grows and is almost or at maturity before this stopping period. You want the plant to be mature before the Persephone period. Later in the winter/early spring when daylight increases, the plant will resume growth.

mache

mache

Also, find out the best temperature range for seed germination (start indoors versus outdoors), keep the seeds moist if starting outside in the hot, dry summer, and learn each crop’s tolerance for cold (soil and air) to know if you should provide additional warmth with row covers, cloches, or hoop tunnels in the winter. As the plant matures and frost comes, you may want to cover some crops to keep them alive during the winter and to harvest during the winter.

Even though it is still summer, start your cool season veggies now so they have time to mature before the day length is too short. You can always provide a little more warmth with coverage but you cannot control the day length. Below are handouts from Virginia and Maryland extension offices as well as a local seed company.

Virginia Cooperative Extension

Vegetable Planting Guide and Recommended Dates

University of Maryland Extension

Vegetable Planting Calendar

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is a Virginia-based seed company that also has very useful local information: Fall and Winter Gardening Guide

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Growing Cucamelons

Posted on June 15, 2024 | 2 comments

cucamelonRecently I grew cucamelons and I recommend growing this veggie for its ease and taste and as a fun kid project. Cucamelon has a variety of common names: Mexican sour gherkins, mouse melons, pepquinos, sandita, and Mexican miniature watermelons. The Latin name is Melathria scabra and they truly are in the cucumber family.

Cucamelons are vining, perennial plants that produce small, inch-long fruit. The fruit can be eaten raw or pickled like cucumbers. Native to Mexico and central America, cucamelons prefer the summer’s warmth.

You may not see the plants in local nurseries but they are easy to grow from seed. You can start the seed indoors under lights like tomato seeds and move out to the garden after danger of frost has passed. Or you can start from seed in May outside after the danger of frost has past. Like cucumber plants, they produce vines but these are very slender vines reaching up to 7 or 10 feet.  Mine grew on an A-frame trellis about 4 feet tall and wide.  Two plants covered one side, climbed over the other side, and are now running across the ground. Because the vines are slender (and not spiny) they are easy to pick up and drape over the frame. The plant is much more robust than regular cucumbers, they certainly are more disease resistant.

mousemelons

I grow other cucumbers as well and by July they have diseased foliage and the plants just peter out. The cucamelons were thriving in July despite Virginia’s heat and humidity.

Cucamelons produce small yellow flowers and green/white variegated fruit, exactly like a miniature watermelon. They taste like a cucumber but not as juicy,  cool or refreshing. We ate them raw as a snack. They can be added to a green salad, cold pasta salad, or a rice salad. They can be pickled or used to make a relish. They can even be used as a garnish in cocktails.

If I had known these vines would be so healthy, I would have placed them on my new privacy fence. They can serve double duty, covering a screen or fence and producing edible fruit. They would be great for children’s teepees or small hideaway places as long as the children are not too young. Because cucamelons are so small they can be a choking hazard for very young children. Although they can be grown in containers, they would still need a trellis system.

fruit

Because the fruit’s coloring does not change as it matures, sometimes it is hard to tell when to pick them. The mature size is the size of a large grape, and should be a little tender. When you squeeze, it should give a little. If it is hard and does not give, it is overripe and may taste bitter. But these can be used for pickling. It is best to harvest early and often.

I highly recommend planting cucamelons. They are easy to grow, disease resistant, and very productive.

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Tips for Growing Peppers

Posted on May 13, 2024 | Leave a comment
peppers in container

peppers combined with flowers in a container

Peppers are easy to grow from seed, but you also can purchase small plants at the local garden center in the beginning of the growing season. If you grow peppers from seed, you can grow a wider variety than what is available at the garden centers. All peppers are grown the same way, they have the same cultural requirements. There are almost 30 species of Capsicum, but in the mid-Atlantic area, we tend to grow three: C. annuum, C. chinense, and C. frutescens.

Within C. annum, there are many varieties and hybrids. Bell peppers are large and sweet, maturing in a red, yellow, or green color. These do not have capsaicin, the compound responsible for heat, due to a recessive gene that eliminates the capsaicin. Other peppers without capsaicin are the Italian frying peppers, Jimmy Nardello, Giant Marconi or Marconi, and banana or yellow wax peppers. C. annuum also includes hot peppers, also called chili peppers, which have capsaicin.

Capsaicin is primarily concentrated in the veins, ribs, and seeds. Removing these is one way to reduce the heat. Capsaicin is an oil which is why drinking water when you have eaten a particularly hot pepper does not help get rid of the burn. Instead, drink milk or eat yogurt, a banana, bread, pasta, or potatoes.

The Scoville scale is a measurement of the heat of a chili pepper recorded in Scoville Heat Units. It is based on the concentration of capsaicinoids among which capsaicin is the predominant component. This range is 0 to as high as 2,693,000 (Pepper X according to the Guinness World Records in 2023 whereas previously the Carolina Reaper was the hottest). Sweet peppers are 500 or less and include the bell pepper and the pimiento.

The C. chinense species is the habanero type of pepper – a type of chili pepper Native to South and Central America that includes habanero, scotch bonnet, and ghost pepper.

The C. frutescens species is another chili pepper native to South and Central America that produces small fruit that tend to grow upright. C. frutescens includes the tabasco pepper and the colorful ornamental varieties.

If you are really diving deep into peppers, there are two other species you can try to grow but likely you will have to start from seed as the plants usually are not available in this area.

Mad Hatter, a baccatum type sweet pepper with a unique shape that will turn red at maturity

The C. baccatum species has a wide variety of peppers, from sweet to hot, from South and Central America. Many are beautiful with unique shapes. These include bishop’s crown, Brazilian starfish, lemon drop, and the “aji” peppers (have “aji” in their name although not all aji peppers are in this genus).

The C. pubescens species has apple-shaped fruit and hairy foliage. They can be mild or very hot. Native to Peru and Bolivia, popular varieties include rocoto, manzano, and locoto.

Starting Peppers from Seed

If growing from seed, start indoors under lights about 4 to 6 weeks before the average last spring frost. Sow seeds about ¼ inch deep. They like warm rooms to germinate so if you are doing this in your basement, you may need a heating mat. Peppers are slow to germinate, the hottest peppers are the slowest. It could take more than a week to see anything. Direct sowing seeds is not recommended because the soil in May will be too cold.

sweet peppers in a container

In May, after frost has past, night temperature are consistently above 50 degrees, and soil temperatures are at least 60 degrees, move the plants outside or plant the ones you purchased from the garden center.

If you are moving your seedlings outside, remember to harden them off by gradually exposing them to light and the winds. If there is an unforeseen cold night, cover with a cloche or a 2-liter plastic soda bottle with the end cut off.

Transplanting into the Garden

Don’t rush to plant your peppers. They need warm temperatures so this could be June (or if you live in Virginia, after the dogwood blossoms have fallen). Peppers do best in soil with a pH of 6.5 to 7. Make sure you amend the soil with compost; they do not want too much clay. They need good drainage. Peppers also can be grown in raised beds or in containers that are at least 5 gallons with drainage holes. Place in full sun, at least 8 hours of sun a day, spaced at least 18 inches apart (from central stem to stem). They do not like to be crowded. Make sure your hose reaches them.

Unlike tomatoes, you don’t plant them as deep as possible. Plant the transplant so that the shoots are at the soil line as they were before transplanting.

Peppers are susceptible to sunscald which occurs on the fruit that has been exposed to intense direct sunlight. This could happen when you first plant them but will not kill the plant.

Usually, peppers do not need to be staked, nor do they need to be pruned.

Growing Peppers in the Summer

Peppers optimal temperatures for setting fruit is 65 to 85 degrees. However, the flowers can drop (i.e., not produce fruit) if the temperatures are above 90 degrees during the day and 75 degrees at night.

Jimmy Nardello, a sweet frying pepper

Peppers need fertilizer but withhold it when the plant starts to flower. A slow-release organic fertilizer with more phosphorus and potassium than nitrogen is best. You can use one especially formulated for tomatoes.

Like tomatoes, peppers can get blossom end rot. To prevent this, make sure the soil moisture is consistent, not varying widely between very wet and very dry.

The small fruit varieties do better in the mid Atlantic’s hot and humid summer than the large fruit varieties.

They fruit up until frost so if it is just one night of cold weather, you may be able to cover for the night to extend the harvest season. If you are expecting a freeze, harvest the mature ones.

Harvesting and Eating Peppers

You need to know your varieties’ mature stage fruit color. Although all peppers may be eaten in the green stage, there is more flavor and vitamins in a ripe, colored up pepper.

Temperature influences color on the pepper. Purple pigment develops under cool temperatures so if you see purple streaks on peppers, it is because the temperature is too cool (maybe in the fall). The purple color does not affect the flavor. However, that is why it is difficult for gardeners in the mid-Atlantic area to grow solid purple varieties – it is just too hot in the summer.

red and black ornamental peppers with dark foliage

When picking chili peppers, you may want to wear gloves as the capsaicin may irritate the skin. After cutting and preparing in the kitchen, wash your hands with soap afterwards and do not touch your face or eyes.  Remember that capsaicin is primarily concentrated in the veins, ribs, and seeds so you can reduce the heat in a chili pepper by removing these.

Peppers dry well and can be ground or crushed. Wash the pepper and either cut and leave open on paper plate inside the house or leave whole (but whole will take longer to dry). Often gardeners will string up the whole peppers to hang in the kitchen. Or dry the peppers in a dehydrator, the oven, or outside in the sun. Dried peppers have more flavor and heat.

Saving Pepper Seed

If you want to save pepper seeds, make sure the plant is an open-pollinated plant, not a hybrid. Peppers have perfect flowers (both male and female parts) therefore they can pollinate themselves and do not need bees. However, bees do visit peppers and can cross pollinate the peppers in your garden and with peppers in neighbors’ gardens. This cross pollination occurs within a species. If you grew more than one variety, such as a sweet and a hot in the same genus (C. annum), be aware that bees may have cross pollinated them. Therefore, if you saved sweet pepper seeds and grow the seeds the next year, the resulting fruit could be hot, not sweet. To prevent cross pollination, you would have to separate your varieties of one species by 300 to 1600 feet or grow different species.

To save seeds, simply slice open a very mature pepper and remove the seeds. Place the seeds on wax paper to dry inside the house. Seeds are dry if they snap when you bend them. When dried, put in a container, seal, and label. Store in a cool, dark, and dry place.

You will get good germination rates from saved seeds for about 3 years.

Final Note

The mid-Atlantic units of the Herb Society of America host a Chili Celebration every October at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington DC. This is a free event on Saturday, October 12, 2024, in the afternoon. The Units come to the National Herb Garden and set up tables of peppers to taste as well as products made with chili peppers plus a lot of information on growing peppers. The National Herb Garden also has pepper plants that are fruiting at this time. Yes, some of these are hot so we also provide milk and bread. See you there!

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Growing Potatoes: Easy, Fun, and Delicious!

Posted on February 2, 2024 | Leave a comment

leavesWhen you are ordering your seeds, don’t forget to order your seed potatoes. “Seed potatoes” are potatoes for planting, not a true seed. Think of them as “starter” tubers. Seed potatoes are planted outdoors about 4 weeks before the average last frost date. In the DC metro area, this is March and many gardeners use St. Patrick’s Day as the traditional day of planting but later in March is okay.

Local garden centers will sell a few varieties but you get a better selection if you contact companies specializing in potatoes. There is tremendous diversity of the tuber itself. There are white, blue, red, purple or gold colored tubers in small or large sizes, round and gnarly or thin and slender.  In terms of cooking, tubers can be mealy like a Russet (good for baking but disintegrates in a stew) versus waxy like a Yukon Gold (holds its shape). Tubers also vary in maturation days: there are early season (90 days), mid-season (100-110 days), and late season (120 days) varieties. If you plant different varieties, you can harvest potatoes from June to August.

Interestingly, the foliage does not vary. The plant grows to a few feet tall, flowers, and dies, signaling the time to dig and harvest the tubers.

It is best to start with seed potatoes that are certified as disease-free, instead of planting a grocery store potato. The shoots arise from the “eyes” and additional tubers appear along these shoots as they grow. Seed potatoes should be the size of an egg with at least two eyes. If the seed potato is this size already then plant the whole thing, eyes up. If the tuber is large, you can cut it into sections, each with at least two eyes. I have read differing opinions about whether you should let the cut end callous (to prevent disease). Some people cut and plant while others cut, let them callous over, and then plant.

seed potatoes

I plant my potatoes in large fabric containers. This is a great way to grow potatoes if you do not have a lot of land or if your garden soil is too compact. Use fabric containers that are at least 20-gallon large with at least a 15-inch height.  Estimate 4 plants in this size and more in larger sizes.  I space my seed potatoes about 6 inches apart.fabric container

I use bagged potting soil and sometimes I find one that has a slow-release fertilizer. If not, I add Osmocote, a well-known slow-release fertilizer. Another option is to add a granular fertilizer or apply a liquid fertilizer several times.  Because potatoes are heavy feeders, I supplement with a liquid fertilizer later in the season.

You can also grow potatoes in the ground, in large plastic containers with drainage holes, or in special containers meant for these tubers. If you grow in the ground, the soil should be loamy, well-drained, high in organic matter, and slightly acidic with a pH between 4.8 and 6.5. Usually, potatoes are planted in trenches 4 to 6 inches deep, spaced 18 inches apart. After planting, the trench is backfilled until level with the soil surface. As the plants grow, they are covered by pushing soil up and over from each side of the row while letting some foliage show to be able to continue to photosynthesize.

With my fabric containers, I pour about 3-4 inches of the soil in each container, water, and then place the potatoes on top, eyes up. I then add 3 more inches of soil, water again, and insert a plant label. I roll down the side so they do not turn inward and prevent rain from reaching the plants.

Since planting is in March, we may still have very cold temperatures. Potatoes are hardier than they look, the foliage is hardy to about 28 degrees and the roots can withstand even colder temperatures. Still if the forecast calls for a hard freeze in the night the plants can be covered with a blanket.

The plants need 6-8 hours of sunlight and more water than you think — an inch of water a week. If it does not rain, water with a hose. However, the foliage is susceptible to fungal diseases so water by putting the hose nozzle into the bag, not spraying the foliage and not watering in the evening.

They are susceptible to Colorado potato beetles so check the underside of leaves for the yellow/orange eggs.  If you see these, remove immediately. If you are growing a lot of potatoes and this becomes laborious, you may want to use a Spinosad-based insecticide. Other issues are flea beetles or fungal diseases although I find I do not have these issues with my fabric containers.

The new tubers grow up (vertically) from the seed potato. As the shoots grow (now stems), and more tubers appear, these new tubers have to be covered with soil. Tubers exposed to light become green and bitter.  (This also is a tip for storing store-bought potatoes, keep them out of light in a cool place but not in the fridge).  When the stems have grown about 8 inches, I “hill up” the potatoes which means I add about 4 inches of soil to cover the new tubers. Every few weeks, I repeat the process again, unfolding the sides as I add more soil. This process of adding more soil is called “hilling.”

In early summer, after the flowers fade, I can harvest immature tubers by pulling egg-size tubers out (leaving smaller ones in). This immature stage is what we buy as “new potatoes” in the store. New potatoes have a very thin skin and do not keep — they have to be eaten soon. We boil them and mix with parsley, chives, and butter.

In mid-summer, the potatoes will have matured so all of them can be harvested and they should last longer. When the plant’s leaves yellow and die, stop watering, wait two weeks, and then dump the container to harvest the potatoes. I dump the soil on a tarp to either use the soil to start a new garden bed or to put back in the containers and plant bush beans. Potato plants stop making tubers when soil temperatures rise above 80 degrees so they are really a summer producer. To have potatoes to eat in the winter, you want mature tubers that have been cured. Cure by storing in a dark cool place (not the fridge) with the soil still on them. Scrub clean before you eat them, not before storage.

Try growing potatoes this year, you will taste the difference! This also is a great children’s project, they will love digging for the tubers.

Sources:

Potato containers:

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Winter Squash Outperforms Summer Squash in My Garden

Posted on August 27, 2023 | 1 comment

Immature Sweet Jade Winter Squash

For years I have grown zucchini and yellow summer squash from seed and every summer the dreaded squash vine borer decimates them. I have tried all the tricks but to no avail. This summer, I tried one last time and I also grew a winter squash. True to form, the summer squashes are half dead, their guts spilling out like seppuku. My winter squash, however, is happily wrapping itself around tomato and basil plants and running amuck across the grass.

Take a look at ‘Sweet Jade’. This is one plant, grown from seed sowed in May (thank you Johnny’s Selected Seeds). Under the large green leaves are several green squashes. I had no idea ‘Sweet Jade’ would get this large but we have been blessed with plenty of rain this year.

One Sweet Jade Plant Taking Over the Garden

Kabocha is a Japanese type of winter squash. Sweet Jade is a green type, a 2023 national All-America Selections winner. It is relatively small — a single serving –that can be carved into a soup bowl or “vase” for floral arrangements. Similar to acorn or butternut squash, the flesh can be roasted, baked, or pureed plus the skins are thin enough to eat. When mature, Sweet Jade is dark green with lighter green stripes with stump-like, corky stems and bright orange-yellow flesh.

All squash plants are warm season annuals, requiring full sun and fertile, well-drained soil. I have not had any pest or disease issues with Sweet Jade so far.  The wilted yellow summer squash and zucchini plants are nearby indicating that squash vine borers are in the vicinity but seemingly uninterested in Sweet Jade.

The kabocha squash belongs to the species Cucurbita maxima. Zucchini and yellow summer squash belong to a different species, C. pepo. According to Amy Goldman’s The Compleat Squash: A Passionate Grower’s Guide to Pumpkins, Squashes and Gourds, which covers several species, C. maxima has “mild flavor, high solids (starches and sugars), freedom from fibers, and a brilliant orange flesh. Choosy canners choose maximas.”

Mature Sweet Jade Winter Squash, photo courtesy of All-America Selections

Winter squashes are grown in the summer like summer squash, but they can be stored for months. This type needs to be harvested before a hard frost, preferably when the stem gets corky, dry, and brown. Then the squash must be sun cured for about a week or cured indoors at 80 to 85 degrees. Afterwards, if stored at 50 to 60 degrees, the squash can last for 4 to 5 months. The flesh gets sweeter during storage, so it is best to eat the squash in the fall/winter.

I am looking forward to harvesting mine later this fall. There are plenty of recipes online for this one in particular but any winter squash recipe will do. Try growing winter squashes next year but make sure you have plenty of room!

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