DOLCE DE BERGAMO The versatile sweet Dolce De Bergamo chile pepper can be utilized in both fresh and cooked applications. Its thin skin and flesh make it ideal for preparing blistered, fried in olive oil and served with sea salt as a finger food. In my version, after frying the peppers, I grilled some sourdough bread and served with …
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We were busy during October so there are few photos of the Sunnyvale garden during the month. The fall flowers of Mums, Rudbeckia, and Candy Corn were a bright note. The Cordyline provides a pretty red foliage year round. The last of the chile peppers were harvested. I also harvested the last of the tomatoes (all unripe) and made a …
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September in our Sunnyvale garden is all about harvest. I planted an heirloom watermelon “Moon and the Stars” late in the spring. I love that the “Moon and the Stars” pattern is in the leaves. At harvest time, the melon had grown over the pot to the ground about six feet away and got to about …
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August is always the easiest month in our Sunnyvale garden. While your attention is on lots of other things, the garden continues to grow. Our garden has dozens of plants that attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. Here, a carpenter bee is enjoying a flower on one of the Butterfly bushes. Native to North America, gaura (Gaura lindheimeri) is a gorgeous, low-maintenance …
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I was vacationing in the Pacific Northwest for 2 weeks in July so my eyes and ears are filled with the sensations and memories of elsewhere. So I relied on the 3 drip irrigation systems at home watering over 100 plants. Marie was spared the burden of mass watering. The most frustration is due to squirrels eating the ripening tomatoes. …
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June is always the most intense month in our Sunnyvale garden. All at once the berries and stone fruits (apricots, plums, nectarines) are ripe. Meanwhile the citrus (lemons and limes) still are available. The tomato plants, all 45 of them, are producing fruit with a few ripe ones. My chile plants (8 varieties) are productng fruit. The early season ones …
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Okay, these chiles are not from my Sunnyvale garden, but I want to share… The official New Mexico state question is “Red or Green?”. The Hatch chile peppers are grown in the Hatch valley, and along the entire Rio Grande, from northern Taos Pueblo to southern Isleta Pueblo, are a signature crop to New Mexico’s economy and culture. The chile …
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Corno de Toros are a beautiful, long, dark-red heirloom Italian pepper. 6-10 inches long, twisted or curved and pointed on the end. These deep crimson beauties are very sweet and intensely ‘peppery’. They’re a perfect roasting pepper-their skins blacken nicely, and shed easily–and are also good raw in salads. In my opinion the flavor of Corno de Toros is superior …
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Serrano chiles look like slender jalapenos. They are typically eaten raw and have a bright and biting flavor that is notably hotter than the jalapeño pepper. Serrano peppers are commonly used in making pico de gallo, and salsa, as the chili is particularly fleshy compared to others, making it ideal for such dishes. The Scoville rating of the serrano pepper …
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