By Jane Hayes / Garden Jane with Pam Jackson
Peppers are abundant in August and September and are great to incorporate into sauces, salads and both cold and warm soups. When harvesting peppers, you can pick them green and eat right away, or leave on the plant until they are orange or red. The longer you leave them on the plant, the sweeter they will be. Picking peppers early leads to more pepper production. One way to have both high yields and sweeter peppers is to pick peppers green and let them ripen on the counter.
One of my favourite ways of preparing pepper is to roast them. From there you can make salsas, sauces and soups. Here’s a basic sauce recipe that you can add other fresh garden veg to for fun:
4 red peppers
2 medium onions
2 cloves garlic
4 Roma tomatoes
1/2 cup basil
2 Tbsp oil (grapeseed, sunflower or another medium-high heat oil)
Salt to taste
Optional: fresh hot pepper, 1 tsp cumin, other garden veg!
Roast red peppers in the oven at 400F until the skins are black (25-40 min) or fire roast them on a BBQ (~25 min). Let them cool, then peel the skin off and remove seeds. Chop the peppers and make sure to save the pepper oil.
While the peppers are roasting, chop and sauté the onions in the oil on a medium heat until the onions are almost clear. Add the garlic and continue to sauté on a low heat, then add the tomatoes and basil. Let simmer for at least 30 min. Add salt and chopped peppers. Serve on pasta.
More things to consider when planting peppers:
- Peppers are a warm weather crop. Plant pepper seedlings (min 10-15cm tall) when the soil has warmed up and there is no risk of frost.
- They need well-drained soil and are heavy feeders, i.e. they do well with lots of compost.
- Peppers are ideal for “spot planting”, so can be planted all around the garden.
- They need ~40 cm of space on all sides if planted intensively (with lots of compost).
- They need full sun and lots of regular watering – water deeply during dry spells.
- Provide shade during hot spells
- Try to protect plants with “hot caps” (try making them out of clear plastic bottles) during chilly weather.
- Companion plants to grow with peppers for extra harvest and other benefits:
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- Basil (to enhance flavour)
- Onions, chives, leeks, garlic (deters pests)
- Chard, lettuce, spinach, carrots, beets (crowds out weeds)
- Corn, tomatoes (use to help shade peppers)
- Once you have fully harvested your pepper plants, plant quick growing cold weather crops for a fall harvest. Lettuce or radish work well.
Enjoy!