Growing More Varieties this Year

No recent activity here on the Pepper Forum, we'll have to change that.

Loving peppers as I do, I'm growing more varieties this year. My list:

Carmen
Italian Pepperoncini
Jimmy Nardello
TAM Jalapeno
Yummy Orange
Mariachi
Holy Mole
Joe E. Parker NuMex
Ljubov Dlan
Slonovo Uho
Kurtovska Kapija
Ekstaza

I have a good source of seeds in Croatia for those last four varieties - they are all wonderful, enormous, thick-walled non-bell sweet peppers that are pretty much unknown in the U.S. I grew Ljubov Dlan and Slonovo Uho last year and was very pleased with them. If anyone wants to know where I'm getting the seeds, just ask.

I love sweet non-bell peppers. I would appreciate knowing where you got your seeds. :)

"I love sweet non-bell peppers. I would appreciate knowing where you got your seeds. :)"

I got those seeds last fall from Mario Plantosar in Croatia - his email address is

marioplantosar@gmail.com

Last year a lady in Slovenia who is a member of a gardening club there wanted some of my Sweet Ozark Orange tomato seeds, but she couldn't send me a S.A.S.E. because she couldn't easily get U.S. stamps. I sent the tomato seeds anyway, and she was kind enough to send back seeds of several veggie varieties that are local to the Balkan region. Among those were the Ljubov Dlan and Slonovo Uho sweet peppers.

I grew them both last year and they were wonderful - super sweet, thick walled, and very productive. Both peppers ripen from green to red and they're enormous, as big as a man's hand. In fact, Ljubov Dlan means Ljubov's (a man's name) Hand. Slonovo Uho means Elephant's Ear.

I didn't save seeds from those two because I had them planted intertwined with other pepper varieties, and the chance of a cross was very high. Instead I went looking online for seeds and I found Mario Plantosar in Croatia selling seeds of those varieties and others on eBay. His prices are very reasonable, his English is fluent, and his response and shipping were quick and efficient.

Thank you!

I found a picture of me holding two ripe Ljubov Dlan peppers in our kitchen last year. These enormous, sweet, thick-walled Balkan pepper varieties are so good I can't imagine why they're not commonly grown in the U.S.

Wow! Those are beauties.

Sweet Peppers for 2015; all these will find their way to Farmers Market.
Boris Banana, our main crop banana.
Chocolate Beauty, bell.
Colossal, extra large semi bell.
Gemini, Yellow bell.
King Arthur, our standard bell. Will have 500 of these.
Mini Bells Mix, red, yellow chocolate.
Orange Sun, bell.
Purple Beauty, bell.
Shishito, a non bell. New to me this year.
Summer Sweet 8620, Yellow, very large, semi bell.

18 varieties of hot peppers. Nothing fancy, just old standbys.

The new-to-me hot pepper that I'm really excited about this year is 'Caterpillar', which I think is the same as 'Aribibi Gusano'. I had seeds for the latter years ago but couldn't get them to germinate. This year's seeds sprouted promptly! They will have to be planted somewhere where crossing is unlikely... or I'll have to bag a budding branch. In addition to the citrus-y fruity fragrance noted in a PF report, I've also heard the flavor described as smoky.

My hot peppers are off to a mixed start... I had some older seeds on the heat mat for a couple of weeks, or so I thought... and then I finally noticed the plug was not quite connected... duh! A couple of Biker Billy Jalapenos sprouted anyway, as did one Hot Portugal (must save seeds this year! it's a must-have), but the others are "hanging fire" so to speak.

So, actually sprouting at this point are

Fish Pepper
Aribibi Gusano
Aleppo
Hot Portugual
Biker Billy Jalapeno
Pretty Purple Pepper (a mini for planting along the front walk)

And I just sowed some hybrid sweet peppers last night
Carmen
Gypsy
Long Tall Sally (growing it for the name)
leftover mix of Sweet Spot, Flamingo, and Flexum

I sowed 10 kinds of basil, too, several of which are more for decorative than culinary use, although the bees will enjoy them all. I had one "oops," sowing my favorite culinary Italian basil right over a purple genovese variety... that should look cute in the garden, LOL, but I'll have to do another sowing if I want to save seeds. I don't think it'll be feasible to separate the seedlings, since the seeds were densely sown for clump transplanting.