The kids like to garden. They helped plant once again this year, and have been great at watering, upkeep, & harvesting. They really did most of the planting work this year, and are learning about how to keep weeds out and when to pick ripe peppers. (They’re already pretty good at tomatoes.)
This year, by accident, I picked up a jalapeño plant when shopping at Home Depot. I meant to get 2 each of yellow bell peppers, orange bell peppers, and red bell peppers. I came home with a jalapeno and only one yellow pepper. We also planted some sweet banana peppers.
When I brought it home, Ian was determined to plant it & try some. He was true to his word! Molly & Ian did both try it! I put the video up on YouTube and IGTV.
Decide for yourself if you think they liked it:
I haven’t ever grown hot peppers despite all my years growing tomato, pepper, & a slew of other stuff.
I asked on various social media platforms on how to tell if your jalapeno is ripe and I got a handful of differentiating opinions. I got…
- When they turn red. (Was told they turn black before they are red.)
- When they start to get little brown lines/wrinkles.
- At around 3″ long.
- At around 6″ to 8″ long.
- Look at the photo on the plant tag.
- bury match heads to make them hotter.
So, how do you tell when they’re ripe?
Share your hot pepper ripeness tips & any other tricks below on the comments.
Have an recipes to share too? I would like to hear your thoughts on gardening, jalapeno peppers, or the video below!
This has been a fun gardening journey. It is exciting to see them learn about composting, growing food, and then trying it & even cooking with it. We have had plenty of beautiful snap beans, sweet banana peppers, & a few varieties of cherry tomatoes so far.
World (and Lunar) Domination 
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