Peppers are one of my family’s staple crops. They’re way up on our list of priorities for growing each year. We have standards that we grow each year, and then we’re usually also looking for potential new favorites.
We don’t live in the best climate for growing peppers so we grow them in black plastic, which helps mimic warmer weather. Yes, they’re that important!
We’ll probably grow fifteen or more varieties this year. All of them are sweet peppers. We don’t do hot peppers. Keeping scrolling to find out what they are!
Standards
These are our favorites. We grow them every year.
Ashe County Pimento
Small red pepper that we like to stuff or roast. Plus, just a good red pepper that is also early.
California Wonder
Our standard red bell pepper. We usually get a good crop of these (and Golden Cals) before frost. However, we added earlier varieties for more security. Because sometimes we don’t get a good crop before frost.
Chocolate Beauty
A chocolate colored bell pepper. One of our favorites, especially for canning and drying.
Doe Hill
A small yellow bell pepper that we like to stuff. Earlier than our large bells.
Golden California Wonder
Our standard yellow bell pepper.
Lipstick
A good additional red pepper. Long, pimento type. I believe this one is also earlier than our standard bells.
Sweet Chocolate
Another favorite for canning and drying.
Continued Trials
Etiuda
Started trying this orange bell in 2022. It has not done well for us, but we still have seed so I think I will give it another try. I probably won’t buy more seed for this one (unless it does really well this year). We need peppers that thrive in our climate and gardens.
Hungarian Magyar Paprika
I originally got this because the description said it was for making sweet paprika, a seasoning we use a lot of and I want to learn to produce ourselves. We had tried another paprika pepper before but never got around to drying it AND grinding it for paprika (gotta do all the steps!) when we had a good harvest. The last couple of years it just didn’t do well so I wanted to find another option to try.
After I bought it I remembered that Spanish paprika is supposed to be the sweet kind and Hungarian paprika the spicy kind, sooooo . . . hmm. Through no fault of it’s own, we only got a couple of peppers (or so). A brave family member tasted one and it was not hot at all. In light of that, I’ll be trying it again!
New Trials
Added to our list for the first time this year.
King of the North
Supposed to be good for those growing in places with a cool, short season. That would be us.
Orange Sun
We’re still looking for the perfect (for us) orange bell pepper. Is this it?
Lunchbox Mix
I’m considering trying some of these. Depends on where I make the rest of our seed purchases.
Habanada and Nadapeno
Peppers that taste like hot peppers but without the heat. I have been hearing about these for several years. My mom just heard about one (Habanada, I think) and suggested we try it. I figured we might as well try out the other one too!
Other
Mini Chocolate Bell
A couple of years ago, one of our chocolate peppers (either chocolate beauty or sweet chocolate) turned out to be a mini chocolate pepper! We had purchased new seed that year and . . . someone must have gotten their seed mixed up. Anyway, it was a good little pepper (though not really practical) so we saved seed for it. I think I’ll try it again this year. It is cute (and was tasty too). We could make some mini stuffed peppers for a party!
Wondering where you can get these? We buy our seeds from a wide variety of companies. Several of these peppers are widely available, so check your favorite seed sources.
Botanical Interests (affiliate link) carries California Wonder, Golden California Wonder, and Orange Sun. They have a lot of other nice things, too (hint, hint)! 😉
I got the Hungarian Magyar Paprika pepper from Renee’s Garden Seeds and Etiuda from Baker Creek. Doe Hill came from Southern Exposure and Lipstick from Diane’s.
If you have trouble finding any of these, comment below. I have a ton of browser bookmarks and I’ll be happy to look through them!
Are you growing peppers this year? Where are you in your pepper growing journey? What varieties are you growing?
