Those are beautiful!
Would saved seeds from peppers dried in the sun be viable?
It’s quite possible that peppers which are sun-dried have viable seeds. However, it’s not ideal.
My preferred method of preparing seeds for storage is to cut fully-ripe fresh peppers to extract seeds into a sieve. If the peppers are hot, use thick disposable gloves, at least one on the hand not holding the knife. In the sink, add a little dish soap to the seeds. Away from the sieve, get a thin stream of warm water flowing, maybe half the thickness of a pencil; this is to rinse the seeds and your finger (gloved) later.
Gently mash the seeds around with a fingertip (gloved), scrubbing them with the detergent. After about 20-30 seconds, rinse off the seeds with water and rinse any seeds sticking to your finger into the sieve. Beware, very hot peppers can create an irritating fume as capsaicins are atomized.
Once the seeds have been thoroughly rinsed, let them drain in the sink. Then, put the sieve on a folded paper towel to soak up moisture. After an hour or so, you can spread the seeds out to dry on screen, paper plates, cardboard, etc. Let them dry for a few weeks, in a dark, dry location. They’re now ready to pack and store refrigerated, in airtight jars.
The washing is to help remove some germination inhibitors, sugars and oily resins which can cause seeds to stick together or attract moisture. With very hot pepper seeds, it makes them a bit safer to work with.
If the seeds are particularly valuable, it’s a good idea to make sure the sink’s drain strainer is one of those screen type strainers, and that it’s empty before you begin. That way, if seeds splash out or you drop them, they don’t go down the drain.
Often, if pods are dried, you can just shake out the seeds and pack them. This works OK with drier pods such as Cayenne, Chile Arbol, Pequin, Yatsafusa, etc. Again, this isn’t ideal and might cause irregular germination rates because germination inhibitors may decompose at different rates.
Though this is a guess: one would suspect that germination inhibitors are stronger in thick-walled, moister types of peppers. Otherwise, seeds might sprout inside the pods.
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hey guys
ur garden pics look so inspiring
maybe this winter i’ll do my own greenhouse
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Beauties
Got back last night, wondering what might have happened. Moisture! Surely it hadn’t rained! But it looks like that must be it! My son and DIL chuckled about Californians scratching their heads over how the ground got wet. I always think of irrigation malfunction first. 
Peppers look great, only a few tomatoes have set fruit this week, planning to pull up more tomato plants today.
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Papayas too? I’m impressed!
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Oooooh!
Heading into the rainy season, we harvested peppers today for pickling. Here, mostly sweet Italian pepperoncini, with a few serranoes thrown in for kicks.
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I use the scotch bonnets in the deer repellent. It works!
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You must like some pretty zippy peppers! Scotch Bonnets and their super-hot relatives are too hot for me unless diluted in hot sauce, sauces or in a lot of food!
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Temps will drop this weekend.
My Brussels sprouts. I’ll cut them down this weekend and make the Nik Sharma maple bacon sprouts for Canadian Thanksgiving.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all celebrating this weekend and on Thanksgiving Monday.
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Wow, one of those plants that I didn’t expect to look like that at all. Makes you wonder how did anyone even know where to begin and find the best edible parts with a plant like this.
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Joining the “Sour Grapes” club.
Our Himrods didn’t set much this year. Unsure as to whether we over-pruned them last time, or there was some other issue. In any case, we bagged what we had. We had about a 50% attrition rate. The tampared bags weren’t torn, but we could see teeth marks and the insides appear to have been smashed.
In a normal year, 50% of a crop would leave plenty for us. We’re not giving up on this particular vine, which is fairly exposed from above. But to hedge our bets will be planting another in one of our berry cages which has a roof, and hopefully will keep anything bigger than a butterfly out.
The grapes we did get were sweet and delicous.
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Nice! Are you a left-handed guitar or stringed instrument player?
Please let me know if you’d like a branch or two of “Edgar’s Baby” Dragonfruit. I’ve decided to get rid of the one in our greenhouse; it’s too rowdy and we’re not really set up for Dragonfruit. The flavor is supposed to be excellent.
Fall and minimal gardening has left time to forage. Years ago, I started Pawpaw seedlings, (Asimina triloba), from selected fruits. Those were planted near a creek in the backyard. Now, the extensive grove is providing fruit. I’ve got a few boxes of them, ripening. They are delicious, tasting somewhere between mango, banana and pear, with a smooth, custard-like texture.
Another native tree here are Chinquapins, (Castanea pumila), chestnut relatives.
Though small, they are, in my palate, the best tasting of the chestnuts. Most of these will get planted, as I’m trying to increase the number of native trees, shrubs, which provide edible fruits and nuts. I was lucky to have beaten the squirrels this year!
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Q: What will those squirrels do this year?
A: Go elsewhere!
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Wow! How do you decide what to grow?
