Show Notes
In today’s podcast (above), we talk with renowned pepperhead Dave DeWitt, author of several hot pepper books. We talk hot pepper basics, and Dave adds advice on how to overwinter your hot pepper plants for a second year of growth (and heat!). We have a complete, human-corrected transcript of the podcast towards the bottom of today’s newsletter. Short of time? Here are the main points from today’s podcast: * Start from seed for variety, or order early from pepper catalogs. Super-hot varieties like Bhut Jolokia or Scorpion peppers may be difficult to find as transplants, so grow them from seed. * Don’t judge peppers by heat alone. Habaneros hit 80,000–200,000 Scoville units but have a fruity, apricot-like flavor, good for both heat and taste. Diluting them (e.g., one habanero in 4 cups of salsa) keeps flavor without overwhelming heat. * Skip water or beer for pepper burn. Capsaicin isn’t water-soluble, so the relief is temporary and heat returns. Use dairy instead: yogurt, sour cream, heavy cream, whole milk or ice cream (the casein protein strips capsaicin off your mouth). * Never let pepper roots sit in water-logged soil. Add perlite or pumice (not vermiculite) to potting soil/containers to keep roots well-drained and prevent root rot or Phytophthora fungal disease. * Give peppers 10–12 hours of full sun daily. They’re unaffected by day length until fall, and stop flowering once they hit their max fruit load. * Use moderate nitrogen fertilizer. Too much N (especially from urea) produces lots of foliage but few pods. Organic fertilizers (naturally low in salt, under 10% nitrogen) are a safer bet. * Get your soil tested annually (via a University extension service, e.g., Colorado State, UMass/Amherst, Texas A&M, or Utah St) to catch salt buildup, a common yield-killer from repeated watering/fertilizing in raised beds. If salts build up, flood-irrigate the bed heavily at season’s end to flush them out. * To overwinter a pepper plant, grow it in a container, bring it indoors (a south-facing window is enough) over winter, and move it back outside in spring. You’re just keeping it alive in the winter, not expecting fruit until summer returns. * Choose smaller-podded varieties (like pequins) for overwintering success. Pequins retain more vigor in year two, while larger-podded types (like New Mexico chilies) lose vigor and yield less after their first year. What To Do With All Those Peppers
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More from Beyond the Garden Basics
Redwood Barn Nursery owner Don Shor of Davis, California and myself finally got around to putting the 2026 Tomato season to bed…except for the ones that are hanging on for dear life. In today’s podcast, we sing the high notes and low notes of our tomato growing efforts this year, with lots of gardening advice thrown in for good measure. How was your tomato season? Any favorites? Any failures? Any surprises? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to mention where you were doing your gardening this summer. One of the first to comment was Keith, located in the eastern portion of the San Francisco Bay area. He actually commented before the tomato season was ending: “When you two get together to talk about the 2026 tomato season, I'd like to put in a good word for my San Marzano tomato harvest in Contra Costa County. I had a good crop, mostly because the weather wasn't too hot. Tomorrow is sauce-making day! I have a set-up that lets me cook outside.” There’s a complete, human-edited transcript of the podcast near the bottom of this newsletter. Here are the main points of our podcast conversation:
In today’s podcast, I tell a long, drawn out story about what happened the night before my wedding in 1980. Yes, it is a garden story, about the Cecile Bruner rose. But, we quickly turn to a chat with Ben Hanna of heirloomroses.com, who describes how he and his wife came to own the company after leaving corporate life over a decade ago. He says their shared love of gardening and roses, plus the chance to work closer to family, made the business a good fit. He also notes that all five of his children have worked at the nursery in different roles. In the newsletter, it's a list of the best roses for fall blooming color!
In today’s podcast, we talk with Mark Seibert of Sturdi-Built greenhouses in Oregon. The interview covers key considerations for first-time greenhouse buyers, including choosing the right site, with emphasis on sunlight, southern exposure when possible, and local hazards such as trees or lawn equipment. It also discusses heat control and utilities, recommending ventilation, shade cloth, fans, water access, and electrical service with safety protections. Seibert also explains that lean-to greenhouses can work if the roof pitch and site conditions fit, and says a well-built greenhouse can last 20 to 30 years. Growing Hobby Greenhouse Tomatoes in the Winter If you really want to demonstrate to your friends what a great investment your greenhouse is, nothing beats serving them home grown tomatoes...on New Year’s Day. Here’s What You’ll Need to Grow Greenhouse Tomatoes for the Winter and Spring:
The discussion in today’s podcast focuses on pumpkins. Warren Roberts, Superintendent Emeritus of the UC Davis Arboretum, explains that the pumpkin is botanically a fruit, though it is usually eaten as a vegetable. He says the plant belongs to the genus Cucurbita, which is native to the Americas, especially Mexico and the Andes. He describes pumpkin types and notes that many large pumpkins are hybrids, often involving Cucurbita maxima. He contrasts these with the smaller typical pumpkin species, Cucurbita pepo. The conversation also covers the origin of jack-o’-lanterns, whose purpose, Roberts says, came from hollowed-out turnips or rutabagas used to carry coals before matches were available (a handy skill to remember when AI takes over). Short of Garden Room? Grow Mini-Pumpkins! Admittedly, I got a late start on planting pumpkins this year: in early summer (the 4th of July weekend), and I had only one raised garden bed, 4 feet by 8 feet, still available. So, I planted three pumpkin seeds that would eventually produce medium sized pumpkins, the “Jack O’ Lantern” variety, a fruit that gets about 15 pounds. I won’t make that mistake again. Fast-forward three months, and I have a jungle of green vines from those three seeds that have escaped the confines of the raised bed and are now proceeding to swallow the trunks of my adjacent fruit trees. And it looks like the end-result for Halloween decorations will be only four or five medium sized pumpkins. Not much production, considering the sprawl of the vines. And three of them are still green, making me wonder if they will be nice orange orbs ready for carving at the end of the month. Fortunately for gardeners, many seed catalogs and nursery seed racks feature pumpkin varieties that mature in about 90 days and don’t do much sprawling: the miniature pumpkins. There are several advantages to growing pumpkins that weigh less than a pound: quicker maturity, a smaller footprint, and versatility in shapes, color, and uses.
You know trouble awaits if there is a really orange sunrise on an otherwise clear morning. That usually indicates there’s lots of smoke in the air. In today's newsletter, we talk about the effects of wildfire smoke on you and your garden. In today’s podcast (above), University of California Wildfire specialist Kevin Marini discusses the wildland-urban interface areas and why they matter for wildfire risk. He explains that many homes in California and other states are built close to wild vegetation, and that it is embers rather than large flames that are often the main cause of home loss. We then focus on defensible space and the newer “Zone Zero” concept, a 0- to 5-foot area around homes and other structures. We describe how this zone should be kept free of flammable material, including most plants, mulch, cardboard, newspaper, outdoor furniture, gutters filled with debris, and poorly vented areas where embers can enter. We also cover the 5- to 30-foot zone, where spacing, pruning, and plant maintenance are important. We discuss avoiding fire ladders created by layered vegetation, reducing continuous lines of plants, and using hardscape, rock, or gravel to break up plantings. We note that irrigation and keeping plants hydrated can improve fire resistance. And, we discuss the best mulches to use in creating a defensible space.