2018 Seed Giveaway

“I’m not going to talk about anything that’s going to make us feel hopeless, or despairing, because there’s no despair in a seed. There’s only life, waiting for the right conditions – sun  and water, warmth and soil – to be set free. Every day millions upon millions of seeds lift their two green wings.”
–Janisse Ray, The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food

Once again I want to give away a few seeds I have saved from my garden, hopefully while folks are still in the planning stages of their 2019 gardens. It’s all pepper seeds this year, as I didn’t save tomato seed or other veggies or herbs. Due to custom issues and postage costs, I will limit this giveaway to folks in the U.S. or Canada. I don’t have unlimited amounts of these seeds available, but I am happy to share them with my readers while the supply lasts.

UPDATE: The seed giveaway is now closed. I will try and start sending seeds out soon.

First up, I want to share seeds for a sweet pepper I have been growing and nurturing since 2009. It first appeared in my garden as a rogue pepper plant that came from a packet of the Czech heirloom sweet mini bell pepper called Yummy Orange. I got one plant that year that made long, hot peppers that turned orange when ripe. I saved seeds from that plant, which I called Hot Happy Yummy, and started growing them out. In 2011 I got one plant from the saved hot peppers seeds that made long orange peppers that were sweet instead of hot. I saved seeds from that one and called it Sweet Happy Yummy, and that is the one that I have seeds available for sharing. The peppers get between 5 and 6 inches long, have medium thick walls, and are orange when ripe. I am anxious to hear how they do for other gardeners.

I am now in the 7th generation (F7) of offspring from these peppers, and Sweet Happy Yummy has become fairly stable. My wife and I did a taste test of these this year, compared to Dolce di Minervino from Artisan Seeds and the 2011 AAS Winner Orange Blaze bell pepper. I grilled all three peppers, and the Sweet Happy Yummy was the taste winner of the three. Obviously I am not exactly impartial, but for my wife it was a blind tasting. I was excited to say the least, and thankfully I saved the seeds before cooking! Sadly, the Hot Happy Yummy is not as stable and I am only in the F4 generation for it. I will keep growing it out every year in the hopes I can get an orange hot pepper that is worth growing and eating.

For hot peppers, I have seeds for two of my favorite C. baccatum varieties. Aji Angelo pepper is probably the most useful and most-used pepper that I grow. It’s mildly hot, red when ripe, and produced in profusion on plants that can reach three feet tall in my garden. It’s also easily grown in containers, which is a good way for those gardeners in colder climates to get a jump on the season and produce ripe peppers before the first frosts come. I have had great luck in overwintering the container plants and then setting out in the ground the next year. The two year old plants get off to an early start, and get even bigger the second time around. In addition to using this pepper fresh, I  use it to make hot sauce, and dry it for powder. The peppers are also quite tasty after they are smoked and dried. I got my original seeds from Michelle (From Seed to Table) in a seed swap several years ago, and I can’t remember where she got her seeds. These I have available are seeds I saved in 2018.

The other baccatum pepper is called Aji Golden. I’ve been growing it for several years now and it is a prolific performer in my garden. It is a fairly rare baccatum pepper with mildly hot peppers, and they are a golden yellow color when ripe. It is great for fresh use as well as turning into hot sauce and powder, and I’ve also used it to make a pepper jam. It makes a good container plant too. I got my original seeds for it from Dust Bowl Seed.

Another hot pepper I find very useful is a small but fiery Thai ‘bird’ pepper, which is a name given to several different varieties of small Thai peppers. I got the seed originally from the instructor at a local cooking class, Aumpai Holt. Aumpia was born in Thailand, and she worked and taught cooking classes at Kitchen Affairs which has now gone out of business. I have been growing this pepper since 2012. The peppers are small in size but potent, and one or two are usually enough to give any dish a kick of heat. This pepper also does well in containers, and that’s where I grew it this year.

The last few years I have been growing guajillo peppers to dry and turn into chile powder. My favorite open-pollinated strain of guajillo is one I got from Dust Bowl Seed. The plants are productive, and the peppers are mildly hot and make a great tasting chile powder with just the right amount of heat for my tastes. I isolated one plant this year and saved seeds from it to share and to use myself since Dust Bowl Seed is apparently not in business anymore. I have other o/p guajillo peppers I grow, but I wanted to keep this strain going for my own use and to share with others. The plants get between two and three feet tall, and the fruits are nice sized and yield a good amount of powder when dried.

I’ve also been on a quest the last few years to find a good pepper to dry and turn into gochugaru flakes for making kimchi. Two I grew this year did quite well and when dried made gochugaru with a lovely red color and a mild heat level. I grew both of these in containers this year, and next year I want to try them planted in ground as well. The first is a hard to find variety called Kimchi. I read about this one in a Mother Earth News article called Growing Your Own Gochugaru Korean Chili Pepper Flakes for Kimchi. I got my seeds originally from Sherwood Seeds, and saved seeds from the one plant I grew. It makes peppers that get between 4 to 5 inches long.

I grew all the Korean peppers in containers this year. Kimchi did quite well, and was loaded with fruit.

The second one is called Gochugaru. I got this one as a plant from Chileplants.com, and the peppers on it get between 3 to 4 inches long. It too was loaded with peppers, and you can see them on the left in the below photo along with a Kimchi pepper on the right for comparison.

Here’s a recap of the seeds I have to share:

• Sweet Happy Yummy pepper
• Aji Angelo pepper
• Aji Golden pepper
• Thai Bird pepper
• Guajillo pepper
• Kimchi pepper
• Gochugaru pepper

UPDATE: The seed giveaway is now closed. I will try and start sending seeds out soon.

Due to custom issues and postage costs, I will limit this giveaway to folks in the U.S. or Canada.

If you are interested in any of these seeds, just leave a comment here indicating your interest. I will get back to you via email, so please use an email address you check regularly. I will be happy to send them out to you, while supplies last. And while I’m here let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy holiday season!