We love a theme in the garden! If a pasta sauce, salsa, or herb cocktail garden doesn’t appeal to your taste buds, we recommend you give this hot sauce garden a try. Continue reading to learn how to grow your own hot sauce ingredients along with our own hot sauce recipe.
Planting a Garden of Hot Sauce Ingredients
This how-to is for people who are fans of spicy food!
One of the reasons planting a garden for hot sauce is so fun is because you can tailor the variety of peppers you include to your preferred spice level. It’s completely customizable to your taste buds.
To give you a place to start, here are a few plants you can include in your fermented hot sauce garden:
- Fresno peppers
- Jalapeno peppers
- Ancho peppers
- Poblano peppers
- Habanero peppers
- Ghost peppers
- Thai chili peppers
- Serrano peppers
- Scotch bonnet peppers
- Cayenne peppers
- Anaheim peppers
- Pepperoncini peppers
- Tabasco peppers
- Garlic
- White onion
Keep in mind that you can put together a mix of both hot and sweet peppers to create the perfect balance. You don’t have to make it scorching hot just for the sake of it. You should choose a blend of peppers that you personally enjoy eating!
Tips for Successfully Growing Hot Peppers
To help make your hot sauce garden a roaring success, here are a few tips for growing hot peppers:
- Give them enough sun: Hot peppers require at least 6-8 hours of full sun every day. Giving them the proper amount of sunlight will ensure they have enough fuel to produce a bountiful harvest.
- Amend your soil instead of over-fertilizing: Contradictory to what you might think, pepper plants will actually produce fewer peppers if you over-fertilize them. To avoid this, try amending the soil with compost and organic material when you plant your starter plants.
- Check on them regularly: While peppers are fairly easy to grow, they still require routine care! Keeping a close eye on them means you can catch any potential pests, diseases, or issues early before they become a big problem. This also ensures they’ll receive enough water and sunlight to produce an ample amount of peppers.
- Prune their first flowers: While this might feel counterproductive, pinching back the first set of flowers on your pepper plants can actually help them grow stronger and produce a fuller harvest.
Hot Sauce Recipe
Making hot sauce from your own ingredients is such a rewarding experience! Whether you’re going to keep it all for yourself or share it with friends, here is a basic hot sauce recipe to try with the ingredients you grow from your own garden:
Ingredients:
- 500 mL of water
- 280 grams of your preferred blend of peppers
- 1 small white onion
- 3 finely chopped cloves of garlic
- 250 mL of 5% vinegar
- 4 grams of salt
Directions:
- Add all the ingredients, except for the vinegar, into a sauce pan.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.
- Allow the mixture to cool.
- Add the mixture and the vinegar to a blender and puree until your desired consistency is reached.
- Add a pinch of salt and store in a disinfected glass jar.
- This hot sauce lasts up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.
Did you try this recipe? Let us know how it went by tagging us on Instagram @ UrbanRootsGardenMarket!
Plant Supplies at Urban Roots Garden Market
Our friendly gardening experts are here to guide you throughout the growing season! Whether you’re browsing for ingredients for your hot sauce garden or searching for flowers to adorn your outdoor spaces, our garden centres have the plants you’re looking for. Find the location in your neighbourhood here.
