‘Serrano’ peppers are spicy and versatile in the kitchen. They make perfect salsas, marinades, and seasoning bases. Grow ‘Serrano’ pepper plants easily with this in-depth guide from gardener Jerad Bryant. Peppers are an excellent backyard crop to grow—each compact plant produces prolific amounts of fruit. With two or four, you’ll grow baskets full of produce. This variety sprouts spicy little green or red fruits. Each one can range from 10,000 to 23,000 Scoville units, meaning ‘Serrano’ peppers are two to four times as spicy as the hottest jalapeños! This variety is a staple in the backyard and the kitchen, especially for spice lovers and pepper enthusiasts. ‘Serrano’ makes salsas, stews, and casseroles punchy. When smoked, they add a deliciously complex flavor to meats, vegetables, and beans. Plant ‘Serrano’ today and enjoy its crunchiness, tanginess, and sometimes overwhelming spiciness! Whether you’re new to hot peppers or are a lifelong chile grower, this variety makes a superb addition to the garden. What Is It? ‘Serrano’ is a type of chile similar to jalapeños. The fruits are slightly shorter and spicier. Their short bodies are meaty with thin skin and grow on an average-sized plant two to three feet tall. They grow to a width of two feet and require some space in the garden when fully mature. Alongside tomatoes, onions, and cilantro, ‘Serrano’ peppers are an easy crop necessary for a complete salsa garden. Salsa gardens are unique food-growing spaces with all the plants you need to create fresh salsa. Salsa gardens are versatile—utilize each crop in foods like mirepoix, marinades, and pickled goods. With a ‘Serrano,’ ‘Anaheim,’ and bell pepper plants, you’ll grow all the varieties you need for any recipe. I recommend this combination or one similar that has a hot chile, a mild or sweet one, and a big, fleshy one for cooking and sautéing. Native Area ‘Serrano’ pepper varieties originate from two states in Mexico, Puebla, and Hidalgo. The Spanish name comes from this area, as it is incredibly mountainous. Sierra is similar to serrano and translates to “mountain.” ‘Serrano’ now grows worldwide during spring and summer. They appreciate direct sun, warm temperatures, and good airflow. They survive perennially in regions without winter frost and as annuals in all other areas. Like most other peppers, they do not tolerate freezing conditions. Characteristics ‘Serrano’ pushes out thin, herbaceous stems. Their trunks become woody over time, while the rest of the plant remains green. Off the stems sprout bright green leaves and white flowers. When pollinated, the white flowers morph into two to three-inch green peppers. Throughout the summer season, green chiles ripen to a deep red color. Peppers gain considerable heat, sweetness, and flavor as they age. Try them at all stages of ripeness to discover your favorite. Different states of ripeness coincide with various recipes, so having all stages of ‘Serrano’ fruits allows you to cook a wide range of dishes. This type’s scientific name is Capsicum annuum ‘Serrano.’ It is a member of one of five main species of domesticated peppers. Many other species originate in South America and Asia, and some have roots in parts of Mexico and North America. They all appreciate warmth, sunlight, regular water, and good drainage. Propagation Propagating chiles is easy enough with the proper tools. Chiles also need some time indoors in most areas of North America with winter cold. This gives them a jump start on the season so they produce lots of fruit and flowers under the summer sun. Once peppers grow from seeds, you can propagate them further with cuttings. Read on and learn about both methods. Seeds For best results, sow seeds eight to ten weeks before your last average frost date. Fill five-inch pots with potting soil. Then, take your seeds and place two of them a quarter inch deep in each pot. Water well, and use a seed germination heat mat to help the seedlings sprout. Pepper seeds need light and heat to germinate. Place the pots under a well-lit windowsill or grow lights. If using grow lights, keep them on for at least 16 hours. Under a windowsill, they naturally increase in size as the days lengthen from winter to spring. However, you need a good light source. Many windowsills do not have enough light to support early pepper growth. Ensure the soil stays moist but not soggy, and the seeds will germinate in 10-25 days. Keep them under lights and ensure they receive enough water as they mature. As they grow they may get root-bound in their pots. Root-bound peppers frequently dry out and exhibit slow growth. Transplant overgrown ‘Serrano’ plants into quart or gallon pots with fresh soil. Cuttings Once your chile plants have multiple stems with prominent growth, you can take cuttings and increase your pepper supply. Take six-inch cuttings in early spring or summer. Strip off their lower leaves and leave the top ones to continue growing. Stripping the leaves helps the cuttings sprout roots beneath the soil. With snips or scissors, cut the top leaves’ edges so they stop growing. This further encourages the plants to grow roots, as they’re now forced to put all their energy into root production. Take your snipped cuttings and bury them two inches deep in pots with potting soil. Water well, and place the cuttings inside under a windowsill with bright light or outside under dappled shade. Add a humidity dome for increased rooting success. Monitor your baby plants and ensure their soil stays moist but not soggy. After a week and up to a month later your cuttings should sprout roots. Successfully rooted plants sprout new growth from their stems, while unsuccessful ones drop their leaves and show signs of rot. Throw the rotting ones into the compost, and transplant the rooted ones into the garden or a container. Planting Peppers thrive in raised beds, containers, and the ground. With one in a container or five in a raised bed, this variety impresses growers with its sheer productivity. Give ‘Serrano’ moderately draining soil with lots of compost or other organic material, and they’ll create loads of fruit. Plants may experience slow growth and have little flowers when their soil is extremely sandy or thick with clay. With the proper soil, peppers thrive with little input and maintenance. How to Grow Throughout the season, ‘Serrano’ chiles thrive with little maintenance. They appreciate a few things throughout their lifetime. With some extra care and love, these plants produce copious amounts of peppers. The challenge, then, is finding enough recipes to use them all! Maintenance ‘Serrano’ specimens appreciate maintenance through cutting off any dead or diseased foliage and stems. Monitor for pests and diseases, and apply compost to the soil if the top layer thins. Harvest peppers as they form so the plants continue producing fruits and flowers until the first frost. Although not necessary, ‘Serrano’ benefits from staking or caging. Add a bamboo stake, trellis, or tomato cage, and the plants will cling to it as they grow. This makes for easy harvesting once the fruits hang down and ripen. As the last frost date approaches your region, hard prune the stems to help ripen the fruits faster. A hard prune takes the pepper’s energy from growing new leaves, stems, and shoots and redirects it toward fruit and seed formation. To hard prune, cut off all branches above ripening fruits and snip the flowers. Remove a third of the plant’s leaves to let sunlight penetrate the interiors.

Big, beautiful, and bountiful, 'Benary's Giant' zinnias are the gold standard for these low-maintenance plants. Cut flower gardener Melissa Strauss talks about growing these fabulous, mighty bloomers in your garden this season. As a cut flower gardener, zinnias are one of my favorite summer annuals to grow in the cutting garden and anywhere else. These big, bold, bright blooms are so cheerful and prolific that if you take good care of them, they will continue to bloom right up until the first frost kills them off. Zinnias aren’t just great as ornamentals. They are also a wonderful food source for all kinds of pollinators. There are few spots in the yard where I see as many butterflies as I do in my zinnia patches. Every year, I plant more, and now these beauties pop up all over the place, where I sow them, as well as where they sow themselves. Here’s how to add an extra unique blend of zinnias to your garden with ‘Benary’s Giant’ seeds! What Is ‘Benary’s Giant’ Zinnia? ‘Benary’s Giant’ zinnias are all the things that are wonderful about the Zinnia genus. Long, strong stems, big, bold, colorful flowers, and an excellent cut-and-come-again habit. As a cut flower gardener, these are at the top of my list for long-lasting and beautiful summer bouquets. I’m not the only one who feels this way about them, as the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers awarded them as their first-ever Cut Flower of the Year in 1999. Characteristics Zinnias are wonderful, sturdy, long-flowering annuals that cheer up the garden and the dining room table, too! Their slender but stiff stems make them great for cutting. Be careful when you snip, though; those stems are hollow and crush easily. The stems and leaves are slightly fuzzy, giving them a sandpaper texture. ‘Benary’s Giant’ zinnias are some of the most magnificent around, primarily because of their large, bold blooms. These flowers are extra large, at up to six inches in diameter. They’re also densely petaled and come in a wide variety of shades. You’ll love how well these hold up outdoors. They tolerate wind and rain better than most, and they stay beautiful throughout the hot months. Like all zinnias, these are pollinator magnets; bumblebees and butterflies are especially huge fans. Native Area Zinnias are native to a wide range that spans from the Midwestern United States to South America. You’ll find the greatest diversity of the plants in Mexico where they occur mainly in dry grasslands and scrub areas. They’re cultivated all over the world and naturalized in several countries. Zinnia elegans, the species that holds the ‘Benarys Giant’ cultivar, is native to Mexico, Central, and South America. Planting Zinnias are fast growers that tolerate heat well. They take about two months to grow from seed to bloom, and you can succession sow them beginning around March in warm climates. You can continue to sow seeds well into the summer months, and have tons of these blooming in the fall.

If you don’t like turnips, this delightful, sweet gourmet root will change your mind! Former organic farmer and vegetable expert Logan Hailey digs into simple growing tips for refreshing crunchy Japanese turnips that even kids will crave! If you don’t like turnips, this delightful, sweet, gourmet root will change your mind! A lot of people wrinkle their noses at the thought of turnips. These mustard-family roots often get a bad rap for their slightly bitter taste, brownish-purple color, and association with “poor man’s” cuisine. But the Japanese ‘Hakurei’ turnip turns all these generalizations on their head. Its crisp, buttery smooth texture and mild refreshing flavor are wrapped in a gorgeous white package that tastes so sweet and juicy that it’s hard to even call it a turnip! ‘Hakurei’ turnips are the trendy foodie cousins of your grandma’s classic purple top turnips. The snow-white rounded roots have a delicate fruity flavor tasty enough to eat raw! They have recently gained popularity in American farm-to-table cuisine. Once you try them, you’ll probably never garden without them again. The ‘Hakurei’ is remarkably easy to grow, requiring similar space and maintenance to a radish. Just be sure you sow a lot because these roots disappear quickly once you discover how tasty they are straight from the garden. Let’s dig into everything you need to know about growing sweet Japanese turnips! Surely, they will reclaim the humble turnip’s reputation in the garden! History and Cultivation Turnips and their rutabaga relatives have been cultivated for thousands of years. Because the turnip root is so hardy, frost-resilient, and easy to grow, they were often considered a food source for the poor. The easily storable roots provided enough sustenance for farmers and livestock throughout the winter. European aristocrats refused to eat them. However, this humble vegetable was a staple for a reason: it is remarkably resilient! Turnips are simple to cultivate, low-maintenance, easy to store, and nutritious. Their native origins likely came from wild mustards growing throughout Europe and Asia. As members of the Brassicaceae or cruciferous family of vegetables, turnips are also related to broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi. What is ‘Hakurei’ Turnip? ‘Hakurei’ is a variety of turnips with tender white round roots best harvested when they reach golf-ball size or slightly larger. The flavor is delicate and slightly fruity, between an apple and a mild radish. Unlike their dense storage root relatives, these fresh-eating turnips don’t need to be cooked and are often best enjoyed straight from the garden! You can prepare them in salads, slaws, kimchi, quick pickles, soups, roasts, and sautés across many cuisines. Also known as Tokyo turnips, salad turnips, or Japanese turnips, ‘Hakurei’ was developed in Japan around World War II and has since become a popular hybrid seed variety widely available in the United States. The root vegetable has a juicy, refreshing sweetness that can be enjoyed raw, pickled, boiled, or roasted, setting it apart from the dense starchiness of standard turnips or potatoes. Where Did ‘Hakurei’ Turnips Originate? ‘Hakurei’ turnips were developed by plant breeders in Japan during World War II. The mildly sweet, buttery-crisp roots have thin, pearly white skin that doesn’t require peeling or much cooking. As Japanese people faced severe food shortages in the 1940s and 50s, farmers and gardeners turned to this quick-growing, nutrient-dense crop to help feed masses of hungry people. Recall that Japan was prohibited from trade with the United States in 1941. Previously, they were heavily dependent on food imports. Farmers were forced to jump into action when international food was cut off practically overnight. ‘Hakurei’ turnips became an important substitute for the inadequate rations of rice, beans, and insects. They grow quickly and easily and can be eaten fresh. Propagation If you’ve ever grown a radish, you’ll be delighted to find that the delectably smooth and crisp ‘Hakurei’ requires almost the exact same care and conditions. The small black brassica seeds are best sown directly in the garden. Direct Sowing The best time to plant turnips is in the cool weather of fall or spring. However, you can plan for multiple successions of ‘Hakurei’ turnips throughout early summer. The plants tolerate moderate frost but prefer to germinate in cozy soil around 65-80°F. If you’re unsure, use a soil thermometer probe before planting. Prepare a weed-free seed bed, optionally raking smooth a 1” layer of compost over the surface. Create shallow furrows ¼” to ½” deep in rows 12-18” apart. Disperse the turnip seeds in 2-4” wide bands, each seed about 1-2” apart. Sowing in Clusters Some farmers sow in clusters of 2-3 seeds every 2”, allowing you to selectively harvest and thin them as they mature. Like radishes, salad turnips don’t mind growing in little bunches as long as there is room for each bulb to grow 1-2” in diameter. Avoid sowing too densely, or it will be difficult to sort through the jumble of greens to properly thin. Gently cover with a thin layer of soil. Avoid burying too deeply, or the seeds may not have enough energy to reach the surface. Maintain continuous moisture with a watering can or fan-nozzle hose. Germination takes 7-14 days. After germination, you can use your fingernails to pinch away any overcrowded seedlings. Be careful not to yank or disturb the baby plants you want to keep. Row Cover is Highly Recommended A row cover is highly recommended no matter where you direct seed your salad turnips. These quick-growing roots are, unfortunately, very popular amongst flea beetles. The flea beetles prey on young crops and can decimate the leaves with a million tiny shotgun holes that can quickly skeletonize seedlings. As an organic farmer, I never ever seeded turnips without a row cover. I left the row covers over the plants for the entirety of their 30 to 40-day lifecycle. The row fabric creates a physical barrier to keep pests out. It also creates a warm microclimate that can speed up germination. ‘Hakurei’ turnips grown under cover yield more beautiful, flawless, and blemish-free pearly white roots with tender mustardy greens. The key to successful row cover use is installing irrigation underneath the fabric. The soil moisture will be uneven if you try to overhead water through the fabric. It’s best to use drip lines or soaker hoses under the fabric. Otherwise, remove the fabric to water with a hose and drape it back over the top. No hoops are required for this low-growing crop. The fabric can gently “float” over the surface of the greens. Be sure you weigh down the edges with sandbags or smooth rocks to prevent the cover from blowing away. Transplanting from Cell Trays While less common, you can also transplant these turnips or grow them in containers. Many people believe it’s not possible to transplant taproot crops (this is true for carrots and fragile cucurbits), but turnips don’t mind transplanting. This is a great way to get a head start in spring and protect young plants from pests. Biodegradable pots or a paper pot are the best for transplanting root crops because you don’t have to remove the plant from the container. If you don’t have access to biodegradable pots, you can use a 144-cell tray. Fill containers with a well-drained soil mix and sow clusters of 2-3 turnip seeds in each cell. Seeds should be planted ¼ to ½ inch deep and lightly covered with vermiculite or potting mix. Maintain consistent moisture until germination, keeping the trays in the same full sunlight area as your other seedlings. When the seedlings are 2-4” tall, you can prepare them for transplanting by slowly reducing water and hardening them off for a few nights outdoors. Planting The best time to plant gourmet salad turnips is spring or fall. However, in mild climates, these quick-turnaround root crops can be sown in continuous succession throughout the summer. Here are some more details for a streamlined and successful planting process: How to Grow You will have no problem growing Tokyo turnips if you’ve successfully grown a radish. The keys to success are: Using row cover Loamy, well-drained soil Consistent moisture Proper spacing and thinning Timing your harvest