Salsa Lover's Garden
If you love homemade salsa, setting up a salsa lover's garden might just be perfect for you. A salsa lover's garden is very easy to get started by using plants for a salsa garden purchased from garden supply stores. A salsa lover's garden require little mantenince aside from pulling weeds and occational watering during dry spells.Planning Your Salsa Lover's Garden
After the threat of frost is gone (usually in late April or May), start digging up your garden area where your salsa lover's garden will be. The first year we had someone professionally till it, and it resulted in very rich soil that needs to be tilled only once every few years. I highly recommend hiring someone who can do this, because it makes the plants for a salsa garden grow much better.The next step to creating a salsa lover's garden is to decide what you are going to plant. More on plants for a salsa garden in the next section.
Plants for a Salsa Garden
Ask yourself this - what type of ingredients are going to go in your salsa? Once you have a favorite salsa recipe, you'll need the plants to go along with it that will be planted in your salsa lover's garden. (If you need help on ingredients, see our Garden Fresh Salsa Recipe Tips)Here's a list of what you may need for plants for a salsa garden: - Tomatoes
- Green Bell Peppers
- Jalapenos
- Red Chili Peppers (planted about once every 4 years) - Onion
- Garlic
You could also add some spices to your salsa garden to use your tomatoes for other recipes such as basil, oregano, and parsley. Do not get overwhelmed though, start out small if need be.
It really doesn't matter what type of plants for a salsa garden you use, as long as you know it's what you need for your salsa lover's garden. There are several different types of jalapenos and hot peppers, so pick what you think is best. We usually have different types of jalapenos every year that use as plants for our salsa garden.
Using Plants for a Salsa Garden
While everything should be ripe around the same time and allow you to use everything at once, sometimes it won't. Tomatoes can be used as an ingredient in many recipes, or just on sandwiches. These are not hard to use when you have no peppers yet. Peppers on the other hand can be a different story.If you don't have any meals planned where you can use your peppers right away, simply freeze them. Instead of just throwing them in a bag, be sure to slice your peppers first and lay them on a cookie sheet to freeze. This way they won't stick together, and you can use small amounts in recipes at a time.
Chili Peppers can also be frozen, but since such a small amount is used and I keep them for several years. For that reason, I choose to let them dry. Put them in a place where they won't be laying on their side, and hang them to dry. Mine sit in my spice cubbard for several years and are still good.
A salsa lover's garden is not hard, and salsa is always better with fresh, home grown ingredients. Enjoy!
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