Thunder Gardens in partnership with the Youth Services Bureau

Unleashthe Heat

Heat is expression. These peppers were grown from seed by young people learning to put the fire inside them to work.

Reserve your sauce Grow your seeds

The story in your seed packet

Young people in Youth Justice Services at the Youth Services Bureau started these peppers from seed under grow lights. They watched every stage, topped the plants, planted them out and harvested them by hand. The harvest outgrew their garden beds, so the rest came home to Thunder Gardens.

Then they fermented six hot sauces, and saved the seeds you are holding now.

Pain needs somewhere to go. Growing food is one of those places.

Unleash the Heat is about what to do with the fire inside. That fire is fuel, for overcoming hard things and for accomplishing great ones. Over a full twelve month cycle, the youth grow the peppers, grow themselves through the same principles, then make, market and sell the sauce.

Unleash the Heat is a Thunder Gardens product made in partnership with the Youth Services Bureau. Every dollar of profit goes to YSB to support the future of the young people who made it.

Be part of Unleash the Heat

Reserve your bottles

Six small batch fermented sauces, from mild to Carolina Reaper, ready in mid to late November. Singles are $15 and a trio of three different sauces is $40, for your table, your team or your holiday gifts. All profits go to YSB.

Reserve now

Grow your seeds

Your seed packet holds everything a pepper plant will ever be. The growing guide walks you through the whole season, from the first sowing to harvest and saving seed.

Start growing
Thunder Gardens

Come out to the farm

Some of the peppers were grown this season at Thunder Gardens, a regenerative community farm in rural Ottawa. There are two ways to get your own hands in that soil.

Join the Community Growing Collective

Neighbours come onto the land for shared work through the season, learning as they go and sharing what the season gives.

Join the Collective

Bring your team to the farm

Seasonal team days at Thunder Gardens. Your team plants, tends and harvests side by side, with a facilitated session woven through the day.

Plan a farm day
Training, facilitation and team days

Bring Jay to your team

The same fire Jay helps young people unleash is the fire a stuck team needs. Work with Jay to design your next training or team day around what your people need to grow, at your site or on the farm.

Work with Jay Get in touch

The six sauces

Small batch, lacto-fermented and bottled by the youth in 150 mL bottles. The youth are choosing the final sauce names, so each sauce is listed by its pepper for now. Pick your favourites in the form below.

Mild blend

Sweet pepper, shishito and jalapeno. Bright, tangy and gentle.

Jalapeno pepper illustration

Jalapeno

The classic. Fresh, grassy and easygoing.

Serrano pepper illustration

Serrano

Clean, bright heat with a crisp green bite.

Thai chili illustration

Thai chili

Sharp and fiery. A little goes a long way.

Habanero pepper illustration

Habanero

Fruity and floral under real heat.

Carolina Reaper pepper illustration

Carolina Reaper

For the brave. Fruity first, then a slow, serious fire.

Swipe to see all six

Reserve your sauce

Tell us what you would like and we will hold it for you. This is a reservation, not a payment.

  • Singles are $15 for a 150 mL bottle. A trio of three different sauces is $40.
  • Pick up free at a Youth Services Bureau location, or choose delivery for $5.
  • Pickup or delivery details and payment instructions arrive by email in late November.
  • Every dollar of profit goes to YSB.

Grow your seeds

Everything this plant will ever be is already inside the seed. It needs the right conditions, and you get to create them.

  1. Start in mid MarchSow one quarter inch deep in damp seed starting mix. In Ottawa, the timing carries the harvest.
  2. Warmth wakes itPepper seeds open on heat rather than light. Hold 24 to 29 C on a heat mat or a warm shelf, and allow one to three weeks.
  3. Light grows itThe day a shoot appears, give it 14 to 16 hours of light a day, about two inches above the leaves.
  4. A five gallon homeOne plant per 5 gallon pot, or plant it in the ground. Move it outside after the May long weekend, once nights hold above 10 C.
  5. Top itAt 8 to 12 inches tall, pinch out the top growing tip. One stem becomes many, and many stems carry many flowers.
  6. Tend itFull sun. Water deeply once the top inch of soil is dry. Pick green, or wait for full colour and full heat.

Carolina Reaper: start it in mid February. It germinates slowly and needs about a month longer than the rest to ripen before frost.

The five peppers

Jalapeno pepper illustration

Jalapeno

2,500 to 8,000 SHU

70 days green, 85 days red, from transplant

The classic. Crisp and grassy green, sweeter once red.

Serrano pepper illustration

Serrano

10,000 to 23,000 SHU

75 days green, 90 days red, from transplant

Thin walls and a clean, bright heat. Excellent raw in salsa.

Thai pepper illustration

Thai

50,000 to 100,000 SHU

90 days to red, from transplant

Small, slender and hot well past its size. Dries and stores beautifully.

Habanero pepper illustration

Habanero

100,000 to 350,000 SHU

95 days to orange, from transplant

Tropical and floral under real heat. Wear gloves to cut.

Carolina Reaper pepper illustration

Carolina Reaper

1,400,000 to 2,200,000 SHU

100 days and up to red, from transplant

Needs the longest season. Start it in mid February and wear gloves.

Your season

  • Mid FebruaryStart the Carolina Reaper. It needs a month more than the rest.
  • Mid MarchStart jalapeno, serrano, Thai and habanero seeds on warmth.
  • AprilSeedlings grow under lights. Move them into larger pots as roots fill each one.
  • Mid to late MaySet plants outside for a few hours a day for a week, then into their summer home after the May long weekend.
  • JuneTop each plant at 8 to 12 inches and keep watering deeply.
  • JulyFlowers open and the first peppers set.
  • Late July to OctoberHarvest. Picking often brings the next flowers.

If something looks off

Three weeks and still no sprout

Normal for peppers, and the superhots are slowest of all. Check the warmth first. Below 20 C the seed simply waits.

Seedlings tall, thin and pale

Bring the light closer and leave it on longer: two inches above the leaves, 14 to 16 hours a day.

Flowers dropping in a heat wave

Common once days pass 32 C. Midday shade and steady moisture at the roots carry the next flowers through.

Fruit still green in September

Colour comes late here. Move the pot to the warmest sheltered spot you have, and it often finishes through October.

Save seed for next year

Let one pepper ripen fully on the plant. Scrape the seed onto a plate, dry it out of direct sun for two weeks, and store it cool and dark. It stays good for two to three years. Then you get to hand it forward, the way it was handed to you.

© 2026 Jay Smith · growingwithjay.comGrown, not manufactured.