Chillies are one of my favourite things to grow and some years we have had an entire glasshouse filled with 44 chilli plants of various sorts. This year I have been a bit more restrained with only 20 plants. These were raised in heated propagators, which we turned off a couple of weeks ago, but… Continue reading Potting up the chilli house
Tag: chillies
Sowing this week
This week’s main task was planting out some of the broad beans that we sowed a few weeks back. They had developed into robust young plants in perfect condition for moving on. Whilst we planted out the peas in the polytunnel, broad beans do not do so well under cover as they rely on pollinating… Continue reading Sowing this week
Replacement peppers
I recently wrote about the poor germination from some of our peppers. I contacted one of the seed merchants who had found a problem with one of the varieties and sent replacements. This has come too late, though, for a further sowing. New seed from a different supplier sown in the second batch has germinated… Continue reading Replacement peppers
Germination problems
Whilst many of my posts are quite positive about the crops we manage to produce from our kitchen garden, sometimes things do go wrong. I recall one particularly bad experience when an entire bed of overwintering peas and beans was destroyed by bean seed fly larvae – a pest I had never even heard of… Continue reading Germination problems
First sowings of the year: peppers, chillies, and aubergines
Whilst the main plot is too cold and too wet for planting, and the polytunnel is not much better, it is nonetheless time for the first sowings of the year. Peppers, chillies, and aubergines hail from warmer climes, and benefit from a long growing season so need to be started early in the year. Chillies… Continue reading First sowings of the year: peppers, chillies, and aubergines
Sowing plan – peppers, chillies, aubergines, and tomatoes
The miserable days of winter might dissuade one from venturing forth to the plot, but it is the ideal time for reviewing one’s seed collection, browsing catalogues, and deciding what to sow in the coming season. Whilst there is generally some time left for this task, some plants need an early start for best results,… Continue reading Sowing plan – peppers, chillies, aubergines, and tomatoes
Chilli harvest
With the weather turning and the chilli plants starting to look a little ragged, it was time to bring in the crop. They do not seem to suffer nearly as much from grey mould as the tomatoes, but leaving them too long in the increasingly damp conditions of the glasshouse at this time of year… Continue reading Chilli harvest
Pickling chillies
Although not perhaps the most useful of crops, chillies are one of my favourite things to grow, and I do use them a lot in the kitchen. Since installing the two large glasshouses and polytunnel, the original 10’ x 6’ glasshouse that we started with has been freed up for growing chillies throughout the summer… Continue reading Pickling chillies
To feed, or not to feed
Tomatoes, chillies, sweet peppers, and other such crops, need good fertile conditions to grow well and continue cropping throughout the season. Tomatoes in particular put on a considerable amount of vegetative growth, and produce a large amount of fruit. Providing sustenance is therefore important. Conventional wisdom suggests that feeding should commence as the first flowers… Continue reading To feed, or not to feed