End of year report.

The completed collection of chilli products for the wedding.  Needless to say they were a great hit and disappeared almost instantly.

Well the summer has been and gone (yes, that was it, blink and you missed it) and now I'm preparing the lucky chosen chillies for overwintering in the warm and consigning the less fortunate ones to the compost heap for recycling.

This last year was very much about experimenting with new varieties and learning as much as I could about chilli horticulture. And despite the disappointing summer, I've still learned a great deal and have much more of an idea what I want to grow next year.

So, what pearls of wisdom can I share? Well I don't claim to be an expert but there are some tips I can pass on...

Grow under glass. Chillies love the heat and the sun. Although some plants did cope outdoors, they struggled compared to their compatriots who were in the tunnel or the greenhouse. If you've only got windowsills to offer then go for one or two hot varieties to provide all your chilli needs, rather than trying to grow dozens of varieties in the unpredictable British outdoors.

Even under glass, slugs are a perpetual problem.  Don't think that the heat of chillies will deter them from snacking on your prize plants.

Pollinate by hand when you can. Particularly if you grow indoors, you can't rely on the insects to give you a bumper crop.

Don't overwater. Whilst chillies can cope with drying out, being swamped will stunt their development.

Grow varieties you'll use. Sounds obvious really but if you like Caribbean cooking then grow Scotch Bonnets, if you like Thai then grow Birds Eye Chillies. No point going to all that effort and then not using the fruit of your labour.

These cayenne chillies dry very well due to their thin skin.  They can then be easily ground for flakes.

Write the name of the plant on both sides of the label. So much easier to identify plants on the windowsill if you're not having to remove the label to read it.

Overwinter the strong plants. Those chillies that I've had for a few years now are producing bumper crops on sturdy branches. So save the best fruiting plants and get an early start on next year's crop.  Cut the plants back to 6" or so of good strong stem with plenty of side shoots.  Keep them relatively dry and cool but don't let the temperature dip below about 10 Celsius. They'll stay dorment whilst there is less light around and then in spring, start feeding and watering them and they'll start throwing out shoots.

Deforestation! Some of the chilli collection, chopped back for winter.

Cayenne Chilli that's now 3 years old

So who were the star performers of 2012 and who will be taking home a less than satisfactory report?

Top of the class goes to the Superchilli and the Scotch Bonnet. Easy to grow, sturdy plants producing a mass of fruit. Definitely ones to overwinter. The Scotch Bonnet also produced an amazingly fruit sauce, dubbed Sunburn.

Late starters are my novelty chillies, the Peter Pepper and the Monkey Face. Both failed to make much of a showing until the season was nearly over. They're now on the windowsill, hopefully ripening the remaining fruit before I cut them back for the winter.

Could try harder goes to the Jalapeño and the Tabasco plants. Despite producing sturdy plants they failed to set much fruit and were an overall disappointment for such famous chillies.

Detention for the Chocolate Habanero for failing to produce a single fruit. Despite having four flourishing plants, smothered in flowers, not a single chilli has been forthcoming. I'll overwinter one or two just to see if they can redeem themselves next year but I won't hold my breath.

The ornamental varieties performed well, Orozco, Loco, Black Pearl and Twilight all drawing admiring glances. The fruit has been useful as well, despite the relatively small size. I'll keep them going overwinter, if for no other reason than to brighten the place up.

Orozco

I was messing around with the camera the other day and decided to photograph some of the chillies that I'd dried earlier in the year. Interesting what's revealed under a macro lens.

Padron

Big Jim

Friar's Hat

Chilhuacle Negro