Start the ball rolling

Ok, so weather wise we've only just finished digging ourselves out of the snow so it might seem a bit optimistic to think that spring is already here. However it is officially Imbolc, the Gaelic festival marking the beginning of spring.

The new arrivals, Scotch Bonnets, Dorset Nagas and Orange Habaneros

So what better time to start the ball rolling with the chillies.  The seedlings I planted a few weeks ago are doing well and today I've planted another small batch of seeds to fill in the gaps of those that didn't sprout.



The plants that I overwintered in the Chilli-Grows have been given a tidy up and I'm starting to feed them again.  One plant didn't survive, a Chocolate Habanero, so that's been uprooted and replaced with one of the Black Nagas that I had in a smaller pot.






The Chocolate Habs were a real disappointment last year, of the half a dozen plants that grew, only one produced fruit and that happened to be one that I'd given away to a colleague.  I'm trying Magnum Orange Habaneros this year so we'll see how they perform.


I kept some plants in the coldframe outside with a heater set to 10 degrees to see how they managed.  One or two died due to mold or die-back (where the stems turn brown and hollow).  However, there's a number that seem to have made it through.  They're looking a little worse for wear with some dead stems and lots of dried leaves.  Over the next couple of weeks I'll clean them up and start feeding them in an attempt to kickstart them back into action.

Sunburn being made - it's quite a limited edition

I used up the last of the frozen Yellow Scotch Bonnets  from last season by making some more 'Sunburn' Sauce.  It's a sweet, tropical sauce using mangos and papaya.  It's not too insanely hot but has a nice lingering burn on the mouth and lips, a lot, I suspect, due to the quantities of ginger in there.


'Sunburn' has to be the most popular sauce I've made so I've ensured that there are plenty of Scotch Bonnet seedlings in the propagator.  If I can get enough fruiting then I could have a bit of a production line going for the Sunburn and maybe even sell a few bottles.

Finally, those of you that took up the Chilli Challenge at our wedding need to start getting those seeds planted soon. If you're in need of propagators, pots or advice then drop me a line and there's some helpful hints here