Flaming June

With the hot and humid weather recently the greenhouse has really taken off with plants springing up all over.

The third batch of seeds that I planted have popped their heads up and started growing. They're so late in the season that I'm not expecting any fruit off them this year, it's just to replace the more valuable plants that I killed in the "Aphidgate" incident.

Ancho seeds popping their head up

The Padrons harvested from Spain are growing well

The bought plants are growing well in the Chilligrows and putting out plenty of new leaves. There have been some Aphid incursions but I've been dealing with them with a jet of water (no soap this time!) and so far, so good.

The Habs in the second Chilligrow are beginning to settle in

Fed up with plant labels washing clean, I invested some time in stamping out copper labels with the aid of a letter punch set. Not too bad for Loco and Padron but a bit time consuming for Black-Tongued Scorpion. Still, they should last a few seasons, at least.

The shiny new copper labels

The drip feed system is working well (except when I forget to switch it off)

Even some of the casualties of the super-soaping have begun to recover. Again, it's unlikely that they'll fruit to year but if I can overwinter one or two of these more slow-growing varieties then it'll give me a head-start next season.

A 7 Pot Hab making a slow recovery

On non-chilli related issues, the new compost heap is working well with plenty of heat being generated. The hotter it gets, the faster it'll break down the cuttings and sterilise any seeds or roots that have found their way into it.

The compost bin is generating plenty of heat thanks to copious grass cuttings

Meanwhile, the tomatoes are racing away and now need to  be supported. Rather than go for the traditional canes (A.K.A. Punji-sticks-of-hideous-eye-death) I've opted for these string Yo-yos which are altogether neater and safer. It did require an additional bar to be screwed into the roof to support the strings but a piece of aluminium profile took care of that.