Heatwave

 With the recent heatwave the plants in the chilli houses have been growing a pace.  Space has become a premium, particularly with all the Scotch Bonnets that were planted as replacements.

The chilli forest is thriving

Flower buds forming on the Paper Lantern Hab

Some of the chillies that were overwintered from last year have started to flower, the Chilli de Arbol even has a couple of small chillies growing, the first of the year.

Black Pearl, a pretty little ornamental variety with small black fruit

De Arbol, the first to bear fruit this year

Etna, this small hot variety is very resilient and easy to grow

Whist potting on some of the larger chillies I thought it would be a good opportunity to test out some new pots.  These soft fabric root-pouches are designed to increase root growth by air-pruning the tap-roots.  As the thick taproot grows through the fabric of the bag, the root is burnt by the air and pruned short. This forces the root to throw out more of the fine side shoots, increasing the root mass and allowing more nutrients to be taken up.

I've planted up a number of the more well-established chillies and await with interested to see how they fare.

L to R Golden Cayenne, Friar's Hat, Scotch Bonnet

Some weeks back one of my Friar's Hat chillies suffered a bit of extreme pruning when an overweight moggy crashed through the roof of the chilli  house and snapped the stem in two.  Well, less than a month later the plant is looking very healthy with lots of new growth bushing out from the base.  Proof, if proof were needed, that pinching out chillies does result in sturdier and bushier plants.

26 days later... 

The heat is on...

Well we've finally seen some sunshine and the chilli house is working well, keeping the plants warm even on the overcast days.  Problem is it's working almost too well with the temperatures rocketing up to the high 30s .  This has resulted in some scorching on the delicate seedlings which are placed nearer the top of the house. 

Scorched Scotch Bonnet

I'll have to keep a closer eye on the weather but with all of the weather forecasts being so inaccurate, it's easy to get caught out when a day starts dull and then perks up by midday.

The garden is thriving, with the mass of ferns loving the rain showers and humid days. The veggies are slowly progressing but without prolonged sunshine I've got my doubts as to how many tomatoes we'll see this year.

Paper Lantern Habanero

However, the chillies are looking impressive, a Paper Lantern Hab managed to outgrow its new pot in only a fortnight, I've now transplanted it into one of the two Chilligrows to see how it fares there.

One other aspect of the garden is also thriving - the aphids.  It's become a daily routine checking for these little blighters, squashing them and hosing them off.  I've tried another method as well, a vicious concoction of crushed chillies, garlic and soap, left to steep in warm water and then diluted for use. This is sprayed onto the affected leaves and should (in theory) deter the pests.  I'm not sure about the aphids bit it's certainly deters me - the smell is quite vile and the chilli fumes catch the back of the throat. I'll keep you posted as to the success of this pungent potion.

Potting On

The seedlings on the windowsills have been doing well and it was time to pot them. This was the second batch of seedlings, planted to replace the plants I lost back at Easter. I'd planted multiple seeds into small pots and used a large amount of vermiculite in the mix. The seedlings had developed fantastic root systems, helped along by the open light mix of the compost.  I gently separated them and planted them into their own pots with a compost mix containing Perlite to help keep the air and moisture into the soil.

The root systems on these little seedlings are really impressive.

The scotch Bonnet seedlings all potted on into the obligatory plastic cups.

The new chilli house is working well and even on an overcast and rainy day is at a comfortable 20 c. I'll have to add some shelving onto the back wall to take some of the smaller pots and maximise the use of the space.

The new chilli house is packed full

Having tried my had at chilli burgers a while back and been a bit disappointed by the lack of spice, I decided to try again with a little more kick in the new batch.

The recipe was simple, a kilo of lean minced beef, half a dozen garlic cloves, salt, pepper and four of the largest red Habaneros I could find.  All blitzed and mixed, it made 8 burgers (I treated myself to a Lakeland Burger Press) and we cooked them over a good old-fashioned charcoal barbecue.

The huge Habs ready to go into the burgers

The Habanero burgers were a big hit.

The burgers were spot on for heat, having enough chilli in them to get the lips tingling and with a bit of lasting burn but without being too hot for those not used to the heat.

We popped into Cheltenham food festival the other day to sample all the fantastic produce on display.  I love food festivals, trying all the samples and talking to the actual producers of the food makes a pleasant change from the supermarket shop.

The haul of chilli produces from Cheltenham Food Festival

I took the opportunity to restock with Upton Cheyney's fantastic Chipotle sauce and we got some more of the Chilli Peanut butter from Fire Foods, having used most of the last jar to make a superb satay sauce for chicken.

I do realise that I have quite a few chilli sauces now, perhaps it's about time I started using some up before buying any more...

There are a few unusual hazards to growing chillies but I never thought cats would be one.  However, this is the sight that greeted me this morning when I went into the garden. One of the many cats in the neighbourhood (all of whom treat our garden fence as a highway) had jumped onto the roof of the small chilli house and gone straight through. Somebody needs to cut down on the Whiskas.

Time for a new roof

Fixing the roof with a sturdier sheet of polycarbonate wasn't too hard, the same can't be said for the poor Friar's Hat chilli that was underneath it at the time - a rather extreme case of pinching out.

The battered Friar's Hat

Bring on the summer

The second and third wave of chillies are now progressing well.  The sporadic sunlight is a bit of a hinderance but I'm hoping that I might get a late crop from some of the more mature plants.  

Some superhots on the windowsill

To help this along I also bought a few established seedlings from the local garden nurseries. I'd prefer to grow all my plants from seeds, not only for the satisfaction but also because it provides a wider range of chillies. The garden centres have traditionally only stocked a few of the more common varieties, such as Jalapenos and Hungarian Wax.

However, Dundry Nurseries in Cheltenham had an impressive selection of plants including some unusual varieties.  I picked up a Lemon Drop, a couple of Friar's Hats (as mine didn't make it through the winter), a Fatalii and a Naga Jolokia.

A real mixture of second and third wave seedlings with some of the shop-bought plants.

More surprising was the selection available at the normally pedestrian local Homebase.  In a "Death by Chilli" triple pack, I got a (fairly common) Scotch Bonnet, a more unusual Golden Cayenne and best of all, a Paper Lantern Hab. All for the discount price of £4.  Whilst I'm usually suspicious of buying from the big chain superstores because of their habit of forcing plants to fruit early, I've kept the chillies sheltered in the growhouse and they seem to be thriving.

Potting on the Red Scotch Bonnet

The overwintered De Arbol and Scorpions are repotted. 

The overwintered Scorpion, ready to be transplanted to a Chilligrow,

With more plants to be moved off the windowsills I decided to construct a third growhouse in the garden, this time somewhere that has more than a few hour's sun. So I set to work with paper and pen and soon had the the plans of what would become a gargantuan chillihouse.

Ready to begin

The house is built on stilts to keep it away from the cold ground and give it more sun in the late evening.

Yes, it really is that big.  This is a smaller version than the original, I reduced the size whilst making it so it didn't overshadow the neighbourhood.

The (almost) finished house. Clad in 6mm twinwall polycarbonate, it should retain the sun's warmth into the evening.

The door on the front and roof are temporary as I'll soon be replacing them with some clear perspex doors that are prettier and will allow me to see the plants. However, in the meantime the twinwall polycarb will at least keep the plants snug and warm during this week of unsettled weather.

I'll post up some photos of the finished house as soon as I can.

In other news, the Chilli Challenge is hotting up with Neil giving us a sneak peak of his entries (see the previous blog for other competitors' entries).  I'm reliably informed that they're kept under 24 hour armed guard to ensure that no-one attempts to nobble them (Not saying that he's competitive but he's already building a trophy cabinet).

They're certainly looking very impressive and I suspect that once again, this is down in part to Neil's secret weapon of a range in the kitchen which keeps the room (and his fledgling seedlings) in wrapped balmy tropical heat.

Neil's prized wedding chillies