Not long left...

...before harvest time.

Some welcome Autumn sun is helping the chillies ripen and I suspect that we only have a few weeks left before the November frosts put an end to the growing season.

Looking like a good harvest this year

There's plenty of unripe fruit on the plants and a good number now turing red (or in some cases yellow). The Chilligrows are once again proving their worth with the plants growing at tremendous rates (despite or because of the brutal pruning they received recently).

The Chilligrow chillies looking promising

Trinidad Scorpion

I've not yet tasted a Trinidad Scorpion and am somewhat wary about doing so.  I've got two of these plants in the Chiligrow and although both have produced some fruit, I'll probably only retain one for next year (assuming it survives the winter).

Friar's Hat

The Friar's Hat has yet to ripen any fruit but there are plenty of the odd-shaped fruit on the three plants.  When they ripen, these fruit are reserved for the Frisky-Friar Jam that I made a couple of years back.  A tangy sweet jam, not too hot but perfect with cheese and crackers.

Peach Habanero in the 'Gurgler'  Flood and Drain hydroponic uni

I already have plans to redesign the 'Gurgler' Flood and Drain system that I built this year.  I'd like to use it with the plants in Root-Pouches so you get the benefit of the airflow from the flood and drain and also the air - pruning from the root pouches.

An amazing crop of Paper Lantern Habaneros

The Paper Lantern habanero is just incredible with the branches sagging under the weight of all the fruit.  With these chillies rated 350,000 to 450,000 Scovilles, I'll have plenty available for hot sauce production.

Scotch Bonnet grown in a Root Pouch

I love Scotch Bonnet Chillies, not only do they have an amazing fruity taste but the heat level is such that you can use them in everyday cooking or blow your head off if you prefer.  I love Caribbean food and these are the staple chilli for Jerk Seasoning. For one of the tastiest curries you'll find, try this Levi Roots recipe (but don't be a wimp, put the whole chilli in, seeds and all).

I've got a number of Scotch Bonnets on the go this year, including a yellow version for making my 'Sunburn' sauce, a fruity, medium hot sauce using Mango and Papaya.  Hopefully I'll have enough fruit to keep up with demand for this popular sauce.

Exodus

Due to work commencing on the garden it was decided to move the chilli collection en-mass to a new location (namely my long-suffering parents' garden).

I've been frantically giving away as many plants as I could to reduce the number to relocate so by the time the exodus was upon us I was down to a mere(!) 50 or so plants.

They were duly crated up and loaded into the car for the short hop to pastures new.  Likewise, the various chilli houses were disassembled and, with the aid of a trailer, reunited with the plants.

One of the two Chilligrows L-R; Friar's Hat, Lemon Drop, Superchilli

The plants in the Chilligrows were the hardest to transport, the plants having grown massively (despite frequent and ruthless pruning) and were laden with fruit and flowers that I was keen to avoid damaging.

The roots of this Lemon Drop have escaped into the reservoir below

In the departure lounge - the first batch ready to be moved.

A Trinidad Scorpion with a perfectly formed 'stinger'

The mighty Scotch Bonnet plant is doing exceptionally well in the Root-Pouch.

Plenty of Habaneros in their temporary greenhouse home

These were supposed to be De Arbol seeds but I'm beginning to have my doubts.

The pretty (and bountiful) Black Pearl

Etna is laden with small glossy pods waiting to ripen

Capa Conic

The Chilligrows in their new home L to R: Paper Lantern, 2 x Scorpion, Lemon Drop, Superchilli & Friar's Hat

Plenty of hot fruit forming on the Paper Lantern Habanero

Joe's Long Chilli

As for the hydroponic experiment, well it got off to a slow start when I realised that I'd only mixed the nutrients to a third of the desired strength.  However, the plants have been busy catching up with their soil-based companions and have finally overtaken them.

Both plants now have plenty of flowers and the Orange Hab also has fruit forming.  The plants seem very healthy with plenty of foliage.  I'll probably have to provide them with some support before too long as the clay pellets don't support the stems and roots as well as the much denser soil does.

L to R: Peach Habanero, Orange Magnum Habanero

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain

So after the sun comes the rain.  Thankfully the chillies have been sheltered from the worst of it by the shanty-town of coldframes that now comprise the garden.  I had to build yet another one recently to cope with the rapidly growing plants.

The new chilli house is on the left with the two older ones in the background.

This one is an open-fronted house which keeps the worst of the rain off whilst still allowing the vital insects to get in and pollinate the plants. Speaking of insects, the garden has been buzzing with wasps, bees, butterflies and even our resident dragonfly.  It's reassuring that we've created a habitat that is so welcoming to insects, birds and frogs.  Now if we can just stop the neighbour's cats from killing any more of the aforementioned wildlife then we'll be on to a winner...

So the bees have been busy in the garden, pollinating lost of chilli flowers...

...and making the most of the luxury accommodation.

There are plenty of pods on the chillies now, a little more sunshine to enable them to ripen and we'll have plenty of fruit for making sauces and chutneys.

Chili de Arbol - Mexican Tree Chilli.

This Scotch Bonnet is laden with flowers, and plenty of fruit on the way.

Black Pearl, small ornamental plant with beautiful dark leaves.

Bit of an odd one here - Capa Conic chilli.  I can't find much information about this one.  This plant is one of a couple that's a couple of years old and has plenty of pale yellow pods.  Not sure on the heat as I've yet to test them.

The Golden Cayenne is throwing out plenty of large pods and is rapidly outgrowing the chilli-house.

It's getting very crowded in the big chilli-house. Trinidad Scorpions, Paper Lantern Hab, Lemon Drop, Friar's Hat and a small Super Chilli all competing for space. Not helped by the Arisaema (Cobra Lily) sneaking in at the front.

The Chilligrow planters are working superbly with all of the plants growing at a frightening rate.  Even with the large reservoir of water beneath them, I'm still having to top it up every fourth day.

The plants in the soft Root-Pouches are also growing very well with plenty of strong branches and flowers forming.

This year I haven't put support stakes or sticks in any of the pots, even for the tall varieties like Joe's Long and Friar's Hat.  The plants in the grow houses are so cramped now that they barely have room to move but even the ones with a bit more legroom are still very sturdy.  I suspect that a combination of giving them more moving fresh air, no support sticks and pinching out the tops has encouraged stronger stems and sturdier branches.

The Etna plant from last year is smothered in pods.

The small chilli-house holds many of last year's plants.

A wealth of flowers on the Paper Lantern Hab with a few small pops forming.

The Super Chilli has finally sprung to life and is throwing out flowers and pods.

Some of the Scotch Bonnets and Habs in their overnight shelter.

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

Slow progress...

...it really is! Slowly the chillies are growing, slowly they're ripening but it takes the patience of a saint waiting for a decent crop.

For the forthcoming nuptials (yes, I'm getting hitched in a scarily-close five-weeks time) I've purchased a box full of miniature jam-jars and bottles to fill with chilli-related goodness. However, with the rate at which chillies are ripening in the inconsistent sunshine, I may be struggling to fill them all.

Thankfully, Claudio (the father-in-law to-be) has a regular production line of scorchingly hot Padron chillies on the go so I may have to make a special Galiciaian ex-pat sauce in his honour.

Padrons are supposed to be small, green and mild.  Not the way Claudio grows them!

However, all is not lost yet. The yellow scotch bonnet plant is doing well with half a dozen large fruit beginning to ripen. I'm particularly proud of this one as I grew it from seed rescued from a chilli bought at Sainsbury's. How's that for value for money, I got a tasty Carribean meal and a chilli plant for less than the cost of a packet of seeds!

The distinctive ribbed shape of the  Scotch Bonnet

I've had some success with my own Padrons with a steady supply of fruit. However, the superhots are still to make much of a showing with only flowers on the Black Nagas and not even any open flowers on the Chocolate Habaneros.

A reasonable crop of (slightly smaller) Padrons

It would appear that the mystery chilli seeds given to me by a colleague (previously referred to as 'Gino Chillies') are in all likelihood either Ballon or Friar's Hat. Now the plant has fruited it displays a healthy crop of the distinctive tricorn fruits.

Gino's chillies

Friar's Hat

Many of the other plants, particularly the Hungarian Hot Wax and the Cayennes have a good stock of green fruit, we're just waiting for the sun to give them a but of a boost and ripen them up in time for some wedding-themed hot sauces and jams.

Hungarian Hot Wax

Hungarian Hot Wax

The Loco plants are still producing a steady crop of small fruit

Cayenne

The late TrinidadScorpion, De Arbol and Cappa Conic seedings are thriving on the windowsill.