New year, new start

So things have been dormant for a while.  I've not had time over the winter to do much with the greenhouse but now spring is springing and I thought it was about time to dust off the propagators and get the seeds started.

Last year I planted the seeds nice and early but was then stuck with a mass of rapidly growing seedlings and nowhere for them to go until the greenhouse was built.

This year I've left it a little later to plant the seeds and I'll keep them well away from the overwintered  chillies to avoid transmitting aphids to the new seedlings when they arrive.

As for the overwintered plants, most have succumbed to mould. I didn't get round to installing the planned passive solar system in time for winter and the greenhouse has been quite damp. I'll get the heating sorted in time for the new seedlings but last year's stock has effectively been written off.

I've opted for 16 different varieties this year, a mixture of old favourites and some new superhots. I've using Growth Technology Root Riot cubes this year to see how they perform.  Although more expensive than seed trays or jiffy pellets, with fewer seeds to plant the expense is less important than the germination and survival rate.

So here are this year's contenders...

Kashmiri Mirch, Chocolate Scotch Bonnet, Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion, Trinidad 7 Pot Brown

Black Naga, Peach Bhut Jolokia, Hot Lemon, Paper Lantern

Moruglah F2, White Bhut Jolokia, Joe's Long Cayenne, Twilight (this year's Chilli Challenge seeds)

Chocolate Habanero, Fatalli, Naga Morich, Bubblegum 7 Pot

The heated propagators are up and running, the lights will come in to play once the seedlings start sprouting.

Spring has sprung (sort of)

Things have been somewhat quiet on the growing front recently.  The chilli house is performing as expected, keeping most of the plants alive.  I've lost a couple due to die-back (expected) and a few have been ravaged by aphids (not expected).

To counter the green, munching pests I've lowered the temperature in the room slightly and given the affected plants a hosing-down to remove the tenacious critters.  A couple of yellow, sticky fly traps have helped remove their flying cousins as well.

Soon I'll up the temperature and light in the room and kickstart the plants back into life - doubtless the aphids will return then so I'll need to find a suitable solution to them, perhaps this is the year to invest in some Ladybirds.

The seeds that I planted recently have been doing well. The germination rate has been superb for the seeds purchased from Simpson Seeds with a hit-rate over 90%, however the Padron seeds I collected from the family's plants in Spain have so far failed to produce a single seedling. This is a little disappointing but I had to collect the seeds from unripe fruit (Padrons are picked and eaten green), we'll just have to have another holiday in Galicia soon to collect some more...

Seedlings coming up - clockwise from bottom left: Chocolate Hab, 7 Pot Hab, Black Tongued Scorpion, Joe's Long, Ancho 

Chocolate Habanero

Due to a lack of space under the growlights I thought I'd risk the south-facing bedroom window. The weather's been a bit erratic and consequently some of the seedlings have grown a bit leggy.  When I transplant them I'll make sure the stems are buried nice and deep so they shouldn't keel over too easily and they should be ok.

The larger varieties, such as Ancho and Joe's Long, are looking quite leggy, compared to the slower growing habaneros in the background

In the meantime I've kept myself amused with some photography.  I've been drying out last year's crop of chillies in the oven and was taken with their translucent quality. A lightbox and macro lens later and I had some chilli portraits to show for my efforts.

A new season

It's that time of year again, time to start thinking about the new season and what to plant.

The hotter varieties, such as Habanneros can be quite slow growing and therefore benefit from a longer season. 

With the addition of the new grow room and a heated propagator it's the perfect excuse to make an early start to the season.  I've chosen a variety of sees this year to give me a crop for all occasions.

1. Chocolate Habanero - Very hot and full of flavour, I first grew these a few years back and although the plants flourished, they bore no fruit (except for the plants that I gave away). Determined not to be beaten, I'm given them a second try.

2. Yellow Seven Pot Habanero. This year's volcanic choice. Superhot and flavoursome, I'm looking forward to growing these gnarly pods.

3. Pimentos de Padron. I collected these seeds from our family that we visited in Galicia in northern Spain earlier this year, within just a few miles of the town of Padron itself. These randomly spicy tapas peppers are delicious when fried in olive oil and liberally scattered in salt.

4. Black Tongued Scorpion. A new one for me, these chillies resemble black scotch bonnets but with less heat. How could I possibly resist a chilli with a name like a death metal band.

5. Joe's Long Cayenne. This is our chilli challenge for this year so I felt it prudent to plant a few extra seeds for those who join the challenge late.

For planting I used a mixture of a sifted potting compost and plenty of vermiculite. Hopefully this light mix should promote good healthy roots and make the seedlings easy to pot on into a hydroponic system should I choose to do so. Here the planted seed trays are floated in water to dampen the compost. Using this technique rather than watering the compost is less likely to over-compact it.

Once soaked the trays were topped with vermiculite and placed in the heated propagator. This propagator isn't thermostat controlled I've added a thermometer so I can keep track on the temperature. For germination 25-28 C is ideal, once the seeds start sprouting then the temperature can be dropped a little. 

The heater in the chilli room is working well, rigged up to a thermostat it's keeping a steady temperature as shown by this maximum and minimum thermometer which has barely wavered in the month it's been running.

Despite the relatively low temperatures and the limited artificial light, the chillies that I've overwintered are not only coping but positively thriving. The Aji Lemon Drop that grew so prolifically during the summer has refused to stop and despite the severe haircut I gave it, is throwing out new growth already. I've cut back on the hours of light they're receiving to ensure that they're not too monstrous by the time spring comes. 

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

Spring is springing

This year's batch of seeds are doing well with most beginning to show their heads in the propagator. I've planted some Habanero varieties I've not grown before, including Peach Habs, Fruit Burst, Fatali and the wonderfully named Squat Frog. How could I resist growing a plant with such a great name.

Doset Naga seedlings

Habanero Fruit Burst

Habanero Squat Frog

The seeds came from Simpson's Seeds and the packets contained lots of helpful growing information about the varieties.  Certainly something that other seed providers could do with paying heed to.

Trinidad Scorpion, overwintered from last year

Red and Yellow Scotch Bonnets, overwintered from last year

 Most of the overwintered plants are beginning to throw out new shoots and leaves.  The Trinidad Scorpion plants are looking particularly good so I have high hopes for them.  I planted them very late last year so didn't expect to see any flowers or fruit.  Because they were so small I didn't cut them back hard before the winter so they've had a head start on some of the other plants.

Red and Yellow Scotch Bonnet seedlings

The Scotch Bonnet seedlings have been potted on to the party cups.  I've used plenty of perlite in the compost to improve aeration and water retention. Sadly the compost I used was very poor with lots of sticks and lumps in the bag.  I've sieved out the worst so hopefully it should be ok for the seedlings.  I understand the environmental reasons for avoiding peat in compost but it really does do a much better job for seeds and delicate seedlings.

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

Happy New Year

Well no recent posts and nothing much to mention. The chillies have been cut back for overwintering and are safely ensconced on the window sills inside the house.

I've rigged up the growlight to provide a little extra light during these dark months. It does an admirable job of lighting up the chillies, along with the back garden and half the neighbourhood.

As for the Chilligrow experiment, well they seem to be coping as well as the potted chillies. I've had to cut back the watering as the continually damp soil promoted mould to form on the surface of the soil. However, the chillies need less water and nutrients during the winter anyway so I doubt it will do them harm.

I'm now lining up the chillies for the new year's growth. I'm concentrating on the superhots as they offer a better return for yield per space, despite their longer growing season. The new seeds for 2013 are:

Habanero Magnum Orange
Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah
Scotch Bonnet Red & Yellow
Dorset Naga
Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Chilli)

The seeds are now planted so fingers crossed we'll be seeing some results within a week or two.

As for the chilli sauces, well I've gone from one extreme to the other. Firstly was the Christmas Cracker, a seasonal cranberry and apple with a mild chilli hit. Is was popular at the Christmas dinner table, even with those who don't appreciate the hotter sauces.

And then there was the Hellish Relish...

Three Dorset Nagas, five Black Nagas and about two dozen Red Habaneros went into making just three bottles. The hardest part of making the sauce was the tastings. After sampling half a teaspoon of the devilish brew it required 20 minutes and a pint of milk for the burn to die sufficiently before I could taste again.

There's still two bottles left but when and where I'll find anyone brave enough to tackle them remains to be seen...

Marching in two by two...

I haven't needed to top-up the pond for a while...

With all the rain we've had recently you could be forgiven for building an ark. The ground is sodden through, far to wet to do any planting outdoors.Now normally this wouldn't bother me with regards to the chillies. After all, they're either still indoors or in one of the growhouses.

A rather soggy-looking garden

However, whilst the rain itself might be welcomed by the water-boards, unfortunately it's accompanied by plummeting temperatures and a lack of sunlight. And these have had a detrimental effect on the chillies.The long and the short of it is that everything has just slowed to a crawl. The cold, damp atmosphere is the opposite of what the plants thrive in and without any sunshine, the fruit that has already grown is refusing to ripen.

The sorry-looking chillies in the allotment polytunnel have not made any great progress.

Orozco and Moroccan seedlings straining for sunlight

Pasilla Bajio seedlings

So, with all of the seedlings and more mature plants on hold until the weather breaks, I decided to turn my attention to some more seeds.I know it's getting a little late in the season to be planting any more seeds (and it's not even as if I have homes for all the plants I already have) but I had a couple of good reasons to plant some more.Firstly, not all of the seeds I planted did as well as others and in one or two cases it's left me with just one or two specimens of a particular variety.  I've already had a couple of more mature plants keel over on me for no reason and some have been less fruitful than others. So a few back-up plants wouldn't go amiss, particularly of the more tender or interesting varieties.

The propagator loaded ready for growing

Secondly, I picked up a Jiffy 7 propagator cheaply the other day as was keen to try it out compared to the various methods I've used so far this year for propagation.The Jiffy 7 system is a clean and simple way of raising seedings, using compressed coir (coconut husk) pellets that swell up in warm water as the planting medium. Once the seedings are of a sufficient size, the netted plugs can then be transplanted straight into larger pots without touching the roots and risking damage or root shock. 

One week into the trial...

...the seeds are beginning to show through

Now these pellets aren't as cheap as a bag of compost and a few seed trays so in order to ensure that none go to waste I've planted two or three seeds in each to maximise the chance of a seedling taking. In the case of more than one sprouting then the weaker ones will be pinched out.

They're being grown on top of the aquarium to benefit from the same heat source as the other seeds I've germinated this year so I'll be keeping a close eye on them to seed how they fare compared to the seed trays, peat pots and the toilet-roll tubes that I've used up to now.