I know it's a bit difficult to see this in the photo above, but most of my six plants are about 50cm or so tall. The one exception is "Pinocchio's Nose" (3rd from right), which is considerably taller. All of the different types have set a decent quantity of fruit. The one with the least quantity makes up for its deficiency in quantity by scoring the most points for "artistic interpretation":
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| This is "Pinocchio's Nose" |
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| "Fuego F1" |
The "Hot Portugal" is the most advanced, in terms of ripeness. The first few of its fruits are all ripening together. Their colour is fantastic - really vibrant - but it has taken them a long time to get to this half-red stage. The first red colour showed nearly three weeks ago.
The fruits of "Short Fat" (my invented name for an unknown variety) have not grown in size for ages. They are still about the size of an average cherry. I think this is as big as they are going to get. Did I mention that I think they may actually be the variety called "Cherry Bomb"? The first one of the fruits is just turning red now.
The fruits of the one I call "Long Medium" are completely different this year. Last year they were much longer and thinner; this year they look just like small Bell Peppers / Capsicums - short and squat:
This is presumably as a result of hybridisation - or inter-breeding - between the various varieties, which are notoriously promiscuous at the best of times. The seed for this year's plant came from last year's plant, but it has very obviously not "come true".
Last of the set is "Serrano", grown from the free seeds from "Wahaca" restaurant. So far this plant is unremarkable. Not huge; not amazingly prolific; its fruits are so far small and insignificant. Will they make up for this by being brilliant in terms of flavour and/or heat? Who knows?
I always grow my chillis in big (12") pots, so that I can move them around at will - keeping them under cover in the Spring until they are well established, then being able to move them about the garden into sunny positions during the Summer (wishful thinking), and finally letting me bring them indoors in the Autumn if the fruits don't all ripen before the weather turns cold. It's easier for feeding them too. I give mine a weekly dose of tomato food..
I always grow my chillis in big (12") pots, so that I can move them around at will - keeping them under cover in the Spring until they are well established, then being able to move them about the garden into sunny positions during the Summer (wishful thinking), and finally letting me bring them indoors in the Autumn if the fruits don't all ripen before the weather turns cold. It's easier for feeding them too. I give mine a weekly dose of tomato food..
You have chillies that look like sweet peppers and we have sweet peppers that look like chillies.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realise you kept your chillis outside. I have always kept mine in the greenhouse along with the sweet peppers. Is this wrong?
ReplyDeleteElaine: If I had a greenhouse I'd grow my chillis in it too. They like as much warmth as they can get. They do eventually ripen outdoors, but you have to be patient.
ReplyDeleteDo you freeze some of your chili harvest? We freeze some of ours so we have some supply when our chillies are not fruiting anymore.Many of our perennial chilli plants that has undergone it 3rd winter season died this winter. So I have to plant many more plants next spring.
ReplyDeleteYes, we do freeze some of the chillis, for use during the Winter. I don't think they are as good as fresh ones though. They do tend to go a bit soggy when de-frosted.
ReplyDeleteYour plants look really healthy. Mine had yellowing leaves and are almost finished. I think my pots were way too small, so will have to make some changes next year. My hot chilli peppers weren't very hot either(?).
ReplyDeleteYou're going to have a nice harvest. I was wondering if the chilies would get soggy if I freeze them. I guess I'll have to put that pressure canner to use. Don't want soggy peppers.
ReplyDeleteYour chillies look great - I'm about to repot mine and see if they start growing again (they go very dormant - or is that die...over winter) - I hope they look as good as yours - I struggle to get them to that size growing them in pots I think i pot them up too early and they get unhappy surrounded by too much potting mix.
ReplyDeleteThey look great Mark. My plant seems to be producing a lot of baby chillis but they don't seem to be growing! How do I know if they should be green or red?
ReplyDeleteAlison: according to my reckoning, all chillis should eventually turn from green to some other colour, such as red, orange or purple. Green generally indicates that they are unripe. Of course you can eat them green, but they probably won't be as spicy as they will be when they colour-up.
ReplyDeleteLove the "artisitic interpretation" chillies! I failed with Pinochio's Nose last year so didn't try again this year. We haven't tried any of ours yet, MIL keeps buying chillies from Aldi, but the purple Numex Twilight ones are intriguing me. Will you over winter any of your plants?
ReplyDeleteIf your 'short fat' is from the West Indies, it is probably what they call a 'Scotch Bollock'. Excuse my French.
ReplyDelete