Sunday 13 September 2015

The Chilli that came in from the cold

My poor old chillis are not enjoying the weather. Although we have had three or four quite nice sunny days this past week, it has still been cold, especially at night time. Because of this I have brought indoors some of my chilli plants - unfortunately there is not room for all of them. I chose the ones most likely to produce a viable crop.

The windowsills of our Guest Room, bathroom and my upstairs "study" are now adorned with chilli plants. It's just like Springtime all over again! (Not).


You'll notice I have been very careful not to damage the paintwork of the windowsills. Each pot stands in a plastic saucer, and these in turn stand on some pieces of old rubber-backed carpet tile.

This chilli plant is the "Ring of Fire". It is laden with fruit, but almost all of them are still completely green. Only one or two f the very little ones show any sign of ripening. I hope that the additional warmth will persuade them to get a move on!


This is that unidentified Turkish one. It has some very large fruits, and one or two of them are just beginning to turn brown, which will eventually be replaced by red.


This is the "Caribbean Antillais". It has masses of fruits, although they are individually very small. Still, several of them are evidently nearly ripe. Getting a decent photo of the interior of the plant wasn't easy, I can tell you.


Well, I can safely say now that I will get a chilli crop of some sort, even if the chillis are green. Actually we do use green chillis in our cooking sometimes, so this wouldn't be such a bad result.

Meanwhile, out in the cold.... These are some of the unlucky plants that didn't make the cut:

This is "Cayenne". Its fruits are mostly nearly ripe, so I reckoned it could probably manage a few more days outdoors, making way for some of its more deserving siblings.


This is "Indian Chilli Bullet". Nearly there...


Even one or two of the "Brazilian Starfish" ones are showing a bit of colour. As with most varieties, it seems to me the smallest fruits that ripen first.


It's just a shame that none of them were starfish-shaped. They have come out looking more like the traditional Scotch Bonnet shape.

7 comments:

  1. We are having one of our warmest Septembers that I can remember. Right now we are in a cooler spell, but it won't last. I hope your chilies ripen well in their new warmth.

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  2. Mrs Willis must be very tolerant Mark. Mrs Mills - but now my wife - would have something to say!
    I expect ripening of peppers - like tomatoes - is warmth related and you will get some good peppers.

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  3. Your chillis look to be doing much better now than at the start of the year when it was touch and go for most of them. Just goes to show that even in a year with very little summer, most things turn out ok in the end.

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  4. All looking good, Mike has had a very good harvest this year also. Far too many scotch bonnets but he enjoys giving some away.

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  5. Well, looks like you will at least be getting a few chilies now. We have had some chilly nights recently but the weather is set to turn (once again!) this week, so I'm hoping that the fruits on my peppers hurry up and ripen before the true winds of fall start to blow.

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  6. I like the intrigue of the title! You'll get some chillies out of the season yet!

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  7. I don't think it's Brazilian Starfish that you have there, Mark. More like Brazilian Rainforest.

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