No, not Monty’s dog!

But a chilli pepper. I didn’t give him that name, he came with it.

He sits in the corner window of my classroom, next to the Purple rainbow chillies. Now whilst these are quite spindly and delicate looking, Nigel is a rather robust, leafy looking creature, created with a flurry of flower buds. There are easily a dozen or so on the plant; at his highest point he is 25 centimetres tall. Smaller by a great deal compared to the 42 centimetre tall sweet peppers a couple windows down the room.

The blooms have a beautiful baby yellow tinge about. As mentioned previously, the plant itself is a robust thick stemmed creature. Suggesting that at some point in its pedigree; there may have been a pepper involved.

I’m hoping that Nigel will crop before the end of term on mid July. As will the three sweet peppers. I am convinced that there grow a matter of centimetres daily; and will soon outgrow the window. These too are blooming. Quite a number of buds have developed. How they are too be transporter home, I do not know.

Delicately poised are the purple raj blow chillies, no bigger than Nigel really. And the key word is delicate. Two flowers have opened, a white bloom; with a purple rink formed by the edges of the petals. The plan may be to try and over winter these inside.

Yours in anticipation,

Horticultural Hobbit