Monthly Archives: March 2014

Experimental Chillies and be;;s

California wonder sweet pepper

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Having sunk lots of hot peppers, I had neglected to sink sweet peppers. An emergency sowing was sunk on that realisation. Six seeds were sank into yogurt pots and placed upon a window sill. I didn’t put these into the heated prop as it was full. And you can tell the difference. That which comes out of the heated prop, is usually a thin wiry seedling. These have a much thicker seedling and look far more robust. These are staying in the window sill. I have added a few more bits of dirt, to help bolster the seedlings. I wouldn’t want them to keel over know. I think there is there a fourth seedling in there ready to sprout. The seed case has visibly cracked.

chillies, Experimental Chillies and be;;s, Superhots 2014

Chilli check in

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The last few days has seen mild spring like weather. Weather that window sill babies have been basking in; least of all the chillies. I am growing the chillies from cold, I am not using grow lights or heated mats. This means that the chillies are perhaps a little smaller, and their growth rate is little below than those with grown with sophisticated equipment. So one has a bit of capsicum envy.

See I know full well that at this time of the year, chillies will be diminutive. A couple more weeks, and they will start to pick up and plume. That does feel a little like a distant memory, and it’s quite a leap to fully fledged, foliaged plants ready to be transplanted to the poly.

Whilst the sun is out, the chilies are loosely lidded with a prop cover. They are sat on reflective aluminium foil to help absorb some heat and light to keep the plants from getting too cold at night and then keel over. With the second Superhots are sunk, I would like to be optimistic. However I’ve been told that Jamaican jerk is very difficult!

classroom experimentation

Leek and leverage

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Diddly yes, but decent enough for shepherds pie. These were the first ever batch. There is a second batch sat in the Wendy house.

Think these are meant to be hobbit sized!

Superhots 2014

Second superhot sinking

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I saw a fellow growers lovely Jamaican jerk peppers and had a fit of green eyed monster 😉 well, I did plan to sow some anyway.

Have made a second sowing of orange habanero. Jamaican jerk has been sown, as well as hot scotch-red- and scotch bonnet yellow. I have placed one scotch bonnet yellow on the window sill to experiment. Housed in a food bag, this is a comparison test. Do far, scotch bonnet has failed in the heated prop as just dries out completely. With the foodbag, perhaps the moisture will be retained.

Superhots 2014

Dorset and Bengle Naga

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The superhots are currently sat by a window, occasionally bathing in the sun. Whilst I have tobasco, chocolate habenero and serrano from http://www.seedparade.co.uk/ I have the Dorset and Bengle Nagas from http://www.seaspringseeds.co.uk/ There is even a dorset naga growing challenge which I am thinking about signing up to. http://www.seaspringseeds.co.uk/seed-shop?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=269&category_id=59

I have never grown superhots before, this years experiment is a first. Initially, the dorset naga germinated but got stuck in its seed case and had to be resown. Eventually, one baby did germinate and shed it’s seedcase. Imagine my surprise, when I found a second Dorset naga baby coming through. Along side the Dorset Naga is the bengle naga. This one actually germinated a lot quicker.

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The bengle naga is already developing its first true leaves. The Dorset Naga is a little behind. I must point out, that these were sown and placed into a heated prop. Once they had germinated and the baby leaves were established, they were housed in a food bag whilst sat in a gravel tray. Since then, they are still in thegravel tray, and with the recent cooler weather they are covered with a slightly askew plastic cold prop lid. I dare not chance another cold snap. I am not using grow lights or heated mats, these are left to the own devices. The aim, is to to house these in the poly tunnel. However, this will take some time and the plants will need to be a much bigger and a little stronger. At this early stage, this is altogether frustrating; I have yet to resort to talking to them to encourage them to grow. I wouldn’t rule out that from happening, though. These are still very tiny, that is the biggest issue-no pun intended, and the summer is a very long way away.

 

magic square project

Magic square project

I have in the last few days looked into crocheting for the magic square project. For me this, this is not an easy process. I have watched mama h crochet, and have been fascinated by it. Overwhelmed however, by how complex it looked.

Ali Campbell crochet course

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The magic square project is getting bigger. I may have got a little carried away with the number of stitches cast on at the start. High praise from my mother, who told me that whilst I was getting better at the knitting; my panels were different sizes.

However talking about crochet, it need not be so scary . You will seethe link for Ali Campbell’s crochet courses. I enrolled this week and was rather happy to be able to get a foundation chain! Brain didn’t quite get the hang of double crochet after a hard school day; so that is to be practiced.

Ali has lovely teaching style, and doesn’t complicate things. There are video tutorials that also make things straight forward. Most importantly, perhaps, you can take your time. Plus, she is the lovely lady who created a masterpiece for my classroom; the brain below.

You can get in touch with her here Ali Campbell crochet website tell her horticultural hobbit sent you 😉

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Preparation, Taking stock

Lay of the land

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As you know, plot 2 is very low and liable to get flooded. Whilst for half of the plot this is remedied by having raised beds; the other half is proving to equally challenging. A few of the beds are quite uneven and these dips fill up and write off crops. Today, I took a by whim walk down. It’s been a few days. I noticed that there was big heap of woodchip and tree left for communal use and decided to make use of it. Whilst I can hear the harbingers tut and groan about using green woodchip; I am using it as organic material. In the same way you might use poop or grass cuttings. It will help even out the land and possibly help alter the otherwise heavy clay. If the worst comes to worse, It will covered over with any spare leaf mold that might be available.