Had an God awful panic. Went into the poly tunnel and there were burned chillies. Drooping and nearly dying. Have had to soak them all with the heavy loads of water. The chocolate and orange habanero have both been doused and placed into the ground with fish blood and bone. Couple of the bengle and Dorset Naga leaves were nipped beyond repair, so have been taken off. Think the pretty purple is a write off, and possibly one of the California wonder sweet peppers.
Really quite devestating, in underestimating how hot the poly and Wendy can get. Jamaican jerk and scotch bonnets have also been stuck in lots of water.
I would like to thank Linda from the bottom of my heart. It’s readers like Linda who make blogging worthwhile. An avid, encouraging reader; that makes me feel as though I am doing something useful.
Thank you Linda for reading, sharing and helping me spread the blog!
Bit of a panorama of the poly tunnel. We have assorted aubergines; black beauty, dancer,diamond and tres hative de barbentane. The THB is the most developed with at least two fuzzy flowers amongst the velveteen leaves.
Most of the chillies are flowering. Nigel has a lots of little buds. The California wonder sweet pepper has actually flowered. There are three of these and the plants are actually quite short.
At the back we have the two habanero varieties and then the nagas. All quite leafy; and slowly getting taller.
Over the last few weeks, these darlings have been battered and bruised by the wind and rain. I had thought, that they would all cease to exist. So much so, additional reinforcements of cherokee, brandywine, citrina, sunstripe and another yellow one have been called in. There are smaller specimens of katiebell, lizziebell, luciebell and flamingo
The plants are on a spectrum of leafiness and healthiness. To be fair, I always suffer this developmental delay on planting out. They simply don’t like the windy heavy clay. That said, once they get a bit robust, have been fed a bit; they start to unfurl themselves, One thing is for certain, they are not pretty. The conditions make them battle hardened and haggard. The leaves have a spikey quality to them. Some are in open ground, some are positioned in raises beds. There is on, singular, black cherry, is in the poly tunnel by way of experiment.
That does, make for a lot of tomatoes. A few of which are starting to flower. Have arm pitted a few times, the gardeners delight and moneymaker. I know, that for some, these are generic, yucky tomato varieties. In the first time that I am growing these, I shall see just how yucky they might be.
Looking forward to the yellow, and pink ones, as well as the green and red stripey things. But the whoppers, have to be the marmande, cherokee and brandywine’s. Big wibbly tomatos, that you don’t get in the shops.
These have only been in the Wendy house for a day or two. Not looking too bad. We have jamaican jerk, serrano, Tabasco, yellow and red scotch bonnets. Have been fed and watered today.
In the poly tunnel, planted into the ground hot Thai and early jalepeno. The Superhots mentioned above will be placed into the last remaining space when they get a little larger.
Had a strop with one runty, diddly little Dorset naga. Took it out of the pot, and placed it by self into a small pot. Still swear that ‘El macho’ Dorset has a tiny floor.
Have discovered that slimers actually prefer nibbling on the bengle naga.
The three grapevines have started to take off somewhat, with a flurry of leaves. These are still quite young, less than four years old. This is probably the leafiest that these have ever been. These are boskoop Glory and Madeleine Sylvaner. One red and one white. The most useful for the British climate, apparently.
I think that traditionally grapes fruit in late September October. Whilst these are still quite small, not sure how much of a crop these are going to have.
In the poly the vast majority of aubergines are on something of a to slow. However; the one tres hative de barbentane variety seems to be trying to get a wriggle on. It has far bigger leaves than it’s peer group and is much taller. Whilst it’s leaves are a bit nibbled on; I think it has developed a flower in the middle so where.
The second round of super hots also need potting up. Simply because, they had started to pick up a little pace with the sun light and being fed. Jamaican jerk and serrano have certainly got leafier and taller. The two scotch bonnets don’t seem to be enthusiastic yet.
In poly, the aubergines are just as sloth like. They are still there, and looking more like growing aubergines. Just doing it very, very slowly. There could any number of reasons. They probably don’t like the clay, it’s not hot enough, they like being divas, I don’t know.
The california sweet pepper is starting to flower. Small in stature, but flowering. Nigel seems to be okay, sat where he is. Third from the right of the door. He is a chilli and not the leader of the political part, okay?
It may well be, that some of the super hots don’t end up in the poly. I still have to also squeeze in a watermelon.The sweet crimson has all of one true leaf at the moment, and is being carefully monitored.
Was advised by Joy Michaud at seaspringseeds.co.uk to pot up the Dorse Naga immediately so that starts to flourish. I did assume it was the dorset that was nibbled earlier this week, but it was on second glance the bengle naga. I always feel that this is an oversight on my part! the fame goes to the dorset, with the bengle being somewhat overlooked.
Today, these were both potted up. Into morrisons flower buckets of all things. These have been drilled at the bottom, by pops for drainage. i am loathe to put them into the ground of the poly at the moment, as to me, they still look a bit small and perhaps need to be a little taller. To be honest, I’ve not had had bad success previously with the flower buckets and chillies/bells. There is some sand and sadly blue pellets of doom around the base. All being well, if they do shoot up, then yes; they will go into the ground.
horticultural 'obbit 