NABLOPOMO would be fairly replete if I didn’t mention the chillies. Let’s face it, they have had a lot of blog space dedicated to them as we experienced inclement elements out doors.

We have a number of chillies this year, largely habaneros. These were sown very late December and very early january. All in yogurt pots, sat on a warm window sill, covered with a food bag. These were then eagerly,slowly, observed, and have been pampered ever since. For now, we have a number of leafy specimens. There have been tantrums, when the odd one has crinkled up dehydrated.

The list:

• Dorset Naga
• Purple Haze
• orange habanero
• chocolate habanero
• aji limo
• hungarian hot wax
• serrrano
• pettie belle
• apricot
• pumpkin
• bellaforma

The one thing that I was surprised by, flowers. The cayennes and the purple haze have already started to produce little flower buds, with the plant’s themselves being quite diminutive. Suggesting, that they are a bit happy. None of the plants are in the final pot yet, and it’s still a little cold at night for them to be in the poly tunnel where they are eventually going to reside.

Potting them up,will cause them discomfort, and slow down their growth. Not really a problem, as it would be useful if they were bigger and a tad more robust before they are put into their final position. At least if they are bigger leafier, more robust, they have more of a chance in being able to defend themselves. I would say that they are probably one pot away from the final pot. The final pot, is likely to be one of those black morrison’s flower buckets. Dad has already been kind enough to have drilled drainage holes through the bottom. Those I believe are big enough for the root system to be developed and constrained enough at the same time. Though I might think about the plants getting a little taller, having them acclimatise gradually to night time temps in the poly, pot them into the black buckets and watch the plants grow into the buckets that way.

The habaneros are still quite small, in comparison to the hungarian hot wax and cayennes. The hungarian hot wax and cayenne are comparatively faster growing, so that accounts for some of the difference. This, I suspect, also translates to flavour.