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.
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.
Tootled down today to see if the waters had subsided. Easily four or five inches around the potato mounds. Stated to ebb away; but if there is more, there will be soggy spuds.
With the relative dry; temperatures in the Wendy and poly have crept towards 30-40 degrees. The California wonder sweet pepper has started to flower; though it is still quite tiny.
You can see the two nagas in the first pic in the Wendy. The second has the chocolate and orange habaneros.
Slightly slimed Dorset naga, so had to add a few more blue pellets of doom.
These are my second more diminutive batch of chillies, bells and super hots. The bengle, Dorset nagas and choc habanero are in the left, assorted scotch bonnets and jamaican jerk in the middle.
These were a later sowing, and they are late maturing Superhots some of them. They sit by a sunny bay window, which helps the boost up when the sun is out. But the current growth seems painfully slow.
This year for the first time, I have entered the Dorset naga challenge that is set by seaspringseeds.co.uk I have never grown these superhot chillies before, so this is something of a huge experiment. These were sown this year, January -February, I think; using a heated propogator. It was quite traumatic at first, with a couple failing to germinate. Eventually, I have three or four, babies, I think. It is only now that the weather has become warmer that they are starting to pick up growth. They are even starting to look like chillies plants now with how their leaves are shaping up.
I reported these yesterday as they were starting to exit their smaller pots. From what I have read, the Dorset naga doesn’t fruit til November. That’s if it actually progresses in the poly tunnel where it will be homed. I plan to do this in about 6 weeks, but they do look a bit on the small side! That may be an indicator that they need feeding. Hopefully that will kick start them a bit. Most likely that these will be transplanted directly into the ground, rather than putting into pots.
There are three or four babies. As they grow taller I will label each one so that we can keep a record of any fruit that might be produced.
Don’t know as much about the related bengle naga, only that is a bit hot too.
I might just be being a little precious. But the Superhots are taking the time growing. I am aware that the Dorset Naga and Bengle Naga won’t necessarily bear fruit til Novemeber. That does feel a very long time away. They weren’t all sown at the same time, so that is one reason that they are still quite small. I did anticipate that they would be moving into the polytunnel at the end of May. Whilst that is six weeks away, I’m not sure how much of growth spurt they will put on between now and then.
Might have to get the Pom poms out and start cheering them on.
There is growth in the four tier blowaway. The danver carrots are starting to break through and become seedlings. Have yet to see any autumn king carrots. I have never had any success in germinating and propogating parsnips, and as you can see we have a handful of babies making an appearance. In comparison to the carrots, these have taken quite a while to come through. Not uncommon to the experiences of other people. Golden self blanching celery is also coming through. I appreciate that there are lots of seedlings in the pots. Alas, sowing them seed by seed is somewhat fiddly.
chillies one
chillies two
chillies three
The chillies, bells and superhots are taking great strides. There is of course a variation across all of these given when they were all sown. Nigel, Pretty Purple, seranno, patio sizzle and hot thai are reasonable stout. Whereas as others, the hots and superhots, are actually quite slow growing. Early Jalapeño, Nigel, hot patio sizzle are starting to flower, which could actually be a sign of stress. All of these, are very, very thirsty. I observed that last year with the pretty purple rainbow chilli. Need a litre every other day, otherwise it would shed its leaves and flowers.
Arise of the triffids, the first batch! These are of course the aubergines. Early long failed to make it. So we have tres hative de barbentane, diamond, dancer and black beauty. Very, very leaf, and velveteen. Suggests that they are quite delicate at the moment. The aim, is to have them planted into the poly tunnel with the chillies and bells at the end of May. Prior hardening off will be required.
In other news, marketmore, femspot and crystal lemon cucumbers are germinating both in the four tier blowaway and the window sill. Hoping to sow runner beans and sunfloo’ers at some point. There will have to be rotation amongst the wendy house and four tier blowaway.No cabbages and brassicas yet. Though we did harvest some purple sprouting broccoli.
A heaving gallery of pictures for you today. Today’s session started with mama h and I sinking corden trees. These Victoria plum, conference pear and falstaff apple had been in pots for nearly two years. However these were proving to be too small. So these are now sunk into open ground. Hopefully this will contribute to them doing better. Also tidied up the inside of the poly tunnel. It has been up to
30 degrees Celsius in there, with my glasses steaming up as I go in.
The next task was to pot up tomatoes. These were starting to become tall and gangly beyond their baby leaves. Some of their foliage is now quite frilly.
Taking a quick look at the peppers and aubergines. Had to some emergency potting up these week, with both of them as they have an accelerated growth spurt with the spring sunshine. There are quite a few aubergines, I know. Mama h quite likes them, so it will be interesting to see if they fruit. All being well, chillies and bells will be in the poly tunnel. Dorset and bengle nagas are small, but growing. Pretty purple rainbow chilli is romping ahead with its purple tinged leaves, with early jalepeno hot on its heels.
The Superhots are coming along. The challenging Jamaican jerk has made an appearance, as well as orange habanero. Hot scotch is also present. We are still waiting on yellow scotch bonnet, but I am not holding my breath for that one. The California sweet pepper isn’t doing too badly either. >
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!
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.
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.
horticultural 'obbit 