This week, it has been attack of the aphids. The plants that had so far been coddled, have suffered an infestation. The horrible little green creatures have been hanging around the habaneros, and it’s not very nice having to squish the little critters who leave your plants sticky.
The plants in the poly seem to be okay, getting used to being in there. For now, they like the spuds in there, are fleeced for their own protection. With there still a possible frost til the end of May, I am taking no chances. Purple Haze now has two flowers, and the other standard cayenne has also got singular chilli white flower that has just opened up.
All of the pots, were decorated with the oh so pretty looking slug tape. yet one, brighter than expected slug has managed to take a chunk out of a bellaforma chilli leaf.I hope that slug dies a horrible death.
I am hoping that the habaneros that remain at home get a spot taller and bigger. Then, like the others, they will move into the poly.
The night before last, we had a horrible frost. Yesterday morning, I was cursing the elements having to scrape a thick sheet of harsh frost of the car before going to work. Naturally, my thoughts hit upon the chillies that I situated into the poly tunnel the afternoon before.
This morning, having worried about them all day, I went to see if they were alive.
And they were.
Thankfully.
I had fleeced them, in the same way that the tomatoes are covered.
You can see in the top left corner of the photograph, the fleece is there. This was tented over the four pots as a protective measure. Having scraped off the ice on the car, I was worried that these things had been zapped to within an inch of their so far very short lives.
And then there is this
This is the purple haze cayenne that I bought from sea spring seeds at the edible garden show last month. That tiny little bud in the middle, that’s a flower. There a couple more tiny ones waiting to develop. That’s if the blasted Aphids don’t kill it off. Also, this is a very small plant still, I’m not too sure if it is supposed to be sending out flower buds. Perhaps it’s a bit comfortable in the 12cm pot.
Habaneros ready to be potted up
The habaneros were sat in 7cm pots, and whilst they have started to pick up; some of them were trying to escape their pots. So they have all now been re-potted into 12cm pots. I think for all the chillies on the sills, this is probably their last temporary pot before they get their proper pots in the poly tunnel. The hope being, that they make it through the next six weeks and into the summer.
Some of the chillies have now started to develop flowers, as as well trying to escape their pots. I wouldn’t normally at this stage of the year, put them into the poly tunnel and guarantee myself a crop. It feels a little too early, but the plants are clearly communicating their happiness.
So, perhaps misunderstanding that, I have take a few of the larger plants and popped them into the poly tunnel. I have put slug tape around the pots, in the hope that they won’t get nibbled on. Plus the plants are tented with fleece, I am still wary about how well they are going to cope with being there. I have moved cayenne, Serrano and Hungarian hot wax. Some part of me feels as though they sacrificial. There are still a few left loitering at home, with flowers, that are only just into 12 cm pots.
With the tomatoes thrown to their possible impending doom into the 4TB, there has been a window sill shuffle with the chllies. The larger chilli plants are serrano, cayenne, aji limo and hungarian hot wax. The habaneros bring up the rear in the second smaller batch. I have left the habaneros where they are, but others have moved to a cooler spot. Mainly because they are trying to escape their pots and I don’t really want to pot on too quickly. They get comfortable, and things start to go a bit awry. I have found, through observation, that the cramped drier conditions foster a more positive outcome. Plus it is only nearly the end of March. I don’t want to plant these out into the Poly tunnel in bigger pots just yet.
The wendy house also needs tidying before I do that too. That is the wendy house blow, when the one side did actually do up. Ah yes, I need to repair the door. I am not buying another cover. Why is it, that I always take the one door of it’s hinges? I have done the same with the 4TB….meh.
After what has been an intense week, things are getting back to normal. I have found myself some compost, and got around to potting things up. The tomatoes were looking as though they were ready to bend and break, so needed to be potted up as matter of urgency. So putting down some newspaper-i did it before my mum instructed me to, and I even hoovered up after-I set about potting up.
I’m not very good at potting up, as you may have garnered. I even managed to decapitate one of the true black brandywine seedlings. To be fair it had already started to keel over a the soil point in having grown leggy. There was no hope for it anyway. Therefore, potting up is something of a delicate operation. I had to concentrate, so pops got a bit worried when I was walking around wearing a scowl and looking rather unhappy. That would be my concentration face.
The tomatoes were planted deep into new pots, right up to or close to their baby leaves. There are still another dozen or so baby tomatoes that are still at their baby leaf stage. But these were starting to send out their second or third set of proper leaves. They still have some time yet before they are move. I daresay that they will probably be potted up once more before they get planted into the poly.
Then, then we have the chillies. You have heard a fair bit of them lately. But they too needed potting up to varying levels. They are all incredibly leafy, and healthy looking. I did have a mild panic when earlier this week, a couple of the specimens were a bit wrinkly and dehydrated. So had to have a lot of water poured into their gravel tray. I rather like my chilli babies, and will be heartbroken if they keel over. Most of them now look a little more respectable having graduated from their yogurt pots and into the 7 cm pots. The habaneros were also potted up, they are sending out leaf pairs three and four, even though they are smaller in size compared to the rest of their cohort. I think that is trend for habaneros, as the other varieties are growing at a much speedier rate. I also had not realised quite how many Hungarian Hot wax chillies I had sown. There a number of Aji Limo, together with few cayenne babies.
Due to a very close family bereavement, the last week has been somewhat non horticultural. Haven’t been able to wander down to the plot to have a look. I did however, have to do some emergency potting up last week, and the task remains to pot up the rest. There was an emergency pot up of cayenne and the five aji limos. I think I have a serrano baby to pot up as well, so will have to get some MPC and start potting up. As you can see, some of them and lolling to one side as though they were a little bit drunk. The non-habanero chillies are flourishing, whereas the habaneros are still quite tiny, and very slow growing. The plan remains to have all of these in pots in the polytunnel.
The potting up process will also need to happen to the tomatoes. These are looking rather tall and leggy, and would benefit from a deep seat in larger pots. The tomatoes are going slower than the chillies, simply because I am being mean. I haven’t put them into direct warmth and heat, but will shortly when I run out of window sill space, so they haven’t had a sprint to start. Once potted up, I will perhaps move them to a brighter and warmer position. I have held off sowing more tomatoes, and I am pampering these somewhat and hoping that they survive.
The tiny tiddler chillies are making slow but steady progress. All of the varieties sown have now germinated, and are showing their baby leaves. A few of them, are now progressing onto their first true leaves.They might look a little leggy,but they are pampered, and in light and heat all the time. I don’t have grow lights, so all the heat and light is from the sunny bay window. Still covered partially with a prop lid to trap in warmth. Hopefully, as the days get longer and there is more light, the seedlings will become a little more robust. That said, many of the varieties sown are suitable for pot growing rather than the ground.
My one concern about these is now keeping the soil moist, but not killing them. All the seedlings are very delicate looking. I won’t pot them up yet either. Will be as mean as I practically can be with them. With the exception of the cayenne, chocolate and orange habaneros, all the varieties are new this year. Orange and chocolate were sown and grown last year, but all they produced was lots of leaves.
The first of the tomatoes have germinated and come through. I think I have six surviving germinators, with one keeling over with the cold. These have been transplanted into yogurt pots from their modular compartments. I have to say, that the trick by Allotment Lena works. Where you use a spoon to transplant from one place to another. There appears to be less root disturbance. There are not many that have come through, yet money maker tomato seems at this stage to be the quickest out of the blocks. There were 24 sections in the modules, and so far seven have come through. I think I may have made the compost a little too damp. Going to see how many more come through, and then I will look at sowing some more. Was thinking about where to put these when they grow larger, and the poly tunnel seems to be the best place. I have always grown tomatoes outside, and never had them ripen. Putting them into the polytunnel is probably going to be more useful.
The chillies are starting to get a wriggle on, and these have also been transferred from modules to other pots. I did have a panic as some of them looked a little shrivelled. I had thought thought that I had lost most them. Much hand wringing ensued. However, covering them with a propogater lid, these were a little revived with the heat and light being trapped to warm them up again. The cayenne chillies were the quickest to come through, and with the Aji Limo chillies are the more robust looking. Pumpkin and raindrop chillies are by far the daintiest of the lot. Debating, as to whether I sow some more. Unlike last year, I don’t plan to plant them directly into the ground in the poly. The plan is to plant into pots, based upon previous experience.
There are eight varieties in all, I am still waiting for orange and chocolate habaneros to germinate. In previous experience, these do take a while. I don’t particularly want to pop them into a heated prop, as they end up leggy and wiry.
A couple of weeks ago, I set about sowing chillies seeds. You can see the one post here
Positioned in front of a warm window, there have been daily checks as to what might have germinated. Remember, this is unheated propogator. To date, I have had more success germinating this way, rather than using a heated propogator.
serrano, apricot and bellaforma
mixed varities
I had bought some more fresh cayenne seeds, and these have germinated. The older ones are clearly not viable, as the early experiment hasn’t come through. I intend to sow a couple more fresh ones, that is the unopened pot in the picture above, Was always something of a risk, using older seeds. The second sowings are coming through. Most have cracked through their seed cases. I am just waiting on the orange and chocolate habaneros. Might actually resow those too, but they are probably just taking their time. The danger is, that these are going to become leggy and gangly as they reach for the sunlight. Going to wait a few days, to see if there is few more germinators before I take the lid off. There is a cold snap due, and I don’t them to get a fright and keel over.
Inspired by the lovely not just jam, I have decided to carry out a chilli growing experiment. Chillies require a long season to get productive. This year, despite my best attempts, poly tunnel and all, I failed to get the crop that I wanted. In terms of learning experience, I have never had success with early sowing of chillies. I have tried the post boxing day sowing, the heated propogator sowing, the delayed till late february sowing. But I really did want to start sowing seeds as the frost descends and Britain has the coldest night yet. Plus I had compost in Dad’s shed for that exact reason.
For me, it is really important to reflect on lessons that I have learned previously. Those ‘oh, right, yes’ moments, that make it all worthwhile. Sowing the seeds, I was harking back to when I first started sowing. I have experienced more success germinating seeds on a window sill, compared to using a heated propogator. With the latter, the seedlings germinate, with all that bottom heat. Then they get tall, leggy,and keel over. With the window sill, this might take a little longer, but the germinated seeds send out a slightly more robust seedling.
There are four varieties chosen. These are Apricot, bellaforma, serrano, and cayenne. Cayenne were the first chillies I ever grew. Serrano, I am trying again with. This year, serrano grew well, Had lots of flowers, but not a single fruit.
The seeds have been sown four to a pot. I am not likely to prick them out. I have found that having chillies in cramped quarters is quite useful, and produces a good crop. I think I may have been too kind, in allowing generous space in the poly tunnel. The compost was moist to begin with. I have in past, struggled to maintain the moisture in the pots. These are then placed into labelled foodbags, into a gravel tray and positioned into a warm and light space.
Based upon previous experience, I don’t hold out much hope for such an early sowing. We shall see however! This is all very experimental.
horticultural 'obbit 