Chilli heads.

Looking great, what are you using compost wise?

Looking great, what are you using compost wise?

Using New Horizon veg compost

@edmundro Do you have any issue with slugs & snails in your poly tunnel? I’m thinking of sticking all my spare pepper plants up the allotment in a similar set up but even my chillis in the gravel based greenhouse are getting attacked.

@spinnnout Looking amazing and healthy, great work.

Slugs aren’t interested in chillis in my experience, they’re pretty pest free in the tunnel, much more so than at home or in the potting shed where they get aphid. I leave both ends of the tunnel open, only had it closed very early on.

I’m finding now the sun is out they’re starting to get scorched on hot days so need some shade cloth.

Little bit early but wanted to have an early taster.

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I grow a bunch of calendula in the tunnel which apparently keeps chillis happy.
They grow fast though so need to keep them from swamping the chillis.

Shishito looking particularly lovely in full flower

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Whoa, that looks amazing.

Slug wise, whilst I’d normally agree, this year, my chills have been attacked by slugs for sure. Oddly enough, they’ve left the cucumber plants alone wnd attacked the chillis instead!

Yasss.
Will take better pics at the weekend but the chilli bed is going wild.

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Couple of decent sized anchos today

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Looking great.. presumably have even more now!

If I've learnt anything for next year, it's less is more.. fewer plants in bigger pots.
Back to this year, some carolina reapers are nearly there..

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I have what can only be described as ‘a fuck ton’
Small bell peppers and anchos have been readily available for weeks, the rest of the 20 or so plants are all bearing fruit and/or flowers.
Some are for sauce, some for eating and some for drying/preserving.

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Wow 😮 amazing!

‘a fuck ton’

Metric or imperial?

It’s always been a metric fuck ton in the yards/workshops I’ve spent my life in.

The imperial ones are still good too if you still have the relevant tools/scales to handle them.

nice work 👍

Anyone got a good hotsauce recipe that scales up and down easily?

Not that i've tried scaling, sorry.

Blackberry & Scotch Bonnet small batch made tonight.

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Happy to report that (after developing 100-200 flowers months ago, and then just sitting there doing nothing) my Aji Charapita is bearing fruit now 👏

Do recommend growing these if you haven't already, they aren't that hot at all, but have a very distinct / refined taste (sort of like red pepper does, but different).

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..also very much recommended: "Rainforest" - one of the very few baccatum type chillies I grew.

Maybe not the most beautiful berries ever, but I do enjoy the taste - also they're very productive (about 50 chillies on that plant, grown in a 7 liter pot on an east-facing windowsill - not bad!)

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Anyone got a good source for cheap glass bottles for sauces?

I just reuse ones I got lying around anyway, from smoothies etc. - if I needed lots I'd probably check small ads in my area before browsing amazon etc..
..in the past I looked at big supermarkets, home / kitchen equipment stores etc. but always found them very expensive.

Ampulla have a big selection, postage costs about £11, so if you’re ordering a quantity, can work out good value or are after a certain shape. I ordered 50 150ml jars for £46 last week….

…but still not as cheap as glass jars/bottles holding economy foods in supermarkets. Trick is to find nice shapes that aren’t too big, and have easily removable labels.

And I’m sorry to say, my plans for a chilli celebration fell though :( The venue closed very suddenly last month, I’d been searching for an alternative, but nothing quite worked. …Watch this space!

Little haul today. Basques, Turkish snake and mystery Caribbean.

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