Ghost Chili etc

The past couple of weeks have definitely revolved around the Ghost Chili and therefore it is fitting that I am able to write an update starting off with this excellent plant.

My friend (he after whom the Crossley Special Chili is named, and who gave me the seeds for my attempt at growing some) invited me for dinner last week to have an excellent pasta dish cooked with the Ghost Chilis. It was epic and really highlighted why these are Chili plants which you should grow; undoubtedly they are very hot but this heat has an amazing flavour and, while you are crying, you are also making appreciative sounds because of their flavour. He was also nice enough to gift me a couple of whole chilis from his glut and we had half of one of these in an excellent tuna and rice dish with the same results; sweat and pleasure from the taste.

So my advice is; grow some yourself but if you are, remember to keep them in larger pots than you would have thought as they get dwarfed very easily if you don't pot them up early and often.

So, onto my update:

 The Ghost Chili plant has LOADS of flowers on it, and more coming all the time. I have just started manually moving the pollen around with an ear-bud and this does seem to be encouraging something more than just flowers...

... as you can see here. The red Chili appeared independently, but the (very blurry) green one at the front (and another couple) have all started since I went round with my promiscuous cotton bud.

Finally some delight from my Gardeners Delight Tomato, this is the only fruit I have achieved and it is slowly but surely ripening.

On the front room windowsill the Moneymaker Tomatoes are like a forest, and have a lot of fruit and still some flowers.

These ones are ripening nicely and will probably be put into a dish very soon.

Finally the aforementioned Crossley Special Chilis are still hanging onto their leaves (though they are dropping quite a lot now) but a couple of the plants have just got a new lease of life and put out LOADS more flowers. This is very strange as it is very late in the season. I reckon I will just keep watching these and looking after them and maybe I will get a late harvest.

So, that's that. No more pictures for today.

Keep growing.

Some flowers, some Tomatoes and a chill or two

It has been so long since I did a general update that I was going to do one anyway today however, as I was walking around looking for pictures to take I noticed that there was actually quite a selection of interest and excitement to tell you about.

So, as I have a good chunk of pictures for you this time, I'll crack straight on with it.

There are now two large blooms on the large Geranium on the front windowsill, which is a beautiful thing to behold.

The same plant has put up another couple of flower heads and these, from early signs, look to be yellow. I am looking forward to them both being in bloom together. I haven't got a photograph but the other Geranium, that which had fungus growing around its roots, has now started to put up a flower stalk so thank you for the advice from various people to stop watering it so much :)

One of the Crossley Special Chillis is turning orange. I don't know if this picture really captures quite how luminescent it is.

You may be able to see slightly better in this one, contrasting the top Chilli to the lower larger bright red one.

This is the cluster of Moneymaker Tomatoes from which I took the diseased one (that was caused by a lack of water during germination, apparently) And you can see that a small fruit is already growing to replace it. There are loads of little clusters of fruits on this plant now, only one red, but hopefully a harvest of sorts will be possible.

The Citrus tree is still healthy and has one fruit on it, however its main benefit is from the blossom which smells amazing as you come up the stairs. I love it!

One of the Begonia flowers has come out really nice and orange. Lovely.

Most of the Begonia flowers are yellow, however, and profuse as you can see from this picture

This is the one and only fruit on the Gardener's Delight Tomato. I hope I get more than this.

The plant itself is very tall and growing all the time - it goes right to the top of this picture.

Most excitingly of all for this update I have the first of my Ghost Chilli fruits! It looks like I'll be getting some more too.

Potting up was a very good idea as you can see from this, the plant is flourishing again and a lesson learned here is to give far more room to Chili plants than I have been; even when small they seem to limit their growth based on a smaller pot.

So, there you have it. I am quite distracted by the progress I am making towards emigration however I am not taking my eye of the ball and, other than the progress shown here, it looks like my carrots and parsnips are doing well. I will have to check the carrots out soon I think.

Keep growing people

Potting up the Ghost Chilli

I am aware that I have been a little slow recently posting to this blog; this is because I have been focusing a lot of attention on the emigration blog (which you can find here) however that does not mean that I have been ignoring the growing things which are in my care right now. The Potatoes outside are still looking pretty healthy, though I do truly wish I had used the trick on this blog post and not used those stupid green bags... Oh well.

Anyway, the blog today is about something which (as per usual) I had been putting off but decided I couldn't put off for any longer. The Ghost Chilli has been growing well but it has stalled a bit and I am pretty sure this is because the pot it is in is not big enough. So I am going to put it into a bigger pot.

The Ghost Chilli has finally started with some flowers, as you can see here. Maybe I will get a harvest from it after all.

As you can see from this, however, the pot it is in is very small for the plant and I am pretty sure it would enjoy growing a little taller, with a few more shoots for flowers to grow on, to improve the yield.

You can see how it has outgrown the pot with the tangle of roots which have grown through bottom.

I was careful to untangle these roots, and not break them, before pulling the plant out of the pot; there is no need to damage anything if you are careful and by not damaging the roots I am ensure the plant does not suffer as much shock.

I have prepared a larger plant pot (actually, this one was too small, once I had put the plant in, and so i upgraded it again but shhh don't tell anyone)

This is the Ghost Chilli in its final large pot (not the one in the previous picture) with the pot it had been removed from next to it; hopefully now I'll really see some extra growth.

So there we have it... fingers crossed I'll get a few chillis from those flowers, and some more flowers from the increased space it now has.

Onto other things, this is a picture of one of the Crossley Specials just on the turn from green to red.

I am not sure what is going on here but it looks like something might have impregnated one of my Tomatoes in some way? Any ideas?

The Mint is now flowering too...

... and has spread into quite a large plant now; I really should make some Mint Jelly.

Lastly it looks like we have an indoor slug, based on these munch patterns on the leaves of the large Geranium, and the slug trails I found this morning..... hmmm... going to have to do something about that.

Anyway, there you have it; I know you have missed my updates I am sure and I will try and be better at it, bear with me though while I catch the emigration blog up to date.

Cheers

Some long delayed planting out and potting up

After no blogs for ages, now two in two days!

This is blog about some jobs that I have been putting off for many weeks indeed; two tasks which have probably directly contributed to a lower yield this year and two the death of maybe more than one plant.

First of all, my seed grown Coriander has been sat on the front windowsill since I separated the tiny seedlings into five distinct clumps and it grew well there (as you will see if you look back through the blogs) however a month or so ago it started getting too straggly and dry and ever since I have been planning on planting it outside; the second part of this plan was to put the Gardeners Delight Tomato plants (yes, plants; I  now have another seedling showing finally; more proof of the benefit of patience) onto this window as they are lagging badly behind the Moneymakers.

So, without any more blah blah blah words here are the pictures...

The five clumps of seed grown Coriander looking dry, covered in flowers, and seed blown; I think these have just got too dry with me only being able to water them twice a day.

Here is a picture of a hole. Yep. I want to excite you THAT much...

And here is the final result of the potting out of the five clumps of seed grown Coriander planted out around the established shop bought Coriander.

This picture is one of many which I took while planting out the Coriander; there must have been about thirty or forty bees clustered around the flowers on this bush all busily collecting pollen. In this picture you can see two of them near the middle of the picture; fantastic.

While I was outside I took the opportunity also of taking some pics of the other growth and progress...

First of all the exploding Potato plants which have completely filled their planters; I am going to struggle now to earth these up; this is going to be a challenge for tomorrow not today though. I am just very pleased they are growing so well after the total failure of last year.

The Lettuce has been shaded slightly by the Potato plants so they are looking a little yellow here; I have now moved them and watered them and will pay more attention I think.

The onions are growing and growing well; I cannot work out how the bulbs will be developing in there but hey.

Oh look it is a lot of Broccoli...

The other task which I have been putting off for ages was potting the Ghost Chilli Pepper from the heated propagator tray where it has been stalling in its growth; sadly while I was away on holiday the second seedling died.

I have some warmed compost on the left, and the Ghost Chilli Pepper tray on the right.

The surviving Ghost Chilli is looking quite strong here but, to its right, you can see the shriveled remains of its brother which didn't survive my holiday.

The Ghost Chili in it's new plant pot.

I have now moved the Ghost Chilli and the two Gardeners Delight Tomato plants onto the front windowsill so they get more sun during the days; hopefully this will cause some fruit to develop on these three plants.

Anyway, there we are; my update.

More soon

Birdseye Chilli in detail

So for a few weeks now I have been muttering and complaining about the bad progress of my Birdseye Chillis and the other day I managed to knock one of the leaves off using the mighty power of a drop of condensation from the lid of the heated propagator.

So this morning after being woken an hour early due to day break (but not sunlight) streaming in through the window I decided to take some detailed photographs of these seedlings and see if any of you lovely people may have some advice as to why they are doing so badly..?

So, here you are:

This is the Birdseye seedling which lost a leaf to condensation drippage; you can see the leaf under it to the right. The surviving leaves are all a bit crinkly and feel dry to the touch; not soft as leaves should be but stiff...

The other Birdseye seedling is in an even worse state with curled up leaves which are turning brown in the middle.

Another shot of the first Birdseye though this makes it look healthy! It isn't.....

Both Birdseye seedlings in this picture; each is only about 2-3" tall (contrast with the Crossley Specials which are all about to about 8-10" and have lots of leaves)

This is the second Birdseye and you can clearly see the brown on the leaves, with the completely shriveled leaf dangling down in front.

I have put this one in just because it is arty farty and I lied the picture.

One final picture of the more unhappy of the two Birdseye seedlings.

I really would like some advice/suggestions about this so please don't be shy.

By way of contrast these are the Ghost Chillis which are thriving, in the propagator box sat right next to the Birdseyes which leads me to believe it is not a problem with the amount of light they are receiving or the temperature at which they are being kept.

Finally, and slightly off topic, while taking these pictures I spotted the following little fella poking his way out through the compost:

This is the first pepper seedling to appear. Not bad only a few days after they were planted :) here's to the other three showing very soon too.

Thanks for reading and please do send me any advice.

Chillis and Begonias amongst other things

Wow it has actually been a long time since my last post (for me during a growing season, that is). I have many reasons and excuses but the one I'm going to deploy is that there wasn't much to show you and just continually posting nearly identical pictures might be boring you....

.... so anyway, I am posting because the progress is significant enough to show, even if I haven't actually done anything since the last post; this weather really is screwing with my planting schedules. I haven't even put the potatoes out yet!

However, as I have said, there is progress for you and I will not delay any more.

The Mint plant is a little smaller than it was last time you saw; this is because Sassy the rabbit got out and onto the window sill and ate half of it! It is still alive and is slowly getting back to growing again.

The Crossley Special Chillis are particularly enjoying being right in the front window which gets lots of sunlight and stays nice and warm through the day.

The two Ghost Chillis are fully established and, while they aren't growing upwards, they are looking very healthy and established with quite a good number of leaves.

By contrast the two Birdseye Chillis are not really established yet, both of them with only two first-leaves and still a bit spindly. I am keeping my eyes on these and checking them every day.

This is the Moneymaker Tomato which has now been on the floor twice (once my fault, once Sassy's) but as you can see it is still alive, still thriving and amazingly looks like it will become a healthy plant.

The other Moneymaker Tomato which is taller and more established than the one which has been on the floor twice, which is as you'd expect I suppose. Both of these plants are really proving the worth of the self-watering planters.

This is the first Carrot plant which has developed it's second leaf and this is now showing how a Carrot leaf looks; that very distinctive serrated edge.

The Parsnip box with several seedlings in it, though none are showing second leaves yet.

This is the smaller of the two Geranium seedlings and, as you can see, it has really started to get bigger and putting on more leaves. Very satisfying to see, and definitely one of my best successes so far this year.

This is the other big success of this year so far.... the single Globe Artichoke seedling which sprouted. It is now sat on a windowsill at the top of the stairs and is putting out it's third set of leaves.

The seed grown Coriander is sat on a front windowsill and gets so much sun I am having to water it twice a day, and every time I go to it the soil is dry again. The left most plant has slightly yellowed leaves but all the others are looking very healthy and happy.

This is the most exciting of the news I have for you in the blog, however. This is one of the Begonia tubers with a sprout showing. Three of the four other tubers have also got some sprouts showing. I am very pleased that these appear to be have settled in and are growing now.

The egg shells with the chitting Potatoes in them; it is too cold for me to plant these (and I have not done the threatened photo-diary of chitting progress you will be happy to hear) so they will stay like this for another week or so before the spring finally springs and I feel happy to put them outside.

Talking of going outside, I've got pictures of my early plantings and, really, evidence that planting so early really hasn't worked for me. Where I was hoping to get an early harvest, it does just look like they showed green and then stopped growing full stop. This is the Lettuce and you could  be forgiven for saying "what Lettuce I don't see anything?"

Even worse, though, is the Onion which is almost invisible among the mold and left-over hay from my aborted attempt to protect from the snow.

Last but not least the Broccoli are still looking the most established but are also struggling a touch to put on a growth spurt as the spring is delayed.

Anyway, there you have it; a much delayed progress report but as you can see anything in the mean time would not really have been that exciting.

Here's to spring arriving and me being able to actually do some more planting and try some more stuff out.

Cheers