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.

A much delayed update

Hi there, it has been ages since I posted an update on here.

I have a very good excuse though; I spent the last two weeks house sitting for a good friend, watering his wife's Tomatoes, and generally taking a weight off.

But I am back and I have a post with some pictures of progress which is happening in the few things I have managed to grow this year. I have been amazed at the progress other people who I've met through this blog and other means have managed to achieve. You know who you are and you are now an inspiration to me.

Anyway, on with the update...

Since re-potting the Ghost Chili has gone from strength to strength. As you can see here it is now quite large. I am worried that I am a lot late in the season though. A large number of flowers appear to be producing fruit but I'm not totally sure about that. I should have potted it up much earlier.

This is the one large-ish Chili on the Ghost Chili plant.

This is the Geranium which I was drowning in an earlier blog post; it has done much better since I have drastically reduced the amount of watering it was getting. I think it is not in a sunny enough position (and I have run out of sunny positions now unfortunately) to get the full bloom but it was an important lesson to learn.

My update goes outside for the first time for a long while and this is one of the Carrots which is growing; It is green; is this usual? Should I be moving this or covering it up or something?

The Parsnips have grown well in their little container, which is great; I did not think that either the Carrots nor Parsnips would be successful in containers.

The only sad thing about this picture is I will not be here to see it flower. I love Foxgloves and wish I'd tried to plant one earlier. Oh well, there's always my next location :)

Chives have, as previously, proven themselves to be really hardy and easy to grow. This, which was nearly dead, is now well established and I expect it to come back again after the winter.

I have come home to find that loads more Tomatoes have appeared on the Moneymakers in the front room. I hope the sun stays out long enough to ripen these off.

There are a fair number ripe now and nearly ready for picking and eating; I may have a salad this weekend.

Finally for this update, the Crossley Special Chilis which are fruitful as they were last year, and still flowering. I think I need to harvest these and try and dry them, though doing so in a house with no airing cupboard, and it becoming cold and unsettled outside, this does present a problem.

So there you are. I'd be very keen on advice about the Carrot which appears green?

And any hints and tips for drying which don't involve radiators, airing cupboards or hot dry days :D

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

Nearly a Potato disaster plus other progress

When I woke up this morning (hang on, you could start a song like that!) I looked out my window and saw a dreadful sight...

I said when I woke up this morning.....

OK OK I'll stop.

Anyway, something (wind / cat / whatever) had knocked over one of the potato bags and it was spread EVERYWHERE all over the floor :(

I have now picked it up (and another one which fell over during the day) and propped them up; fingers crossed they will now stay upstanding.

While photographing this sad state of affairs I have also gone round and taken some progress pictures. So, without any more delays (or singing, you'll be glad to know) here are the pictures:

The fallen over Potato plant. Sadly a couple of the stalks have snapped but I am hopeful it will recover. I was going to just leave it like this, but when I saw the second one had gone too, I've moved them against a wall with stuff in front to hopefully prop them up. We shall see.

The Carrots are still growing, though I did have to throw a slug away which was about to start munching through the leaves.

The Parsnips are also cracking on very well indeed. Certainly I have not managed the crop I hoped for from either these or the Carrots but at least I'll get some.

The Broccoli are still thriving, though it was only when I edited this picture down that I noticed the slug sitting middle bottom of the picture about to get very fat at my expense!

The Onions are starting to go red at their base which is really good because they are Red Onions. Hopefully this means they are starting to develop bulbs under the earth.

The Foxglove is still developing and is definitely established.

From left to right, the Mint, and two Geranium plants, one smaller but with the rings and the other growing massive but with no rings.

Moving inside, this tangle of plant is actually the two Moneymaker Tomato plants. I still only have two fruit developing on both plants, it seems I'm not getting enough flies in this house to fertilise the flowers.

Both the Gardeners Delight Tomato plants are also now growing well, particularly this one which also has flowers on it.

The surviving Ghost Chilli. Still tiny, but at least starting to put new growth on now. Maybe I'll just get some very late fruits, or maybe it won't fruit at all. Crossing my fingers here....

The Crossley Special Chillis are putting out massive amounts of fruit, as you can see from this picture. I have not counted them yet but my guess is about 60 fruits across the six plants.

This is one HUGE Begonia flower, it is on the end of a really long stem and is dangling right down; it looks ungainly but it is beautiful indeed.

Another Begonia plant with many flowers on it. I really do hope these are transportable.

So anyway, that is all the pictures I took this time round; I'm sure I'll be back sooner or later with more, and maybe the first eating from the garden too.

Keep growing, keep reading.

Cheers