Mutant Chronicles/Genocide

I am in the middle of waging unrelenting war with Aphids.

They invaded my plants a few weeks back when we had a rather 'unseasonable' June heat wave in the UK (yes, unseasonable. You look out the window today and you'd know why. It's in the teens, gloomy and rainy...and this is July), and now there are hundreds on my plants.

Things got so bad, I had no choice but to break out the SB Plant Invigorator to control the little cretins. Right up to that I had tried controlling them with some sticky tape (running it along the pods picking up the aphids), but this was now getting out of hand.

After one thorough spraying at the beginning of the week, they are now doing much better. They still have aphids, mind you, but they are much better.

I'm starting to get antsy, because there are at least three plants that should have ripe pods by now: The Lemon Drop, the Cayenne Golden, and the Ring of Fire. Come to think of it, the Stromboli and the Goats Weed aren't that far off.

Good News Everyone!

The Trinidad Scorpion x Giant White Habanero cross has two little pods!

Oooooooooh the excitement is palpable now! Really looking forward to that one.

Off to return to work I go!

Sketchup Fever!

Talk about having a hard week. My weekend was ruined by the bane of group work, meaning what was supposed to be a happy Sunday of leisure was turned into an 11-hour marathon trying to fix other people's glitches (OPG). It wouldn't be so bad, were it not for the fact that I have done this because half of the team was really upset at the report handed in, while the other half seemed oblivious at the very basic, very childish, and very numerous mistakes present in the document (and no, I am not making it up, there were mistakes in every page of the 30-plus page document).

It is kind of an awkward situation, working in groups. I am never particularly good at telling people off, unless I have complete control of a group, and then I am slightly (lie!) megalomaniacal (hence the reason why I shun leadership nowadays, even though some people do need to have someone giving them a good ol' kick in the head!), therefore when people are not working to my standards it does tend to frustrate, vex, irritate, and disappoint me (much like I am sure it does the same to others when I am not up to scratch).

But such is life.

Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and get the ulcer for the sake of the greater good (the greater good!). And sometimes you really should just tell people:

'Your work was below par, and I am dissappointed in this.'

But that is usually done by a supervisor...

Aaanywho, enough whingeing. On to the more amiable side of things:

The chillies are doing swimmingly. The Stromboli has pods, one of the Lemon Drops has pods, one of the Ring of Fires has pods, the Golden Cayenne has pods, and they are all flowering! I moved the fatalii again, this time to share a bit of space with the rest of the plants, so maybe the sight of all them flowers and pods will make it go 'hmmm, I bet I could produce hotter pods than all of them put together!'. See, a little bit of 'capsicum psychology' ;-P

Here's a few pics (apologies. Took them with my phone, and sent them strait to photo bucket, so not re sized):


These are the Golden Cayenne. I'm quite looking forward to these, as I only had a couple of seeds and only one germinated. Well doe little guy! :-)


The stromboli. The pods are less pointed than the one I grew two years ago, but it still grew really tall and slender before giving a cluster of flowers.


One of the windowsils. That one had (until this morning, I have since moved things around) the Goatsweed, two Ring of Fire, and Lemon Drop. The pods from the LD are really nice and big. Looking forward to those as well.


The Strawberry Guava! It is really not climbing much at all in terms of height, and after six months it still looks pretty much the runt of the litter, compared to the chillies, but it looks fantastically healthy. It may take years to reach 'shrub' status, but heck, I can wait...


SURPRISE! This is Anacardium occidentale, the cashew apple. You can probably see the remnants of the cashew nut at the base of the seedling. This is an ultra topical plant that runs away screaming at the first sign of frost, so trying to grow it in THE NORTH! might be a bit of a problem.

But hey, life is all about the challenges.

I will try to get some more detailed photos up as soon as I can (coursework permitting)

And just like that!

Hmmmm,

Mr. Arboc must be psychic.

:-)

I heard chillies can give a man all sorts of super human abilities.

And many thanks, mazcalzone. The studies go well, though I am by no means out of the woods quite yet!

:-(

I've been extremely busy on the studies front, so much so that there are only a couple of plants growing.

But they are doing quite well. Many are now flowering, and while part of me is tempted to pinch the buds and let them grow some more, another part of me greedily mutters

'Chillies! yeah!'

Such is life.

I am crossing my fingers with excitement because one of the Aji Lemon Drops seems to be teeming with flowers and quite possibly pods!

Hazzah! A new one to savour! People say very good things about this pod, so I am looking forward to it.

The Gold Cayenne, and Ring of Fire are also in bloom, though no pods yet; a curious thing, since the annums have always fared better in colder weather (and this April/may has been a bit cooler than normal).

The Goats Weed looks absolutely fab. It's like The Capsicum Deities decided they wanted a plant to be coated with velour, and made it so! Cotton Candy wrapped chilli plants!

It is starting to show little buds, so no doubt I will soon be seeing new chillies (fingers crossed).

The Stromboli is also showing the start of its typical cluster of about 10-14 flowers, so that is also good news.

The Scorpion/GWH cross is doing well, but still no flowers...typical chinense...(grumble).

The two Fataliis are healthy and green, but haven't flowered or shown the slightest desire to do anything other than look 'ornamental'. I might move them to a sunnier/hotter spot to see if I can change that.

They vex me, those two.

As much as plants can vex a man.

Two years and zilch...

The Strawberry Guava is doing well, though a midget compared to the rest of the chillies. This is a plant that is supposed to grow to 6meters high, and right now it is well south of 6 inches. But it is growing very green and healthy with many leaves. I might take the Baby-bio with me to work Friday and see if we can give it a bit of nitrogen to help.

This one will be a slow grower, but I'll wait.

On a non-capsicum related note, I got a seed order I was waiting for quite excitingly today, and have sown quite a few new and quite diverse things.

How diverse?

Well...

5X Suriname Cherries (Eugenia uniflora)

5X Baby Kiwis (Actinidia arguta)

2X Bush Rose (Eucalyptis macrocarpa)

2X Black Mulberry (Morus nigra)

2X Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides)

2X Myrtle (Myrtus comunis)

2X Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendrum sempervirens)

Now, before you start asking 'What?!', there are simple and perfectly good explanations to all of these as well as the pack of Tea Tree and Cashew Apple I am desperately trying to sow in the next few days.

The Suriname Cherries remind me of the fence near one of my former workplaces, a day school which used to have them as part of the hedge rows. Why said day school chose to have a sour cherry bush as its hedgerow, I will never understand, but it always reminded me of that little area of a neighbourhood of my youth (my first job was age 16..a bit old, I know).

The Baby Kiwis and the Bush Rose Almapaprika and I saw whilst travelling recently 'down under', and in a way will hopefully serve as a reminder of that brief but fantastic time in a truly wonderful place (by the geographic distribution of the bush rose you can guess where we've been to :-P)

The Mulberry is because there is a great big mulberry tree near my place of work now, and though I've tried getting cuttings from it, nothing has worked.

That, and something about a monkey chasing a weasel (no doubt the weasel is a cheese thief...they all are).

The Gardenia because it is a smell of my youth, and I seem to recall it being prominent back home, and in some of the places I've lived in as well.

The Myrtle because it reminds me and almapaprika of a little holiday we had once...and because I want to eventually do the same liqueur they do in Corsica and Sardinia, Mirto!

The Giant Sequoia because, well, lets face it, who wouldn't. I mean it is just such a ginormous tree! It is the skyscraper of the vegetative world! If it does grow, then hundreds of years after I am gone, all things being positive, someone might walk up to it and say

'Blasted thing is ruining my perfectly good view of the natural (not man influenced over the course of several millennium oh no!, heaven forbid!) English Countryside! Who was the genius who planted this here?!'

And my work will be done.

:-)

The Tea tree because Almapaprika and I, along with another two close friends walked through the closest thing to a tea tree forest in Oz, and the smell was so fragrant and fresh.

...and we can lure quokkas!

The Cashew Apple, well, you're not really from Aji Chombo Land if you've not had a Cashew Apple tree growing in your back garden, and have had the cashew apple juice permanently stain your shirt, had cashew apple jam, and roasted cashew nuts in a fire to get the slightly burn, warm and oh-so-tasty roasted cashew nuts and pigged out!

And yes, this last plant is strictly tropical, cannot grow above a very specific altitude, and the slightest frost kills it.

Which makes it a challenge to grow.

:-)

One final thing and I shall leave you to digest this all:

I was really 'chuffed', as the Brits say, to see that five friends have asked me for chilli seeds this year, and two are already growing plants from those seeds!

I would like to think that in a little way, I am helping to spread the word about how totally awesome (TMNT moment, there) chillies are!

:-)

I will try to post photos of this years plants as soon as I can, provided I finish my assignments in time.

:-/

I can see clearly now, the label's on...

At last, some form of clarity!

I have to admit to my own personal stupidity in not properly labelling the coir pellets when I put the seeds in.

It has made for an interesting two weeks of guessing what has 'hatched'.

But finally, I can see it clearly, since what could have been either a Kumquat or a Stromboli Chilli has germinated:

Both did and I can confidently say they are chillies and not citrus.

I'm a bit sad, mind you. I was quite excited at the prospect of having little Kumquat plants.

But I guess them's the yams, as they say.

So, what I should have germinated at the moment is now definitely:

1 Goats Weed

1 Trinidad Scorpion x Giant White Habanero (F1 hybrid. Like a Liger or a Tiglon! So exciting!)

1 Gold Cayenne

2 Aji Lemon Drop

2 Stromboli

3 Ring of Fire Cayenne

10 out of 22 isn't that bad. I might be temped to do one or two more seeds of different varieties if there is space available, but one of the offices I use at work for growing chillies is being converted into a seminar room, so that will unfortunately limit space.

:-(

Two exams down, one exam and one report to go.

Las cosas en las que me meto yo... :-/

The 2011 Season Begins today!

At least for me, anyways.

Some folks have started already.

This will not be a heavy season for me (not like last year. I still have bags of chillies drying all around the flat, and jars of chilli related jams in the fridge.), because Almapaprika and I will more than likely be on the move once again, which means I can't have twenty-odd plant pots following me.

With that in mind, I've decided to make the 2011 season a bit more manageable.

I have just finished sowing:

-2x Goats Weed Chillies (c. annuum)

-2x Trinidad Scorpion x Giant White Habanero (c. chinense)

-2x Gold Cayenne (c. annuum)

-2x Lemon Drop (c. baccatum)

-2x Stromboli (c. annuum)

-2x 'Peppermo' peppers (c. chinense? they were an unidentified pepper from a forum pal I even forgot what they look like)

-2x Kumkuats (citrus japonica)

-4x Ring of Fire Cayenne (c. annuum)

-2x Cayenne (c. annuum)

-2x Red Strawberry Guava (psidium littorale)

I'm only growing two types of chinense this year! what gives?!

Oh, I do have two overwintered Fataliis at work, hoping THIS year I might get a pod off them...

As usual I am including the odd 'non-chilli' so that I can have a bit of variety. I guess I'll find out if citrus seeds keep viable for more than a year, since the kumkuat seeds are from 2007 (I really should check my box o'seeds more often.

I also apologise if this year the entries are fewer and further in between, but I'm in the middle of university stuff, which means spare time is a luxury rather than a commodity (though organisational skills are still a necessity of mine). It's also been the reason why I've been away from almost every single forum I belong to. The responsibilities of further education!

Hope you've all had a good holiday season, and let the growing commence!

:-)

Some comparisons

I decided to try to upload some of the photos I've not been able to upload for the past two weeks up, and put them next to one another to compare growth between 1 April 2010 and 9 April 2010:

I'll Start off with the Purple Corn (on all photos, the top one is 1 April, the Bottom one is 9 April)




Not sure it's the best of comparisons, but it gets better, I promise!

These are the Black Nagas.



The Barrackpore 7-Pod



The Trinidad Scorpion



The Ring of Fire Cayenne



And just for goodness sake, here's the progress of the Madame Jeannette (9 April)


And the Aji Umba Red (9 April)


Well, I'm off to be 'domestic' and attempt to try to clean the house a bit, before people start arriving this week for the 'Union of the Peppers' between yours truly and Almapaprika.

;-)

The Ice Cream Bean Cometh!

I spent the better part of a conversation on Easter Sunday attempting to remember the name of a particular fruit eaten in Central America with a friend from that neck of the woods.

After much searching (in our minds), we were unable to actually remember the name of it, to our collective frustration.

This morning, however, I have finally remembered the name of said fruit:

The Guaba.

At least that is the name given to it in Aji Chombo Land. The Scientific name for it is Inga edulis. The English name for it is apparently the Ice Cream Bean, which I find funny, though strangely appropriate.

I remember having some as a child, and what a fantastically strange fruit it was. Imagine if you will a very large tree with pods nearly a foot long by about an inch and a half. Inside these pods are large black seeds wrapped in what looks like dense, white cotton, or cotton candy. The taste is a bit like banana, but sweeter, and with a slightly more fibrous texture.

Good stuff, and the tree apparently helps replenish nutrients into the soil (in a similar fashion to legumes).

Just if any of you are planning to start crops...

Four days away from the plants seems like an eternity.

Four days away from work however, are bliss.

Amazing how quickly stress builds up again, even though there's hardly anything to do thanks to Easter Break.

I think the lack of things to do just piles on even more stress.

Who would ever have though that?

It's either stress from not having much to do AND being in a very publicly exposed location, or the fantastic combination of under staffing, exposure, and high levels of friction caused by inconsistent (highly, HIGHLY inconsistent) customer service policies. Hopefully things will get sorted out soon (since the higher ups have realised just how stressed we are down in the trenches), but odds are I'll be face to face with the Oriental Yeti (Elvis' Pet) before I see any worthwhile changes...

:-(

But I digress.

The Maize Morado is doing very well. Seems to like it's new 'enclosure.' I really am eagerly anticipating the eight foot tall stalks (as are the people in the office I put them in, since they will act as natural shade).

The Roselle is not shooting up like the Maize Morado, but it continues to grow steadily. I imagine this lack of growth has more to do with the low temperatures in this start/stop spring (since it snowed last week). But it looks healthy so I'm going to keep crossing my fingers. I was actually asked about the progress of the Roselle by one of the girls from the Deli Almapaprika and I go to often.

The sub par spring also seems to be affecting the chillies, leading to a lot of uneven growth. One Royal Gold is on it's third set of true leaves, while the other is only just starting the second. And they both germinated on the same day.

The Trinidad Scorpion, the Madame Jeannette, and the Aji Umba Red lead the way for the chinenses, followed closely now by the Barrackpore 7-Pot; while the Ring of Fire Cayenne and the Thai Dragon are doing their usual thing now (growing fast).

Oh, and the Black Nagas are showing their first true leaves!

That last bit of news is absolutely fantastic for me.

It balances out the disaster of the home grown hydroponics...though I may have figured out what went wrong, but it is too late to fix...

Anywho, enough of my babbling.

A New Level of Weird...

A co-worker of mine just pointed a news report from the BBC about a blind dog that has it's own guide-dog to get him around...

...yes.

You read correctly.

A blind dog (Canis lupus familiaris)...

...with it's own guide dog (Canis lupus familiaris).

Personally I would have gone for a guide ferret, or a guide gerbil.

But to each his own...we humans on this planet are reaching new and fantastic levels of unnecessarily weird ('No, Mr. Lapinski, there are no guide dogs left. Lassie XXIII took the last one.')

I tried a spot of gardening (pruning mostly) at the weekend with the blueberries in our balcony. Only two remain from the three I bought. I lasted about 20 minutes before the cold wind forced me back inside. That balcony is good for growing only Scottish Heather or other shrubs that grow in inhospitable terrain.

There goes the climbing rose I bought on Sunday, then...

I also realised an interesting thing from reading other blogs of chilli growers.

Most of them post entries once a month or so. I seem to be the only one who 'waffles on' endlessly about completely unrelated topics (guide dogs, anyone?)

I do hope I don't bore people with non-chilli related filler.

I also attempted to re-create my fantastic Mango, Peach and Naga chutney...only to change it dramatically by using Plums instead of Peaches, forgetting to use the 500g of Tamarind I had NEXT TO THE PAN, and having funky looking frozen Nagas (I have no idea if they were usable, but they looked really mushy and 'icky' when defrosted), which meant I ended up using chilli flakes.

I shall post the recipe and photos later on in the week.

As I predicted, the nice weather at the weekend meant more Chocolate Habanero pods. I counted two more this morning, with possibly another two forming. The Naga Morich is starting to look like it might be producing a pod or two, but I might curtail that to allow it to grow some more after the heavy accidental pruning in winter.

The rest of the seedlings are doing really well, but the Ring of Fire Cayenne is at least one leaf ahead of the rest. Annuums are definitely faster growers than chinenses. The Trinidad Scorpion is also growing at an impressive rate. I've had to tie down a few of the ridiculously leggy seedlings (one of the Royal Gold and one of the Red Squash), but other than that they seem to be OK.

Nothing yet from the Black Nagas...

I'll post some more pics later in the week.

We're scheduled to be in double figures temperature wise this week for the first time since November!

Whoot!

Man-Flu: The Silent Killer...of Manly Men!

Yes, as you may have guessed by the title, I have the sniffles.

To be more precise, I have a sore throat and a clogged up nose.

Man Flu!

It was probably the real reason Custer fell. Not the Native Americans, but a bad bout of Man Flu.

I do feel horrible, though. I seem to have gone from being in pain from poke-stabbey-slashy to now being reduced to a puddle of phlegm thanks to this.

Almapaprika, as could be expected, is showing the same maternal insticts of a mother praying mantis (lunch?).

But I do love her so...(she copes admirably with my manly whyning...what more can I ask for?)

This grey, cold, and rainy morning on my walk to work I was greeted by that most picturesque of images that depict this town:

A dunken hobo crossing the street towards me whilst nonchallantly throwing up.

Yes, you just don't get this sort of stuff back home (we got the occasional crackhead who attempted to stop traffic whilst stark naked and in the middle of whigging out.).

I felt immediately nauseous as the milky, chunky liquid spewed forth from his bearded facade (he must be a HARD HOBO! The type that outdrinks elves!)

As I sit here at home, waiting for the handyman to come take a look at our washer/drier (never the two should meet, in my opinion. One uses water, the other doesn't. Simple as that.), I shall update a few photos of the hydroponics chilli. Mind you, said handyman was supposed to arrive at 1:30pm, and it is now 3:15pm, but the landlord assures me he shall be here before 4:00pm.

Anywho, here's a couple of pics of the Little Elf (finally got the blasted name right) seedling:






The Second photo is interesting. All the Rocket died (as can be seen on the other photos. But I have since cleaned the mess), so this little fella could only be the Culantro, which I am crossing my fingers it is.

I have also added today two more seeds to the hydroponics kit:

1 Cayenne Ring of Fire
1 Belpicen

I put the Cayenne Ring of Fire because it's a very fast grower, and the pods are nice and hot. The Belpicen I put just to see what happens. That would make it three plants (possibly) in the hydroponics, since the stem cutting of the Orange Habanero kicked the bucket.

Nauseabundo!

Feeling strangely rough at the moment.

Hoping I've not picked up the little bug that made Almapaprika's life miserable Tuesday in the wee hours of the morning...

I've gone into some serious 'El Cheapo' mode at the moment (expenses from upcoming 'union of capsicums'), so I've resorted to using empty (and clean) coke bottles (the plastic kind) as mini-greenhouses for the chillies so I can grow them somewhere where the sun shines. Have moved four into bottles (as in, the entire bottle, not just cutting the top off and using that on top of a little seedling transplanted into a pot), and now that I've finished off another 500ml bottle, will be moving a fifth into a new home today.

An update on the growth:

I really shouldn't be grumpy or pessimistic about my pods, though I think sometimes I am.

SPECIALLY when looking at the more impressive setups on www.thehotpepper.com

After all, I've planted 56 seeds, and to date well over 50% have germinated. The only ones that haven't popped out even a single seedling as of yet have been:

-Chilean Guava
-Peach Habanero
-Cayenne

The rest have at least one seedling out, so I should feel happy.

:-)

There.

The Trinidad Scorpions AJ sent me seem to be stirring. Perhaps at the weekend I shall see some little seedlings popping their heads up.

I just know I've had the humidity WAAAY too high in the little incubators. So, I've gotten rid of a fair bit of the moisture that builds up. Hopefully that will de-soak some of the coir pellets and will result in the germination of the ones remaining (only on Barrackpore 7-Pot out of 4 planted).

On a separate note:

John Terry! John Terry! John Terry!

Hmmm...no maniacal footballer has appeared looking to steal my other half, or offer me an exec box at Wembley... (Whew!)

...the stories little children tell each other in the playground...

...Plus, every time I write John Terry! on the blog entry, people randomly searching for juicy tidbits on this man's personal life (you'd swear he was some sort of celebrity or something) on google get directed here! :-)

And this is much better reading than the tabloids, or so I'm told.

John himself might be well advised to take up chilli farming as a means to pass the time and steer clear of the vices of 'The ladies' (or more to the point, other people's 'Ladies')...nothing is more exciting than biting into a Naga....

...well, maybe biting into a Naga right after scoring the winning penalty at the World Cup (celebration ideas, you say?) ;-)

Plus I'd love to see if Carlo Ancelotti's eyebrow retains that non-chalant expression of sarcasm after trying some of JT's Naga Curry.

Ah, but in a dream world...

Still, if, in the future, you read about JT the Chilli farmer, then you heard it here first, folks! (although they are an aphrodisiac, so maybe I'm actually making the problem worse...)

I really should stop now. This is bordering on ridiculous (but from WAY inside ridiculous' border).

I'd like to thank MrArboc for the practical and wise (beyond my wisdom) suggestion of getting a new cable for my camera.

Amazon has them for very cheap.

I would say something in Swedish to you, kind sir...but the only thing I was ever taught would make Snoop Dogg blush (and I forgot half of it)...

Let the feast of 1,000 hams BEGIN!

I sowed 44 seedlings yesterday evening to signal the start of the 2010 growing season!

Hazzah!

The hopefuls for this season are (by seedling incubator):

Incubator One
2X Red Strawberry Guava (Supposed to be a frost hardy type of Guava)
2X Barrackpore 7Pot (a Chinense courtesy of Trinycoolieboy, one of the forum members from The Hot Pepper...from Trinidad)
2X Peppermo Pepper (an unknown Chinense from another forum member, Peppermo)
2X Antillais Hot (a Chinense courtesy of Vincent, another forum member)
2X Royal Gold (another Chinense from Vincent)
2X Aji Limo Rojo (Chinense)
2X Brazilian Starfish (Baccatum)
2X Hot Apple (Annuum...otherwise known as Almapaprika!)
2X Red Squash (Chinense)
2X Ring of Fire (Annuum...technically three, but I only used two coir pots for the three seeds)
2X Maize Morado (Purple Corn!)

Incubator Two
2X Safi (Chinense. Really looking forward to this one)
2X Peach Habanero (Chinense)
2X Mustard Habanero (Chinense)
2X Scotch Bonnet Mixed (Chinense)
2X Jamaican Hot (Chinense)
2X Maize Morado (More Purple Corn!)
2X Fatalii (Chinense. Because last year two gorgeous looking plants only produced ONE pod!!!)
2X Cayenne (Annuum. Not Ring of Fire. Just for kicks)
2X Thai dragon (Annuum. Again, just for kicks)
2X Barrackpore 7Pot (might as well plant some more super hots)
2X Roselle (Hibiscus Sabdarifa. Flor de Jamaica for you Mexicans, Saril if you're from Aji Chombo Land)

This is, of course, not counting the Datil at home, the one Naga Morich still remaining at work, as well as the Chocolate Habanero, Orange Habanero, Rocoto Rojo, and Caribbean Red Habanero.

There is one Cuban Black that is still alive. I gave it to one of my co-workers, and it looks FANTASTIC. She's kept it alive through winter, and it looks so lush and exotic in her office.

Greener thumbs than I, definitely.

I will hopefully set up the hydroponics tonight with the Culantro (Eryngium foetidum) to see how that little kit works!

Ah, the joys of the start of the growing season...

And in good, consummate, Chilli Head Fashion, I've decided to post my growing list on The Chile Man's website. I also decided to enter their Rocoto Challenge, although I'm not hopeful of much, since I only managed to get two pods out of the Rocoto Rojo...and they only happened AFTER the growing season... But who knows. I might get a surprise or two this season (like TWO Fatalii pods).

With any luck, I might have some pods for the 'union of the pods' between myself and OUCH! sorry about that. Just got a static shock from the electric radiator, so a shock AND a burn...anywho, as I was saying before, I might have some pods ready for Almapaprika and I's big 'joining in the fields of capsicum.'

Blinkin' emergency door alarm at work just went off (the bell is right next to me), and the usual security override code isn't registering. AAAAAARGH!!!

Movin' on up! (or in this case, down four floors)

Almapaprika and I will begin moving from our current abode to a new one this week, which means, obviously, that stress levels are going to be as high as the heat index of a Naga Morich (gratuitous chilli head joke. I'm allowed one once in a while). Good news is this time around there are less stairs involved. Though we will have to get our stuff down from the lofty heights of our place (sans the use of a lift).

This means I won't be able to post the really good photos of the 'office chillies' until then (unless I sneak away to do it in a quiet moment...fat chance of that happening). But rest assured, some of the photos, specially the flowers and chillies of the Ring of Fire Cayenne are really stunning.

The Orange Habanero has only been back here for 48 hours, and already instead of one flower there are four! Definitely helps them to have that lovely heat from the nearby radiators and the wall of glass. Hopefully there will be little Orange Habs growing in the next two weeks.

Weather forecasters are predicting a very, VERY warm summer for these latitudes. No indication of it yet (thank goodness), but it should be great for the chillies.

Falling into a Google Analytics Ring of Fire

I decided, 'Why not?'

I've added Google Analytics to the blog so I can see who, if anyone, actually likes reading this blog.

I've also applied to join the RING OF FIRE (Fire...fire...). a fantastic webring dedicated to all things capsicum.

Mind you I know at least one person who reads it frequently (Almapaprika), so it's not entirely a lost cause. Plus I like 'immortalizing' my rants in between some serious capsicum speech.

Moved the Orange Habanero to the office today. It has one very small flower on it, so I foresee an 'explosion of chillies' if the growing conditions in the office keep up like they have so far. I will be Moving the Caribbean Red Habanero to the office tomorrow. Office chillies are doing just so much better than the home ones (and I really should stop calling them that since it's not my office, but rather a...or an...office at work that has graciously permitted me the use of their window space to grow chillies).

The Chocolate Habanero leaves look stunning! The Naga Morich is starting to catch up to and surpass the Chockie (How utterly Scouse is that?! 'Chockie'). The Ring of Fire Cayenne is full of little chillies! Even the Piri-Piri is starting to show little flowers!

Fantastic!

I'm probably going to bring my camera tomorrow to take some proper photos of the chillies and do them justice (my phone has been adequate, but really, now is the time for some seriously good photos!)

Kung Fu Panda

Just thought I'd post some photos of how things are going at work. I took these photos on Monday. The top photo is of the Piri-Piri Chilli. It was one of the ones grown inside the glass jars. As you can see, the plant could not support its weight when it started to grow outside. But the beautiful thing is how it's picked itself off.

And not only that, but because it has to grow 'sideways' as it were, it is now developing lovely side shoots, which means more chillies!

Second photo is of the Ring of Fire Cayenne. It has already started producing little chillies.

Most impressive.

I counted around five on it this morning.

The third photo from the top is of the Sweet Chocolate Pepper. It's about an inch and a half by an inch at the moment. It should grow quite a bit more, but I'm worried that because they've already flowered and set fruit I can't transplant them to another pot, so they will end up giving sub-par fruit.

The last photo is a Chocolate Habanero. Oh-me-oh-my, it looks lovely and BIG. Leaves are about as wide as a child's hand. And so vividly green. I can even smell the faint smell of pepper when I get close.

I just finished transplanting the triff...I mean the Butternut Squash to a 30cm pot, while Almapaprika and her mom talked about a website that does 'pepper packaging for special occasions'.

Yep.

They are already talking about that.

And where the Farmers Market's going to be...

Pressure Cooker

Photo taken this morning of the office plants. There's a little Sweet Chocolate Pepper growing on the plant nearest. Both the Sweet Chocolate Pepper and the Ring of Fire Cayenne have flowers on them. Yahoo! (not the website) Can't wait for them to grow grow GROW!

I took the two Fataliis and one of the Black Cubans to the office as well. The chineneses at the office are huge! This will do the Fataliis a world of good.

Learned a valuable lesson this growing season. While glass jars are a good place to put your seedlings in to help them grow, it is not a good idea to seal the lid tightly.

Almost all of the plants have had problems with the change in pressure when I've transplanted them to larger pots. Seems as soon as I put them outside on a regular pot, all the leaves wilt and shrivel.

But if I put them under a plastic bottle (makeshift greenhouse), they seem to recuperate.

I have found the whole thing quite fascinating, though at the same time quite frustrating.

The stems seem to have problems coping with the weight of the plants (again due to the pressurised growing conditions), which means seedlings of three-four inches in length are having to be propped up with stakes already.

Also, the seedlings seem to grow roots in mid stem (has happened to two of them), no doubt because of the high humidity/pressure. Also, some of the leaves seem to have transparent patches. I don't know if this is to do with the change in pressure, which affects the plants ability to draw water from the roots up to the leaves, creating the 'blank' patches, or if it might be an infection as a result of the change in pressure. I've taken those leaves out as a precaution.

Baby Pigeons

Wow. You go away for four days, and suddenly your plants grow enormously large and start flowering!

Blimey!

Well, budding, actually. The bottom photo is that of the original plants (Chocolate Sweet Pepper, Cherry Chilli, Ring of Fire Cayenne), plus one of the Habaneros I moved over from the house. And even that one is doing quite well.

This is all WITHOUT receiving any Chilli Focus! I am impressed. The top photo is that of the plants I moved recently to work. The Habaneros are growing very well. I will have to move some of the chillies soon (taking two to Almapaprika's dad), but work is a fantastic place to grow capsicums!

:-)

On a stranger note, though a happy one, I have requested Almapaprika's top green leaf (the left one, if memory serves me) in leafy union (not onion).

And she said yes.

My gardener's delight.

:-)

Oh, yes. The title to this post. Please do not take the following comment in ill. Whilst in London this week, I saw a young Chinese couple with a small child in the tube. I suddenly looked at Almapaprika and said 'I've never seen that before.' To be honest, all the Chinese parents I know are older folk (must be because I know a lot of uni student parents.), so seeing a couple that could have been in their early twenties with a small child was both refreshing AND a surprise (kind of like spotting baby pigeons in a city centre. Everyone KNOWS they exist, but how many people have seen one?)

Some Chilli Photos

Well, I had promised I'd post some of the photos of the chillies I'm growing, so here they arrrrrr! (the spicy pirate in me).

The top photo is of the ones growing at work. From top to bottom: Cherry Chilli, Chocolate Sweet Pepper X2, and Cayenne Ring of Fire. They are doing absolutely wonderful. They have a nice source of heat next to them in the form of the radiators, a nice glass window on the other side, and plenty of sunlight (south-ish facing window). You can Tell they love it!

The second photo is of the ones at home. They did germinate a few days later than the top ones, so they are a little smaller, but still, the look really nice. From left to right: Rocoto Rojo (worry not. The little pencil stick is just to make sure it grows in the right direction. It's doing wonderful), Esplendor (the tiny one, I think), Stromboli, Etna, and Belpicen. A bit less sunshine than at work, but I might move some of them over to the office as spring progresses.

You can just make out the little glass jars next to the pots. I've got the Habaneros and Nagas in them.

Today I finished off some Lemon Curd, and guess what I did with the jar?

Yep.

Got one of the Fataliis into it.

Watching Saturday Kitchen now. The 'Wine Experts' are such weirdos... gotta love 'em, though.

But they are decidedly weird...

Gotta go finish some Polish Red Cabbage and Apple sauerkraut for lunch.

I need the jar...