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.

The Hot Pepper

I have joined a fun forum called The Hot Pepper. I think I can get quite a bit of info there, and the people seem nice, if a little insane (but then again, I don't exactly have all the bananas in my banana split...)

I found it after whilst perusing through the hippyseedcompany.com

Very Funny website. I know someone who would do that sort of thing and I can video them as well, probably...muahahahahahah! (I should take it easy with the maniacal laugh...)

The exodus continues...

The only plants left at home are the two Belpicens and Etna in the large blue terracotta pot, and the four chillies 'under glass': Datil, Cumari o Passarinho, Hot Paper Lantern and Jamaican Hot. They are extremely small, yet proportionately developed.

They might be good as bonsai.

I have had to re-shuffle the pots at work. The co-workers whom (?) I gave the butternut squash to re potted them (the poor things were in 3cm pots, with leaves about 6in in diameter) to a larger planter, which meant repositioning the chillies about a bit.

I also re potted the Rocoto Rojo that was in the office into a larger pot (the one belonging to the Rocoto Rojo that had supposedly died. Turns out the blinking thing had lost all its leaves, but there was a very small leaf bud showing on the top of it. I put it in an area of the front of the building where it might have a chance to survive.) The office one was also in a 3cm pot.

For that matter, the Cayenne Ring of Fire and the Chocolate Sweet Pepper have been producing fruit whilst being planted in a 5cm pot. I'm sure I could have possibly gotten more fruit out of them in a slightly larger pot, but don't want to risk moving them right now, so there they shall have to stay.

I really need to take more pics of the plants now.

Exodus....Movement of the Chillies!

Well, it had to happen. I tapped the Esplendor lightly last night, and the unopened flower buds just fell off.

I looked at the Belpicens and more of the little flower buds had withered into pathetic black little blots.

The Naga Morich still looks fine, but nowhere near as vibrant as the one in the office.

I have decided to move the home chillies.

The Esplendor has been moved today, and is now in the office.

The Naga might follow tomorrow, but we'll see. Both the Naga and the Belpicen/Etna pots are terracotta, and weigh quite a bit, so not looking forward to lugging them uphill for 20 minutes.

But the thought of watching them simply not produce because of not ideal conditions bothers me more.

On the bright side of things, the Chocolate Habanero has started to produce flower buds! Yay!

And the annoying little aphids are still all over my blueberries!!!

Choices

I seem to have a difficult capsicum choice to make:

Do I keep all the plants at home, or bring them to the office where the sun shines brightly?

This weekend half the flower buds fell off the Belpicens, around twelve in total. It could be a combination of things, but I'm leaning to not enough sunshine. I couldn't put them outside, if the Rocoto Rojo is any proof of what will happen to them. Also, the blueberries were teeming with little leprecha...I mean aphids yesterday (I spent the better part of an hour and a litre of diluted SB plant invigorator trying to spray them off, all the time muttering at them with a horrible 'Brad Pitt does a pikey accent' voice 'Get off me blueberries, ya muckers!') which leads me to believe if I send any chilli plants out they will be swarmed by the little emerald sucrose defecators.

I've also been thoroughly impressed by the way both the Chocolate Habanero and the Naga Morich have been thriving at the office, with the Naga now showing flower buds. The Naga back at home is lagging about a week behind in growth.

This, of course, also has implications for the hydroponics. Do I keep the system at home, even though I know the sunlight requirements are better met at the office? or do I stick to growing them at home and buy a lamp to grow them on, which will add to the expense of growing the chillies?

Sigh!

The good news is that the Orange Habanero has just flowered, as has the Piri-Piri, which means hopefully soon there shall be CHILLIES!!!!

Why is it so difficult for people to follow simple instructions?! I know the answer is 'There is no such thing as simple instructions', but seriously now, if it's written and has arrows pointing in a particular direction, why do it the opposite way?

Aphids! GRRRRR!!

Wow, it has been well over 15 days since I last posted anything. Been busy with coursework, the whole 'union' and the planning of the ceremony, swine flu, and watching the reds be taunted by the red devils as the try to clinch the championship. and I STILL have a lot of other things to do!

...but thought this might be a good breather.

From top to bottom, the photos are as follow:

1- One of the Esplendors, now big and healthy on a wooden planter I had left over from my previous foray (it was used for Strawberries). It looks really nice, and should start flowering in the next few weeks.

2- The big multi planter I got given for X-mas. I put an Etna chilli on the top and the two Belpicens on the lower tier. One of the Belpicens is already budding. Most cool! The big blue planter next to it and the plastic 'faux terra cotta' have the Naga Morich chillies. They look so healthy. I am really thrilled by them.

3 & 4- The new home of one of the Sweet Chocolate Peppers and the Cherry Chilli. The were taken to Almapaprika's parents. They were already flowering! Faboo!

5 & 6- The plants at work. Looking good!

Aaanywho, I found aphids on the blueberry plants at home :-(

APHIDS!!

The Orcs of the Garden World! (Slugs are the goblins, caterpillars are the uruk-hai)

Flippin' things were all over the little plants.

But this time I was prepared!

I bought some SB Plant Invigorator, which is supposed to both kill the little Orcs, and promote healthy grow for my 'baby ents'.

Now, if only I could hire a hobbit or two to garden the plants...