Green houses/Invernaderos

I finally got annoyed enough by our balcony to go out and buy a mini-greenhouse.

I have gotten sick and tired of watching plant after plant simply keel over and die out side of our flat in what can only be described as the sort of place where only Scottish Heather or wind resistant grasses from the Hebrides can grow. Living less than 200 metres from the waters of the Mersey in what effectively is a wind tunnel is frustrating. Nothing you grow seems to be able to settle in. Add to that the fact that thanks to the Hilton brand of hotels and their Hamptons by Hilton we no longer get sun in the mornings, and only a few hours of direct sunlight in the afternoons, and you can have a sort of feeling why I get so miserable when I look at what would ideally be a beautiful wood-decked balcony.

But no more. I just simply couldn't let the nice white climbing Rose wither and die, or watch the Hibiscus try for the fourth year running to have more than just some crappy little leaves.

No sir.

I have just seen my three blueberry bushes wither and die thanks to the new balcony and it vexes me.

So, in comes the new greenhouse.

It is nearly six feet tall, and has four shelves, though I am only using three since the Rose and the Hibiscus are fairly tall twigs.

Looking at them now, the wind is causing considerably less stress on the plants. I even feel confident enough to move the very healthy Mint plant I had in the window outside. I've placed the Lilies Almapaprika bought inside, along with the ones I bought a few months back, and watered everything in the greenhouse.

I might buy some cheap digital thermometers to keep track of whether or not it also makes it more bearable for the plants temperature wise.

I've not been able to update the blog as often as I would like because I've been a little busy at the moment.

I am slowly re-potting all the plants into their final, 8-inch pots. I still have to re-pot the two Fataliis, the two Black Nagas, the two Jamaican Red Hots and one Royal Gold Habanero.

I think I may be seeing the first of the Cayenne Ring of Fire pods next week, as the plant has started to flower now.

I treated all of the overwintered pots to some Epsom Salt (Magnesium Sulfate), which is helpful in replenishing magnesium in plants. Apparently peppers plants are deemed to be 'Magnesium hungry'. I'm hoping this will help the Rocoto Rojo, which has been great at growing, but exceedingly poor at producing pods.

The Royal Gold (the already re-potted one) is doing quite well, and may produce flowers in the next fortnight. The Madame Jeannette, on the other hand, is already weeks ahead of every other plant of this season. The first node of flowers numbers a cluster of 9, which is prolific. No buds have opened yet. Should be doing so next week. The Thai Dragon has split brilliantly into three even main branches, all growing straight and up. Lovely growth, but no flowers yet.

The two Red Squash...grumble grumble...are anything BUT Chinenses. They have started to flower, and are following the traditional Annuum growth pattern of one flower per node, as well as showing all the physical characteristics of an Annuum. If it was my mistake, then the only other possible pepper that could have been mistaken in the labelling were the peppers next to them, Almapaprika peppers (not my wife ;-P). I only had four Annuums growing this season: Cayenne Ring of Fire, Regular Cayenne, Almapaprika, and Thai Dragon.

I only hope it wasn't the seed company's problem, because they are generally a good seed company.

But I will only find out once the first pods set in.

I was planning to make some pie today for dinner, but I've gotten a bit lazy... :-(

Fantastic!

This has been far too nice a week.

Therefore, seeing menacing rain clouds as I left work this afternoon could only mean one thing:

We are returning to service as usual for this city.

:-(

But what a week it has been for the plants! They are growing so well, I am once again being filled with a wee bit of joy:

This is one of the windowsills currently being used for plants and seedlings. The Rocoto Rojo has been put on top of the radiator because my co-workers wanted to be able to move the blinds more freely, and it seems to be liking it's new spot.

This is one of the many Chocolate Habanero flowers. If temperatures stay stable this weekend, there might be one or two pods, but I won't hold my breath.

The Rocoto Rojo. It looks so nice, I only hope it does better than it did last season and give more than two pods.

The one Chocolate Habanero pod currently growing. Small, but HOT!

The Trinidad Scorpion seedling growing strong. I'm really happy all of the seedlings at work are starting to do better.

Cayenne Ring of Fire (left) and Little Elf (right) in the hydroponics at home.

The new growth on the Naga Morich.

Two sides of a coin...or 'cheek to cheek'

How appropriate I finish writing the title of this blog as someone drops a hand full of coins on the floor in front of me.

My flat is a zoo. Well, that would more accurately be the 'the people living in flats in building opposite ours.'

We've been in that flat for nine months now, and I've already been flashed or mooned TWICE.

Sadly this has not been the sort of male, hormone-induced fantasy where the other human being prancing around in the buff is part of the 'Swedish bikini team' (it's a 90's American thing. look it up).

Nope, the 'exposers' were blokes.

Non-too sightly ones at that.

The first such instance occurred one Saturday morning (so traumatizing was it that it has been etched into my memory), when a group of what I can only describe as YOBS (English thing. Look it up), decided to continue whatever alcohol and drug fuelled party they came from in their own flat. At one point, I look out of my living room balcony door to discover one said shaven headed, pasty white gentleman is nearly hanging from the balcony railing while dancing to trance music (if you can call that dancing), with nothing but a can of beer to hide his shame.

This past Saturday, however, it was the person opposite our flat, who opened the blinds to his bedroom, and proceeded to moon us as he put on his underpants. Why someone walks around a house wearing nothing more than a grey sweatshirt (hoodie) is beyond me.

Again, as per usual, Almapaprika missed both 'encounters with the arse kind'.

I went with Almapaprika and some friends of hers to watch 'Swan Lake' recently. It was an all male production (well, all the swans were played by men) much acclaimed in London and other places. I must admit that I am not a Ballet 'Afficionado' per se (I'll attend a showing more for the music than the prancing around), and found myself drifting off at points. But it was entertaining (the 60% or so I was awake for), and dare I say it, quite hilarious at times.

My man flu continues to besiege me (probably why I fell asleep at the Ballet), now filling me with so much phlegm I am a mere day away from speaking fluent Dutch (Nee, Mario! Nee!).

I have brought to the office today the following seedlings:

1x Fatalii
2x red squash

The sun and the radiators are working wonders with the plants. The Rocoto Rojo has grown two new branches that are already a good 4-5 inches long. The Naga Morich, Chocolate Habanero and Datil all also show a lot of progress in new growth, though I am worried the Orange Habanero and the Caribbean Red Habanero may end up not making it.

I am half tempted to buy some Blossom Set spray to help the plants produce pods though the temperatures might not be ideal, though I feel it's a bit like cheating (but then again, so are heated beds...), if only because I'm still reminded of the near hundred flowers both Fataliis gave last year and the ONE pod that came from all that...

A Book arrived in the post today...

I just got a copy in the post today of 'The Complete Chile Pepper Book' by Dave DeWitt and Paul Bosland.


It is not as academic as Jean Andrews 'Peppers: The Domesticated Capsicums', (which I think is a fantastic book, mind you) but it is a book I had been waiting for a while to get. It is also more complete than Mark Charles Miller, John Harrisson 'The great Chile Book', which was until now the only Chilli book I owned.


I will probably sit and read it over the weekend and give allow it to sink in before I talk about it, but from glancing through it on Google Scholar, and from just giving it a quick read a few minutes ago, I think it is a fairly complete book on capsicums.


I gave all the plants at work a quick watering with a half dose of Chilli Focus today, to start bringing the nutrients back into their diets. Some of the forum members have advised not to over-rely on nutrients, since it leeches the soils, but these are potted plants, so not much choice, unfortunately.


The Naga Morich at work is starting to sprout growth along the previously bare main stem, so I am seriously considering (someone just hit the sliding glass doors in our entrance head on...I should mention they slide open with the same speed and impetus of a professional mime miming 'a solid wall') chopping the top growth from it and using it for cuttings so as to trim it back to a manageable two feet height and seeing if I can get broader growth this year.

The Rocoto Rojo is also showing promise, albeit as a single, two foot stick with lots of new green growth coming out of it.

The Chocolate Habanero, Orange Habanero and Caribbean Red Habanero are showing less signs of vigorous growth. It may be a case of pruning for them and hoping for the best.

Crazy students have just spilled hot tea all over one of the radiators in front of me...and they wonder why they are not allowed into this building with hot drinks...

...at least they didn't spill it all over themselves (though that would provide me with a modicum of amusement.

Almapaprika dreamt of Mrs. Cole again last night. And once more she was helping out at the wedding.

I say it's all fine and dandy so long as she doesn't wear that awful outfit that made her look like an extra from a Street Fighter video game (Mrs. Bison).

The entrance door of the building is now refusing to open to people who want to leave or enter, unless they meet some unknown height/weight/body mass requirement.

I wonder sometimes what the (INFORMATION RESTRICTED) millions of pounds that went into the construction of this building ACTUALLY went into, what with the heating problems, the malfunctioning entrance doors, the malfunctioning lifts, useless lights, etc.

But at least it looks nice and shiny from the outside, and that's all that matters, really. (Ghost of cynicism past floats past me)

Almapaprika has infected me with her 'celebrity' dreams.

Or in my case: nightmares.

I dreamt last night I got into an argumentative spat with Wayne Rooney.

I was hoping for Cheryl Cole, to be honest (with a translator next to me).

But no.

I get the floppy eared 'White Pele.'

And not in a good mood (Is he ever in a good mood? then again, neither was I).

At least I saved Almapaprika from dreaming about him...

I hope.

Some New Photos

These are, of course, photos taken from my rather horrible phone camera. I wish they could be better photos, but I still haven't found the USB cable for my camera.


Today has been the second nice day in Liverpool. Cold as the handshake of a coroner, mind you.





But exceptionally sunny.



And that usually means that any plants by the windowsill at the office will absolutely love it.






This top one is the Royal Gold (a hot chinense) I got from Vincent. I am slowly moving the plants from the flat to the office in an effort to get some of them to start growing, as opposed to what they are doing now, which is searching desperately for the sun.







These are the two Roselle seedlings. I brought them up to the office quickly because the last time I tried to grow them (in the floral deathtrap that is our flat), they quickly wilted after a promising start, no doubt felled by the lack of sunlight (maybe I need to grow a vampire plant...).




This is the overwintered Rocoto Rojo. It was reduced to a Y-shaped, 30 inch stump with a couple of millimetre long leaves a fortnight ago, and look at it now! One of the Y arms is pretty much dried up, but the other one seems full of life (what a window full o'sunshine will do for ya!)








Last, but not least, the Maize Morado. Yes, they are in little individual pots, and I have only recently learned that they need deep soil for their roots. Still, for the time being this will have to do. I am hoping to move them to deeper pots soon.



Almapaprika wasn't too well a few nights ago. Spent the wee hours of the morning paying tribute to the porcelain Gods. I felt really bad and thought she might be seriously ill (so I immediately distanced myself by about two metres).



Yesterday evening she came up with a theory as to why she was so ill:



Tomatoes.



That's right.



Tomatoes.



I knew they were evil to begin with, and this only feeds my paranoid mind...

Signs of Life

The Maize Morado is growing with a purpose! Almapaprika was amazed to see how fast the little things are pushing up, UP! to the sky.

The same can be said about the Roselle. These are fast growing little things...

On the capsicum front, it seems the Brazilian Starfish, Red Squash, Royal Gold and Jamaican Hot are showing early signs of life, which makes me very happy. Put one of the germinating boxes on top of the water heater in the cupboard, and it has done wonders. I'll move the other one as soon as I move the two Roselle seedlings to slightly larger pots to free up the space.

Have taken photos of the Maize, but will take some more today and post the comparison photos so people can see how quickly they have grown.

I am really annoyed with the hydroponic setup. A week has gone by and no sight of progress from the Culantro. I might bring some up to work and scatter some of the seeds on the pots of the overwintered plants, who seem to be starting to sprout new growth. The Rocoto Rojo, the one that worried me the most because it only had two small leaves in three near metre long stalks, now seems content with a scattering of little blooms of green. The Naga Morich is also showing signs of new greenery. In fact, the Naga, the Orange Habanero and the Chocolate Habaneros are all producing the odd flower or two. The Caribbean Red Habanero is thankfully not doing that, but has maintained itself nice and green. I've decided I will start watering them with a half-strength Chilli Focus solution once a fortnight, just to start giving them a little bit of extra nutrients.

Haven't been feeding them anything for nearly 6 months, just water. But they seem to have done OK (Specially the Rocoto, which only produced the pods when I stopped feeding it. I read in the Hot Pepper Forum that it might be because of too much Nitrogen, which tends to be a particular issue with Rocotos and Manzanos.)

So, photos will appear shortly (I hope).

Oh, and I still can't believe I made the whole of the last entry in Spanish without the use of any 'eñes'. But boy, was it difficult!

New years Rant

The blog has been inactive for a few months, and some of my friends have been asking me why.

Truth be told, the chilli season gave way to the chilly season (pun sadly intended), and I had to finish my dissertation.

I lost a fair bit of my harvest to the stupidity of realizing that while capsicums keep well in the fridge, if a little moisture gets to them they rot really fast.

Still, I have a healthy supply in the freezer and some drying.

To my surprise, the Nagas, Chocolate Habaneros, Rocotos and Orange Habaneros were still alive until the Christmas Break, when the office was closed :-(

Heck! The Rocoto Rojo even had two pods...in DECEMBER! Took it blinking long enough...

The Naga is also still producing, which is really scary.

I have to thank the peeps from one of the offices where I keep the pods, who had looked after them while I was off being insane with 'academic stuff'.

I am looking forward to the new year, because the lone Datil I planted last year is still alive and well, so it should provide fruit for this summer.

And Almapaprika's Mum and Dad gave me a mini hydroponics system for X-mas! I shall be planting Culantro on the mini hydroponic so that I can cook Sancocho (an Aji-Chombo Land chicken soup cure for hangovers, and apparently death) for Almapaprika.

I've also been dabbling in the dark arts of jam and pickle making, having thus far made:

-Apple, Mint and White Habanero Jelly: a bit of a letdown, really. Needed more pectin. But good flavour and the heat is mild but noticeable.
-Mango, Peach and Naga Chutney: it was so good a friend of ours who shall remain nameless stole a pot of it from another's house. It was really nice and hot. I only used one Naga for this, since more than one would have been not consumable for most friends.
-Blueberry and Pomegranate Jam. So good, I could only make one and a quarter jars (I underestimated the amount of fruit needed). Lovely and full of flavour.
-Cranberry, Plum, and Cherry jam. Another good one. A bit more tart and runny than the Blueberry & Pomegranate one, but still oh, so tasty.
-Pickled Pears. Yup, you heard. The recipe from the Hairy Bikers. Still to taste them as they are 'pickling'.

One final thing, which is why the title is New Years Rant:

Copenhagen: Waste of time. The solution is simple. Technology transfer. It is also the most unlikely, because no one wants to give anything for free (and please do not be fooled into thinking that the 'aid' is free. Who do you think will sell the 'green technology' to the countries in need of it? I'm betting it won't be at discount prices...). Though you couldn't tell it was Global Warming in the coldest winter the UK has seen for a decade...

Also: Apocalyptic films and their recent resurgence. You know, the end of the world through our own making or through some unforeseen circumstance which could be traced back to mankind in some way or another. We are far to obsessed with that sort of film...

Finally. Rude and obnoxious people. There are far too many here where I work. Not co-workers, mind you (well...). They all know more about my work than I do, all want to get away with murder, all want to bend the rules, if not break them and grind them into dust. Why? Why are people afraid of following rules? Yes, AFRAID! 'Rules are unfair.' well, life is F-ING UNFAIR, YOU DOLTS!, if you could do anything you wanted at any time outside of the bonds of society (let's call it nature), you'd be dead before you hit puberty, because the rest of LIFE doesn't give two rabbit sized poo pellets about 'your need for all things to be equal'. Rules can help you if you use and respect them accordingly. Today's society (specially here) are too caught up in this 'Big Brother is out to get you because it wants to control you' paranoia.

whew!

Rant over...

TGIF? Not if your chillies are at work...

I dread weekends.

Don't get me wrong. I like the idea of goofing off for hours on end, just like the next pepper.

But all my plants are at work now. So that means I need to water them well enough Friday afternoon, and hope we don't get a mystery heatwave over the weekend (though in this neck of the woods that's about as likely to happen as Elvis riding the Loch Ness monster down the street in hot pursuit of Bigfoot).

I almost forgot to do a mouseketeer roll call for the chillies being grown at work:

1-Naga Morich x 2
2-Orange Habanero x 2
3-Fatalii x 2
4-Black Cuban x 2
5-White Habanero x 2
6- Esplendor x 2
7-Chocolate Habanero x 1
8-Caribbean Reb Habanero x 1
9-Rocoto Rojo x 1
10-Red Savina x 1
11-Paper Lantern x 1
12-Stromboli x 1
13-Ring of Fire Cayenne x 1
14-Etna x 1
15-Chocolate Sweet Pepper x 1

And, of course, the two butternut squash.

Fingers crossed for another weekend of them fending for themselves.

I might have some photos to upload soon! Took them today, but need access to the computer at home.

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.

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?

Disastro! Tragedia! Mascarpone!

AAAAARGH!! This is a horrible Charlie Brown moment...

I looked out the window of the new flat last night, only to discover something disastrous:

The Rocoto Rojo, as well a the Butternut Squash were dead! DEAD, JIM!

So annoyed at this! The only thing I can think of, after looking at both plants, was that it was a combination of cold weather (yes, we did have a brief cold snap last night and today, but no frost that I can recall) and high winds. The leaves on both plants were snapped and shriveled.

Keeping the rest of the chillies indoors, then...

Crazy Pigeons!

Ghaaaaa! The chillies have developed succulent leaves!

Nah.

It's just the triffids. Thought I'd show you what they look like (top photo). They are already taller and thicker than the rest of the chillies.

The middle photo is the of one of the Orange Habaneros, and the bottom one is of the Rocoto Rojo (you can tell because of the hairy leaves). Took these two this morning. They are getting big now. Just need to hope they continue that happy growth for the rest of the season. The ones at the office are quite big now. Two more weeks before I take them over to Almapaprikas' parents (one of the chocolate sweet peppers and the Cherry Chilli at the very least are going over there).

Speaking of titles in a blog, Almapaprika and I waited at an intersection in the city centre recently along with some of the locals. That, of course, included a pigeon (no, not one of the nicknames given to locals here), which behaved like some crazy manic hobo, pacing left and right close to us, but never actually crossing the road.

Until the little green crossing man lit up.

It crossed the road with us, the crazy little bird.

Almapaprika and I (well, mostly me) kept 'speaking' on its behalf. It was mostly making the pigeon sound and act like Donkey from Shrek.

You really needed to be there.

What's eve more amazing is that the paranoid things proceeded to behave the same way on the other crossing light of the intersection, and only crossed WHEN THE LITTLE GREEN CROSSING MANE LIT UP!

Now, mind you, I never got to study ornithology, but something tells me birds can do certain things people can do:

-See better than people.
-Poop green
-Lay eggs

And, oh, yes...

...FLY!

Maybe this pigeon is becoming human...

...it will start hanging out at pubs, go out with its mates and have a pint or two, and take in a game of cricket.

Silly, silly bird...