Red hot Chilli Peppers

[igenlode]

We have the first ripe red chillies as of this week :-)
The larger chilli plant has nearly finished flowering, I think -- no sign of any ripening fruits on the smaller one, but plenty of green ones. I shall have to step up my kitchen dried chilli usage in preparation for a fresh harvest!

We are about six weeks ahead of last year in terms of ripening :-)

Comments

Go you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I don't grow hot peppers, but I have a sweet pepper with green fruit.

Re: Go you!

[igenlode]

Not sure I can take any credit for this year's success; it's the abnormal weather! (The difference between a chilly spring and a quite unseasonably warm one; it is almost unheard-of to have had apples and blackberries ripening so early in the year...)

In my experience there is very little point in trying to grow sweet peppers here, even if you have a greenhouse -- you can get maybe two fruits per plant (which tend to get eaten by slugs before they are fit to harvest) per year, of an unpromising size. But the miniature chilli peppers are much more useful, and this variety crops quite heavily -- even if only a minority of the fruits actually ripen before the plant dies back in any given year. (The thing about chilli peppers, or at least this variety, is that they are actually still hot even when they are green. Ripe fruits are only required for the purposes of collecting viable seed...)

Re: Go you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yeah, a lot of peppers are good green or ripe. Gypsy peppers are completely sweet, but when red they take on a fruity flavor.