Today we harvested our chillies. These have all been grown in a greenhouse in the garden, rather than on LottiePlotFour.
We grew a range of varieties.
The 'Ring 'o' Fire' was very successful as always and produced a reliable crop. 'Peach Habanero' were much slower to mature and I have harvested many of the fruits green. Perhaps these need more sun that Manchester can offer, but time will tell on their heat levels. 'Black Pearl' was a very pretty plant. We only grew 1 plant and it was productive harvesting over 30 fruits. These fruits are dark purple in colour, but do ripen to red. They are also very hot! We grew 'Pepperdew' which are the same variety as that well known mild chillies you can buy in a sweet syrup at the supermarket. These were large plants, but didn't seem to produce that many chillies per plant. Again, perhaps they need a hotter climate. We do have enough to make one jar though so once they are ripe I will set to try and preserve our own. 'F1 Joe's Long' were a very heavy cropper, but they are very mild. They do live up to their name though as most were approaching 20cm long. 'Praire Fire' was, once again, a reliable favourite. These little bushy plants produce hundreds of very small, but extremely hot chillies. They ripen through yellow, orange and red and are very decorative. 'Pepper Pepper' the 'penis-shaped' chilli was entertaining as always. They have a real kick and are a good talking point.
The final variety we attempted are the world famous 'Bhut Jolokia'. These are the chillies listed as the hottest variety in the 'Gunniess Book of Records'. These chillies are rated to have a heat of over a million scoville units. For comparison; tabasco red pepper sauce rates at 2,500-5,000. Again these needed a longer season, but we have got a few ripe fruits.
I have brought in 2 praire fire and 2 Bhut Jolokia plants and will attempt to overwinter these for an earlier start next year.
Praire Fire
Pepperdew
F1 Joe's Long
Ring 'o' Fire
Peter Pepper
Peach Habanero
Black Pearl
Bhut Jolokia (still on plant)
The full Harvest
6 comments:
Lovely harvest !! Just splashed out on some seeds for 210 so hope i do as well as you :)
Flowerofshona2007
So pleased to find your blog. This year I grew Ring of Fire, Jalapeno, and a mystery one (a tiny bush with 1 inch high upright peppers maturing red. . hot)I am going to try to overwinter them but have taken seeds just in case. I have got some Bhut Jolokia seeds and a heated propagator. Could I start some off now?
Have a look at my blog. .
http://bornagaingardener.blogspot.com/
Hi, just stumbled upon your blog and read with interest your "Chilli Harvest" post. This year I tried to grow some chillis which were a complete disaster. I do plan to have another go next year and I hope my harvest is as "fruitful" as yours.
Take a look at my blog
http://igrewthisearlier.co.uk
Hi There thanks for the comment on my blog, which enabled me to find yours. I am impressed with your variety of chillies, I only grew a few different ones. My favourite and hottest were the little 'Pyramid' chillies it's a very pretty plant too, and they dried well.
Have a very Happy New Year.
maureen x
Ian, it would be a good idea to start your seeds off ASAP. That is if you have a light place indoors to keep the plants. Some varieties take up to a month to actually germinate and they need a long season. The Bhut Jolokia - the sooner the better.
Thanks for the comments everyone :)
Hi again, since my last comment I have ordered some Dorset Naga chilli seeds from Sea Spring Seeds. I know that they are supposed to be really really hot so I am not sure what I will use them for. The people who run the company featured in the early series' of River Cottage which is how I found them.
Take a look/sign up to my new chilli blog http://justchillis.wordpress.com/ which has links to I grew this earlier too.
All the best and happy new year.
Natalie.
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