The Fire Garden

Chilli seeds: What I've sowed and where to buy chilli seeds

2010-01-02T16:14:00.007Z

Yay! My chilli seeds arrived on New Years Eve and another pack came today! So far I have sown about 20 chilli seeds, some of which are the Bhut Jolokia which for those who don't know are the hottest chilli seeds you can get! The other chilli seeds I have sown in Jiffy Pellets (Jiffy 7's/Pete Pellets) are the wonderful brightly coloured NuMex Twilight and the Apache F1, plus Prairie Fire.

Apache F1 Chilli

I am actually really looking forward to growing the Apache F1 chilli as they are perfect for popping on the windowsill and they have really nice looking classic bright red chilli peppers hanging off of them and mixed with the shiny green leaves they look really great.

Apache F1 heat level: Medium
Species: Annuum
Origin: Unknown

NuMex Twilight Chilli

I wanted to grow the Numex Twilight chilli peppers last year but never did. If you're looking for a slightly different chilli then these are fantastic as an edible ornamental chilli. The chillis pods grow upright and have great vibrant colours when growing from purple, yellow, orange and red. The Numex Twilight are another nice little windowsill chilli and they almost look like Christmas Tree lights.

Numex Twilight heat level: Hot
Species: Annuum
Origin: USA

Prairie Fire Chilli

The Prairie Fire chilli pepper looks almost the same as the Numex Twilight, the colours are the same and they also grow upright, another good choice for the chilli grower that doesn't have much space.

Prairie Fire heat level: Medium
Species: Annuum
Origin: Unknown

Bhut Jolokia Chilli (Bih Jolokia)

The Bhut Jolokia (translates to "Ghost Chilli") currently is the worlds hottest chilli and comes from the Indian region of Assam and is known by a few different names depending on the Indian province, one name the "Bhi Jolokia" is translated as "poison chilli", though it's not actually a real poison chilli and is edible.

It's not the most attractive chilli and certainly isn't the stereotypical chilli in terms of looks, it's quite small and is fairly wrinkly to look at, in a weird way the Jolokia reminds me of a prune, though the Bhut Jolokia is red and not black and is also bigger than a prune.

Prairie Fire heat level: Insane / Nuclear
Species: Chinense
Origin: India

For some quality chilli seeds checkout www.chileseeds.co.uk | www.readytogrow.co.uk | www.southdevonchillifarm.co.uk | www.seaspringseeds.co.uk

Checkout my grow your own chili guide titled "growing chillis at home" for more information on growing your own chillies.

Windowsill chilli peppers

2009-12-30T12:45:00.002Z

I thought I'd quickly make a post about chilli peppers to grow on your windowsill at home as a reader, Jon, left a comment on the post below about looking for some chillis to grow on his windowsill.

While I was searching for some small chilli types I found a company called Sea Spring Seeds that sell some small chilli peppers called "the habanero collection" which contain the chillis Turtle Claw, Coffee Bean and Pumpkin.

When I emailed Joy at Sea Spring Seeds she said that they grow theirs in small 5inch pots and could grow to 1 foot which would make them great windowsill chilli peppers. She also says that the Habanero collection make great looking edible house plants.

So thanks Joy for your email and if anyone is interested in small chilli plants this year be sure to visit www.seaspringseeds.co.uk - the three pack is priced at £7

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Fire Garden selected chilli pepper seeds for 2010

2009-12-27T09:55:00.004Z

Well I have decided to buy some new chilli seeds for 2010 and this time I am going for the smaller chilli varieties which are the NuMex Twilight, Apache, Prairie Fire and the not so small Bhut Jolokia just because it is one of those hot chillies that any chilli head has to grow at least once.

If you're looking for some high quality seeds and growing equipment for this season then be sure to check out my links to my fave seed companies on the top right of this page.

I will be posting about growing the Bhut Jolokia/Naga chilli separately as it is one of those special chilli peppers that a lot of people talk about so it would be nice for those wanting some information on growing the Bhut Jolokia/Naga to be able to read a totally separate grow diary for it.

In search for compact windowsill chilli peppers?

2009-12-26T19:52:00.002Z

Well this time last year I had already sowed my first chilli pepper seeds (see: sowing chilli seeds) and this year I am going for some smaller compact types that would fit on my windowsill quite nicely but I cannot decide which dwarf chilli plants to grow! I was thinking Apache, Prairie Fire and Razzamatazz but don't want anything too bushy, any fellow chilli growers like to suggest some chilli seeds for me?

Back on line

2009-12-25T20:34:00.001Z

Well looks like I forgot to renew my domain but it's all back now and
I will start my new chilli growing ventures in Jan so stay tuned!

--
Sent from my mobile device

Storing Chillies

2009-09-23T17:43:00.002+01:00

For those of you that are looking to keep your chilli peppers over a longer period here are some ideas to help you store chillies so you get the most from this years chilli harvest.

Put them in a zip lock bag and freeze them whole
Dry your chilli's and grind them down in to a home made chilli powder
Pickle them in vinegar - try Jalapeno's pickled in vinegar, they taste great!
Put them in the fridge

These are just a few little ideas and definitely the most common way of storing chillies, if you have any weird and wonderful ways of storing chillies then leave a comment!

As the chilli growing season comes to an end....

2009-09-20T19:50:00.005+01:00

Well this year has been a real learning curve for me in terms of growing chilli peppers and other veggies, I have grown some really tasty chilli peppers this year and I really look forward to growing again next season, however I am down sizing my property and moving in to an apartment so won't have as much room to grow, however we will have a nice south facing balcony so there will be room for a few plants, not sure what types yet but I think some rather small ones, Apache and Scotch Bonnet chilli peppers are definitely going to be on my grow list next season!

I have harvested about 50 chilli's this and they have all been very nice, especially the red Jalapeno's. Here is a picture of a handful of my red chilli peppers that I have left to ripen. I am not sure what the big ones are, I know I didn't order any large types.

FireGardenUK Chilli Growing Forum

2009-07-15T12:11:00.002+01:00

I have just set up a chilli growing forum, you can ask as many questions as you like and I'll answer them, or even other community members will so feel free to stop buy and ask away!

No longer available.

My fresh Jalapeno peppers from the garden

2009-07-09T14:45:00.003+01:00

Picked some more fresh peppers today, these ones I am going to pop in to a curry tonight! I am actually quite surprised that the Jalapeno's are pretty hot, not overpowering but will add a nice subtle kick to tonight's curry. I also have some other fresh chilli peppers on the plate but I have no idea what they are... I am gonna say that they are Cayenne chilli peppers which I will dry out and make some nice chilli powder with.

Growing chillies at home

2009-07-08T13:49:00.013+01:00

Growing chillis at home - chilli growing guide

When growing chilli plants from seed you do not need to spend lots of money on expensive gear such as hydroponic systems, all you need is good old compost, pots, and of course chilli seeds. You don't even need to be in a hot climate because as long as you can provide warmth and light your good to go, growing chillis in the UK is a big YES.

Ok, first of all it is always a good idea to plan ahead, by this I mean looking at what type of space you have to grow. If you have a flat or a house with a small garden you might want to stick to the smaller type of chilli peppers such as Apache, Cayenne, Bulgarian Carrot, etc. However if you choose a bigger chilli plant you can grow it in a smaller pot which will give you a slightly smaller version of the plant.

Sourcing Chilli Pepper Seeds

You can buy chilli seeds from pretty much anywhere such as DIY stores like Homebase or B&Q, even the Co-Op sell them! I find buying my chilli seeds online is much more convenient and you can buy them on eBay, however you might want to stick to more reliable sources such as Nicky's Nursery, Chile Seeds .co.uk, Simpsons Seeds, Mr.Fothergills, etc. However I can recommened an eBay shop named Premier Seeds Direct, I have brought many seeds through these and have never had any problems and my germination rate has been excellent, not only that but they are quite cheap and the company is DEFRA registered.

Growing Medium

Once you have your chilli seeds you are going to need to plant them. A high quality compost is ideal, I have never had problems with own brand multi-purpose compost from places like B&Q, Asda, Aldi, Wilkinsons and Homebase. Compost is pretty cheap and you can get 100L bags of multi-purpose compost for a few pounds, usually you will find deals on where you can buy three bags for £10.

Next you need something to put the compost in, you can use pretty much anything such as old ice cream tubs, yoghurt pots, loo roll holders etc. If you want to buy a propagator you can do so from places like eBay, B&Q, Wilkinsons etc. These propagators are plastic trays where you are able to either fill with compost or place small pots inside, they are also idea for seed cells.

What I find much more convenient than placing pots or seed cells inside the propagator is using Jiffy Pellets (peat pellets) which look like large brown tablets but when you add warm water to them they expand in to small peat filled sacks where you can pop your chilli seed(s) in to then place them in your propagator, they aren't messy and you don't waste any time filling pots up with compost.

How to germinate chilli seeds

Instead of waiting until May/June you can get a head start with your chilli plants by starting to germinate your chilli seeds around March, it will take roughly 60-120 days before you see fruit, this depends on the type of chilli pepper you are growing. A Jalapeno would take around 60 days whereas a Habanero would take longer, around 100+ days.

When germinating chilli seeds you need the right temperature, somewhere between 20c - 28c is good, although I have germinated around 18c before now. Your chilli seeds should start to pop their heads above the compost around 10-14 days, sometimes it can take up to a month so it's always good to get a head start when germinating your seeds.

As soon as your chillis have poked their heads up it's time to get them some light. If you don't get your chilli seedlings light you will get "leggy" chilli peppers, in other words they grow long and thin and become a little weak. Remember they still need a stable temperature of about 20c.

When your chilli peppers have their first set of 4 leaves you can transfer them to bigger pots (I put them in 1ltr pots), if you are growing in Jiffy pellets you might want to transfer to 9cm pots soon after you see the first pair of seed leaves, then on to 1lts pots when you have 4 leaves.

As your chilli pepper plants get bigger you will have to transplant again to bigger pots, I tend to transfer to 2-3ltr pots if I am growing a small chilli plant such as an Apache, or if it's a taller plant then a pot size of 5ltr is a good size, flower buckets are great for chilli peppers, you can get them from supermarkets for about £1 if they are willing to sell you some. If your unsure when to transplant your chilli take a look at it, if it looks like it's getting too big for it's current pot repot to a bigger one, if it looks ok then just leave it until it needs transferring.

When it comes to watering at the seedling age just spray the surface compost so it's moist, you can add a liquid nitrogen feed after about a month with the water once a week to help promote growth but using just water on it's own is fine. Going by my own watering methods I tend to always keep the chilli moist and never wet, even when it's full size I pour on the water but stop before the surface compost is swimming.

Before putting your chilli plants outside you should wait until the last frost in your area, just keep watching the news or check Garden Action for their frost dates in your area. Once you are sure that you will not get any more frosts you can start to harden off your chilli peppers. Hardening off chilli peppers is done by gradually getting your chilli plants used to the outside weather, I make the process 2 weeks long and start by putting the chilli plants outside for a couple of hours a day in a sheltered but sunny position for the first week then the second week I may taken them out late morning and bring them in late afternoon (4-5pm). After that I will leave the plants out over night just as long as the temperature doesn't drop more than 10c, chilli peppers don't like the cold so if it's going to be a little chilli (excuse the pun!) that night then bring the chilli peppers inside.

When to pick chilli peppers

Depending on the type of chilli you have you might want to wait until your chilli peppers have changed colour, most of the time your chilli peppers will change from green to red or orange, of course you can pick green chillis as long as they taste good and have the right heat level there is no reason to wait until they turn another colour. Another tip is to inspect the chilli, if it looks glossy and firm you should be good to go, also the earlier you pick your chilli peppers the more chillis your plant will produce! If you have to many chillis to pick you can store them in a cool try place or even or even place them in your freeze.

If you want to dry your chillis you might want to leave them out in a cool dry place until the pepper shrivles up and is dry to touch. You can then grind them down in to a chilli powder or even break them off (you might need to cut them) and use them as chilli flakes.

Storing Chilli Seeds

If you want to use the chillis seeds from peppers you have chopped up all you need to do is pick out all the the seeds and put them in a kitchen towel and leave to dry for a couple of days or so, once you are sure the chilli seeds are dry you can bag them up in to those little resealable bags but don't forget to label the bags!

Overwintering Chilli Plants

When you overwinter chilli plants it is best to select the chilli plants that have given you the most tastey/hot fruit as you will know roughly how many chilli pods you will get next season. Also remember that you will need to keep your chilli plant in a warm sunny place and don't forget to cut back your chilli plant, you should take the whole plant back to it's main stem leaving about 2" on the sideshoots. Don't forget to water leaving it moist and not wet, do remember in the winter months it probably won't need watering every week so just put your hand on the compost to see if it feels dry.

Any questions feel free to mail me: jay@firegardenuk.com

Growing chillis video - again

2009-07-07T06:31:00.003+01:00

UPDATE: I've not had time to create this chilli growing video but you can check these chilli growing videos on YouTube here.

I did mention about a "How to grow chilli's" video which will still go ahead and would have been done sooner but there was a few problems my end, however depending on this cold I have I may actually get it recorded and edited this week... fingers crossed!

Chilli peppers growing up fast!

2009-07-06T12:38:00.005+01:00

Well it's been a while since posting on here, h ada few problems at home but should now be posting a little more often I hope!

So my chilli peppers have been doing really well, the ones that were indoors were moved out in May, I think, and they have all come on wonders, especially with the heat we have been getting here in the UK of late! The big problem is that I have no idea what I planted apart from the Jalapeno peppers, yes... I forgot to label them! It shouldn't be to hard to ID them though as I only planted a few of a certain kind (2009 growlist) though I think that the other unknown chilli varieties are probably Cayenne peppers, Santa Fe Grande or Habanero peppers, though don't quote me on that!

I did pick a couple and even though the heat is good they tasted a little "unripe", you know the taste. The heat of the possible Cayenne is a rather thick cluster of heat around the 6 out of 10 heat scale, not too hot but as it seems like a cluster of heat it does seem slightly hotter than it actually is, if that makes sense!

Any way, here are some pics, maybe you can help me ID them?

And let's not forget to chuck in the random sunflower head in to the mix!

Is chilli growing an addiction?

2009-05-16T20:51:00.002+01:00

Ever since I found out about being able to grow chilli peppers at home and in the UK it has become a kind of addiction, not to the heat of the chilli but an addiction to watching them grow from a seedling to a full chilli plant! I keep finding myself delving in to the odd pack of Cayenne seeds or Jalapeno seeds and popping them in to a Jiffy pellet. I'm never going to eat all of my chilli's I grow but there is just so many different types out there it's hard not to keep digging in to the wallet and buying more exciting types.

I think after these lot of peppers I am going to look at only growing a small handful and as anyone will know once you plant a seeds you just don't stop, not only that but my house isn't big enough to turn in to a greenhouse!

How to grow chilli's video tutoial!

2009-05-16T19:57:00.003+01:00

UPDATE: I've not had time to create this chilli growing video but you can check these chilli growing videos on YouTube here.

Well I have decided to make a video about growing chilli peppers! I thought I might as well have a pop at doing it seeing as I have learnt quite a lot over the last 5-6 months and might as well share what I have learnt with everyone else.

The video isn't going to be really technical, it's actually going to be quite basic, the 123 of growing peppers. Any way, keep checking back or add my blog to your RSS reader because I will aim to get it up on YouTube in the next week, hopefully! If you are a YouTube user then add my channel to your friends list so you know when I upload the video, or just check back here next week.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FireGardenUK

Chilli plants are growing slowy!

2009-05-14T11:51:00.003+01:00

Well it's been a little while since I last posted but there hasn't been much to report apart from my chilli pepper plants are coming a long quite well but it's taken months to get to this stage which is probably due to the bad weather we have had in the winter. Any ways my plants have gotten little flower pods on them so hopefully it shouldn't be to long until they wake up and start to flower!

Woman eats 51 super-hot (Bhut Jolokia) chillies in 2 minutes

2009-04-10T22:54:00.007+01:00

I just read that a 26-year-old woman from Assam, India has chumped of on 25 Bhut Jolokia chillies (aka Naga Jolokia/Ghost Chili/Ghost Pepper/Naga Morich) in just two minutes! The fire eating show was for Channel Four Television show on global food being anchored by chef Gordon Ramsay. The hardcore chilli head, Anandita Dutta Tamuly, said that she has been hooked on chillies since she was 5 when her mother applied chilli paste to her sore tongue to cure an infection and aquired the taste for chilles after that. As if eating 51 Bhut Jolokia's in two minutes wasn't hardcore enough, she also rubbed 25 chilli seeds in her eyes!

The Bhut Jolokia is twice as hot as the Red Savina and messures a whoping 1,001,304 Scovile Heat Units (Scoville Heat Units, or SHU, is a method of messuring the heat of chillies) and is served in every meal.

Just to give you an idea just how hot a Bhut Jolokia is, if you have ever had a pizza with a Jalapeno on it which messures about 10,000 Scoville Units and it burns your mouth, just think what a Bhut Jolokia would do messuring over 1 MILLION Scoville Heat Units! That is hot stuff.

I have never eaten anything this hot, the hottest chilli I have ever eaten is a Habanero and a Scotch Bonnet, however this story reminded me why I must grow some Bhut Jolokia's because as any chilli head will know, no matter how hot it is, it's never hot enough!

What is the hottest chilli you have eaten?

Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7993925.stm

Chilli chat forum: http://firefoods.phpbbhosts.co.uk/

Scoville Heat Scale: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale

Original Source - Dragon Fruit & Capsicum

2009-04-09T10:49:00.005+01:00

Seeing as I am such a big fan of Original Source (I have just about every shower gel in their range) and I am passionate about chilli's I just had to buy the new Original Source - Dragon Fruit & Capsicum!

First of all what is Dragon Fruit? Well without going in to detail it is a pitaya which is the fruit from a cactus and is grown in hot countries such as Southeast Asia & Central America, and supposedly taste a little like a melon or kiwi fruit if a little sweet. Dragon Fruit also look fantastic and reminds me of the film "Hell Boy". I will try and get one of these if not from Asda, Tesco, or Sainsburys, then from one of the Asian shops in town, I will let you know what it's like!

What is Capsicum? Capsicum is the posh word for a chilli pepper which are grown all over the world, that includes the UK and come is all shapes and sizes and has various heat levels, my fave are Jalapeno's for taste and Numex Twight for the look.

Any way, back to Original Source - Dragon Fruit & Capsicum. This version of Original Source has a very strong earthy-like smell and almost has that underlining spicy smell you get from ginger root. The colour is red and rubbing it on your skin in a hot shower makes the smell even more intense, it doesn't really tingle much like you'd expect but it does has have a slight tingle to it. I guess you couldn't sell a product that burnt like hell!

I found this version of Original Source slightly better than the others (even though they are all lush smelling) because after you have have bathed/showered the smell of the shower gel dose seem to stay on your skin a lot longer and your left smelling and feeling rather spicy.

One thing I will say is that I found Original Source - Dragon Fruit & Capsicum smelt quite a lot like Lynx Boost with guava and volcanic stone, in fact it smelt pretty much identical but the Lynx Boost seemed to stimulate the skin a little more.

On a sad/geeky level, I would like to know what type of chilli's are used in this Original Source product, however from the back it does say the capsicum is an annum.

Also I would like to know if anyone reading this has tasted Dragon Fruit as I have read from some people it is quite bland and others have said it is really sweet.

Make your own cloche - garden cloche

2009-04-07T17:43:00.004+01:00

Well today I planted out my giant sunflowers and as they are only little sunflower seedlings I wanted to give them some kind of protection and instead of using a garden bell cloche or jam jar/bottle cloche I used freezer bags! As you can see iy the picture below it only takes a few things to make your own plastic cloche and here is what to use:

Garden pegs
Freezer bag
Bamboo cane
Cable tie

Pop the bamboo cane in to the ground behind your seedling and then pierce a few air holes in the freezer bag (bigger the bags the better) and pop it over your seedling then push the garden pegs through the bag and in to the ground and pierce the cable tie through the bag (both sides) and attach it to the cane.

Hopefully this can help with protection for young seedlings and possibly help keep slugs at bay but any strong winds will probably blow the bags away.

Rocket potato, chilli pepper + other pics

2009-04-04T19:47:00.004+01:00

Here are a few pics I took today, the first if of one of my chilli peppers which I think is a Red Habanero seedling.

This chilli pepper is actually growing at a much faster rate than the rest and it's looking really good.

And here is my Giant Sunflower seedling, I could of swore I only popped these in their peat pellets (aka Jiffy 7's). I've never grown a sunflower before so I am looking forward to seeing how it grows, from what I have heard Sunflowers grow pretty quick. To accompany these giants I have the Velvet Queen sunflower which looks totally fantastic.

In this picture it shows my first lot of Rocket potatoes which I planted in a 75L compost bag and I know why they are called Rocket potatoes now because they grow so quick! I have a couple bags of these Rocket potatoes and I also have some Hunter potatoes and some Desiree potatoes which I am also looking forwarded and which are also being grown in potato grow bags (compost bags!).

And now we have my Poundland cloche / mini polytunnel which cost... you guessed it, £1. They aren't to straight but at least you can see what they look like.

And finally I have a 15 chilli peppers growing and 15 tomatoes growing which will be used to experiment with. I want to graft a chilli with a tomato so I use the tomato rootstock and the top of the chilli for the fruits. The reason why I am grafting chilli peppers and tomatoes is because the tomato has disease resistance that the chilli doesn't. Also I would like to see how the yield is with a grafted Jalapeno and tomato Moneymaker as they produce heavy crops.

Types of chilli: Red Habanero, Hungarian Yellow Wax and Jalapeño Early.

Types of tomato: Moneymaker, Gardeners Delight and Marmande.

More work done to the garden!

2009-03-29T19:41:00.003+01:00

I really do love Sunday gardening when it's sunny, it gives me a real sense of spring/summer and today I managed to dig over the right hand side of the garden which seemed to take forever! I put in some Freesia & Begonia's and stuck a load of "shake & rack" seeds on the flower bed. The flower bed was going to be part of the vegetable patch but there was to much junk to dig up so I levelled it off and stuck the wild flower seeds on top of it.

I also managed to have a general clear out and tidy up the shed/obstacle course, there's still some clearing up to do but it should all be done by next month and hopefully, if the landlord is in a good mood, he will get us some decking so I can then start to lay it in around May.

Oh, and yesterday I also planted some Desiree potatoes in a bag, the Rocket seem to be coming on nicely too. Oh yes, the compost heap was started today which sits behind the shed, it's not a very big space but at least it's somewhere to put the garden waste.

Things are starting to lookup in the garden!

2009-03-26T15:33:00.003Z

This month I was supposed to get a skip to clear out the junk left over from the previous person but due to money being almost non-existent I wasn't able to get one and decided to give up the idea of sowing the veg and just stick to my chilli's. However I have had a family member offer to let me use a van so I can clear out the rubbish which is great, and I'm actually quite glad I didn't part with £80 because a lot of the green waste I will pt in the "composting area" behind the shed, I dunno why I didn't think of doing it before. The other bits and bobs like wood, concrete, broken fencing, boxes etc. I can stick in the van and take it down the dump.

The other thing is that our landlord doesn't always follow through with his ideas or if he dose then it can takes months for them to complete it so I am not sure when we are going to get the new fencing in the garden, I don't think he is willing to put a fence all the way up the garden so we are left with no divide..... any ideas what I can use for a divide? I would like something in plant form so maybe some annuals of some kind?

Any way's. The potato's I put in bags at the beginning of this month are starting to flower (yay!) and I am still yet to plant more when/if I get the time. Also the chilli's are coming along nicely but some seem to be bending over a bit and I can't afford to be buying new pots for the amount I have so we'll have to wait and see.

I'll try and post some pics of the garden and chilli's tomorrow as well.

Chitting & planting potatoes

2009-03-04T23:11:00.002Z

So tonight I planted my Rocket potatoes which are first earlies and I am using bags to grow mine, mainly 75L compost bags but I'll use anything that looks big enough!

I think I underestimated just how many bags I am going to use as I have roughly 100 spuds, Rocket and Aaron Pilot, I am looking forward to harvesting these potatoes just as much as I am excited to harvest my chilli's!

Creating a dwarf chilli hybrid

2009-03-03T21:15:00.005Z

So since getting in to chilli growing (my main hobby out of gardening) I have been quite interested in creating hybrid chilli plants because instead of growing the same old Habs or Jals, I think it's way more fun and more interesting to come up with your own unique (though probably not) chilli pepper that meets your own needs in terms of look and/or taste.

Even though I am a chilli head I do tend to prefer taste over heat, but I do like a nice kick to go with it. The perfect chilli for me is something that tastes sweet and juicy with a medium heat level so I guess the natural step from here is to try and come up with a cross that meets my taste and because it's fun to try new things when growing peppers. Who knows what this cross will look or taste like? Maybe it will taste great or maybe it will taste rank.... however, there is only one way to tell.

I have decided to take two C.Annuum species. Jalapeno (Mexico) and Sana Fe Grande (USA) and crossbreed the pair as they are both sweet(ish) in taste and are both great for cooking and eating fresh on a nice home made meat feast pizza!

The other thing I want to do a little harder, and that's having my cross permanently stunted and suitable to smaller pots, something that would sit nicely on a patio in the summer.

To do this I think I have to change the two plants genetics by picking the chilli's fruit with the required characteristics (1 of the smallest Jals & 1 of the smallest SFG's), then planting those seeds, crosspollinating, and keep repeating the process until the required characteristics become fixed. It will probably take a long while but it's a fun project and if it works it will be a great achievement for me!

Will I be in time plant all my veg I wonder?

2009-03-03T19:23:00.003Z

The missus and I live in a rented place and the last person here left the garden in an utter state and I am taking in the challenge of sorting it out as we're going to be living here for at least a couple of years. I have been talking to our landlord to see if they will get us a skip so I can throw out all the junk in our landfill of a garden, but I don't think they are to keen on forking out £80 for a skip.

The veggie patch is on hold as well as the area I am clearing had lots of rubbish on it and I had to dig up to 3ft to clear out all the big lumps of plaster, plastic bags, Coke bottles, milk bottles, beer bottles and burnt rubbish. I hope to get this sorted this month though I may have to wait another month if I have to get the skip myself, even though I don't think it should be my responsibility to have to rent one. So I wonder if the veg I listed in my 2009 and grow list will be ok to plant out in April?

My growlist: http://www.firegardenuk.com/2009/03/fire-gardens-2009-growlist.html

Fire Garden's 2009 Growlist

2009-03-03T19:19:00.001Z

My intended grows for 2009:

Chilli (names for the chilli heads)
Habanero
Red Cherry
Cayenne
Hungarian Hot Wax
Early Jalapeño
Santa Fe Grande

Spuds
Onions
Radish
Toms (three types)
Lettuce
Aubergine
Cucumber
Cauliflower
Parsnip
Carrot (two types)
Cabbage
Leeks