Monday, February 11, 2013

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS & A PASSION FOR GARDENING - 6 November 2012

Today I had a tiny window of opportunity to plant out my chilli!  These are Yates Chilli Pepper ‘Long Red Cayenne’.  As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, this is my second year of growing and raising this particular variety from seed.
GERMINATING & HARVESTING CHILLI
I’m actually running a wee bit low on my dried and frozen harvest from last season, so I hope these grow really well!  The hardest thing that I’ve found with chilli is the germination process.  Once you have had success with germination and have a seedling ready to plant, give them some sun and warmth and away they go! (Ours even managed to survive FOUR WEEKS without us in January this year when we were travelling around the world….with the odd water from our parents and neighbours however!)
WHERE TO PLANT MY CHILLI
I’ve planted them out with my root crops again this year, as they did really well in the same bed as the beetroot, parsnip, carrots, swedes and radishes last year.  The only problem is that due to my crop rotation plan, they do not have as much sun as they did last year….so here’s hoping this won’t impact too much on this year’s chilli harvest!
WATERING IN WITH THE SECRET ELIXIR
I watered them in with Yates Nature’s Way Seaweed Booster after planting out as this stimulates root growth.  In fact, I’m pretty much doing this with everything I plant out and it really seems to be doing the trick!
IT’S GETTING HOT, HOT, HOT!
I’ve popped a cloche over each of the five seedlings I planted out today.  Last year I had four seedlings and despite the fact that we eat a lot of chilli – we had a bumper crop and therefore I was able to give some of the harvest away to friends along with freezing and drying surplus harvest.
SHARING….
Despite only having enough time to plant out these seedlings today, I actually feel like I’ve had far more time in the garden, as I was a guest speaker and a conversational English class this evening.  I talked to the students about gardening and we all shared different stories about gardening problems and what veges everyone grows….it was so much fun!  And of course, I felt so special that I was able to share my passion for gardening with others in a really unique way.
I often think about how gardening can really bring people together and that there is something special about all the people I meet through gardening.  So here’s to all us lovely gardeners and a bumper growing season everyone!

No comments:

Post a Comment