Whilst looking through my old chilli growing photos earlier I came across some of the greenhouse plants that were taken in 2013 and 2014. Instead of them just sitting on the hard drive where only I get to see them, I decided it would be a good idea to post a few of them here on the blog.
Most seasons I only had one greenhouse, but sometimes I had two, plus the indoor plants and plants growing outside in the 'pepper patch'. The varieties shown in these next eight photos are
Alberto's Locoto,
Pimientos de Padron,
Aji Rainforest,
Pusa Jwala and an unknown
Capsicum baccatum variety that was sold under the label of Inca Red Drop. In the second greenhouse I also had two very large
Aji Lemon plants.
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 8th July 2013 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 13th July 2013 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 25th July 2013 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 7th August 2013 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 21st August 2013 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 26th August 2013 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 26th August 2013 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 24th September 2013 |
At the end of each growing season the walk-in plastic greenhouse was taken down and stored away for winter, and the plants were then moved into the glasshouse to allow the remaining chillies to ripen up.
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Chilli Plants in the Glasshouse - 23rd October 2013
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Chilli Plants in the Glasshouse - 23rd October 2013
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I also had two plastic greenhouses in 2014. The white one was originally purchased in 2012 and had seen better days, but after some patching up I was still able to get another growing season out of it. It's always worth saving the old poles from these plastic greenhouses because they can be put to good use later on. I normally use them for providing extra support to outdoor plants and for reinforcing the framework of new plastic greenhouses, which is sometimes quite flimsy by default.
The varieties shown in greenhouse one (the green one) are:
Alberto's Locoto,
Aji Fantasy,
Aji Angelo, Scotch Bonnet and a couple of unknown
Capsicum baccatum varieties.
The varieties shown in greenhouse two (the white one) are:
Indoor Locoto,
Inca Lost,
Aji Crystal,
Aji Rainforest,
Orange Habanero,
PI 159241,
Ghana Round, Mayan Love and an unknown
Capsicum annuum variety.
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 29th April 2014 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 10th July 2014 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 10th July 2014 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 10th July 2014 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 20th July 2014 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 30th July 2014 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 6th August 2014 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 19th August 2014 |
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| Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 24th August 2014 |
This next photo shows the 'pepper patch' in 2014. These plants spent the season growing outside because there was no room left in the greenhouses. Looking at the photo I can identify three of them, and they are: Peach Habanero, PI 159241 and another one of the unknown
Capsicum baccatum plants that was labelled as Inca Red Drop. Apart from that I forget what the other varieties were.
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| The Pepper Patch - 6th August 2014 |
Nowadays most of the chilli plants are grown indoors, and this means I'm very limited to how many new varieties I can grow each season because my favourites always occupy the best spots. I still manage to squeeze in a couple of new ones, but I won't sacrifice my best growing spaces for varieties that could turn out to be poor producers.
Trying new varieties was less of an issue when I had the walk-in plastic greenhouse, but at the end of some seasons I ended up with more chillies than I could shake a stick at. Some years I was eating five or more Habaneros each day just so I could get through the harvest in time for the following season.
Chili con carne was on the menu several times per week and often contained more chilli than meat and beans combined.
Some harvests used to take up about two and a half freezer compartments, which was all well and good but a bit awkward when trying to squeeze in a Christmas turkey. This next photo was taken in 2013 and shows the end of season pickings from just two Habanero plants.
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| Chilli Harvest - 2nd October 2013 |
After seeing these photos I'm now seriously contemplating on buying another walk-in plastic greenhouse for next season so I can grow even more new varieties. Christmas turkey is very overrated anyway.
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