OT: Chillies 2012

It’s that time again.

This evening (Saturday 21/01/2012) I have sowed 13 varieties of chillies, just over 50 seeds! I’m very excited about the prospects for the year ahead but have absolutely no idea what I will do if I have 50 plants to tend – they won’t all fit in our small greenhouse and we don’t have a conservatory… Suggestions welcome.

From the left there is “Black Naga” which I managed to grow last year and by the end of October the pods had ripened to a dark chocolate brown colour. They were hot too 🙂 . Next is a Red Habanero – These seeds were a gift from my sister-in-law and I have no idea what they will be like but Habaneros are generally quite hot and a have lovely fruity flavour. Finally in this tray is Goat Horn which I also grew last year and they were an absolute delight! A lovely traditional torpedo shaped chilli with a great flavour. They aren’t blisteringly hot but a very, very nice chilli.

In this tray I have the famous “Dorset Naga” which has been a reliable variety over the last two seasons. Hope these seeds still germinate OK. Next is a Bhut Jolokia and to be honest I can’t remember where these seeds came from or if I have grown from this packet before, but there were only 5 seeds in the bag so they have all gone in the tray. Finally is another Habanero style called Congo Trinidad.

I have two varieties in this tray I also grew last year from the first time and liked them so much am growing again: Aji Crystal was quite prolific and produces big meaty chillies with a nice (but not insanely hot) kick. The Lemon Drop on the other side was also quite a good cropper and I loved the bright yellow chillies. These look great on the plate and taste yummy too – a slight citrus note. In the centre is a new variety for me this season – The Habanero 7 Pot. Called the 7 pot apparently as this is how many pots of stew one chilli will flavour! I’m really looking forward to getting these on my tongue!

Here are the “HOT Ones”… The Naga Viper held the hottest chilli world record in 2011 for a while at around 1.4million Scovilles! However within just a few days this Viper was beaten by the Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T” which was measured at just under 1.5million Scovilles. Also in this tray is a chilli called Portugal, which is a Jumbo Cayenne type. Not in the same league heat-wise as it’s 2 neighbours but I like a bit of variety.

And finally, I remember growing this one a few years ago and being pleasantly surprised so I thought I’d give it another go. It’s Italian seed with a description of Peperoncino piccante tondo calabrese. It’s a round chilli that is commonly used for stuffing or in salads. I recall it having a nice punch and the plants being excellent croppers.

I’ll provide updates through the year as, hopefully, the seeds germinate, plants grow and bear fruit.

Tags:

2 Comments

  • Good to see the vaariety and numbers of plants planned for 2012 increase Alan! I hope you do better than I did with my 80 failed plants in 2011… I’ve been given a small greenhouse for my 40th so I plan to try again this year with some summer heat, not summer cold! Good luck, keep posting the updates!

    • Alan Lord says:

      Hi Adrian!

      I did wonder how your outdoor experiment would work…

      The first three seeds have already germinated and have been moved to into 8cm pots already. The first seeds to sprout were the Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T” I should think the others will be starting this week. 4 days from sowing to sprouting is very quick. I’d usually reckon on 2 weeks.

      As they start to grow I’ll post some more updates.

      Have fun.

Leave a Reply to Adrian Steele of Mercian Labels

XHTML: You can use these tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>