In the past month since my last update my chillies plants have grown a massive amount. I believe I currently have over 30 chillies and peppers growing, not including the two I have already eaten. The first fruit I ate was from my Banana Pepper plant. At the time of picking which was about 3 weeks ago, it was the only fruit on the plant. Since then, the plant has produced more peppers.
 |
| Banana Pepper before harvesting |
 |
| Banana Pepper after harvesting |
The second fruit I ate was from my Habanero Chilli plant. From having used a Habanero before I believe the shape of my fruit was not quite right. It did not have the proper “lantern” shape I was looking for. This may have been to the growing conditions not being quite right or it may have cross-breed with another one of my plants. It was certainly a very spicy chilli. I used in the making of a curry. Needless to say I definitely could feel its presence in the dish.
 |
| Habanero Chilli before harvesting |
 |
| Habanero Chilli after harvesting |
Despite so far only sampling these two chillies, many of my other plants have produced many chillies and peppers. All four of my last year’s plants have produced many chillies. I now believe through studying these four plants that they are different chilli plants. I do understand chillies enough to explain how I have four different chilli types from seeds from a single chilli. However I am definitely not complaining!
My two largest last year plants have chillies that grow straight down. The difference comes in the shape of the chillies. One has straight, short stubby fruits that I believe could be a Jalapeno. The other has longer curved fruit that I believe could be a Serrano chilli. These are just guesses from looking at information on the internet.
 |
| Maybe a Serrano Chilli |
 |
| Maybe a Jalapeno Chilli |
The other two plants from last year have fruits that grow upwards. The one on my windowsill is a Fresno Chilli. I am unsure about the other one which resides in the greenhouse. The fruit are of a peculiar shape and much smaller than the Fresno.
 |
| Fresno Chilli on my Windowsill |
Another plant that has fruit growing is my Apache. At my last count it had 6 chillies growing. It also has many un-pollinated flowers.
 |
| Apache Chilli |
To my knowledge I have only one other plant that has a pepper growing. Despite a run of bad luck with this particular plant, it has endeavoured to survive and I discovered this morning that it has started growing a Bell Pepper. It was first knocked of the windowsill by one of my cats and then it had a particularly horrible case of green fly.
 |
| Bell Pepper plant with fertilised flower |
Many more of my plants have flowers. These include numerous bell pepper plants, my Anaheim, two of my “miscellaneous” chilli plants and my Hungarian Hot Wax.
 |
| Hungarian Hot Wax |
 |
| Anaheim |
My Bulgarian Carrot, Santa Fe Grande and Demon Chilli all have developing flower buds. My Tabasco although growing well has yet to form any buds.
 |
| Demon Red Chilli plant |
While visiting my lovely girlfriend Jenny in Northamptonshire, I purchased a cheap small greenhouse. I have erected it and placed it in the back garden. I have around 15 plants placed in there. These plants include Tabasco, Demon, Jalapeno, Santa Fe Grande, Bulgarian Carrot chilli plants as well as 4 Bell Pepper plants. These plants enjoy a good few hours of sunshine in the early morning.
There is still a lot of guessing with the Bulgarian Carrots and Santa Fe Grande plants. Having not labelled them when I first planted the seeds I have no idea which is which. The plants look to similar for me to tell the difference.
 |
| Not sure which type...... |
With the amount of change I have witnessed in the past month, I think I should not wait another month for my next update. I have been extremely surprised by the amount of change I have witnessed.
