Bargain. 
I am going to grow tomatoes and chillies in pots this year.
I have never grown chillies before but my mate has and she got loads so I thought I would give it a a go.
chilli's (in pots) are the only thing Mr Ditty grows Issy. He started growing them 3 years ago, having never grown anything ever before..
First two years he had fantastic results.. we had fresh chilli's right through til September, and then he harvested the rest & dried them out very very slowly in a low heated oven.. they kept us going right through the winter.
last year they weren't as good.. cos he tried a different variety (Cayenne). He's gone back to the really good ones again this year - Apache F1... they are a hybrid, so the seeds are more expensive, but the germination rate is over 95% and the produce loads & loads of chillis
ooops... should add - the Cayenne didn't have the abundance of chillis that the Apache did... and they seemed to have a shorter time for fruiting...
Originally Posted by Dirtyprettygirlthing:
chilli's (in pots) are the only thing Mr Ditty grows Issy. He started growing them 3 years ago, having never grown anything ever before..
First two years he had fantastic results.. we had fresh chilli's right through til September, and then he harvested the rest & dried them out very very slowly in a low heated oven.. they kept us going right through the winter.
last year they weren't as good.. cos he tried a different variety (Cayenne). He's gone back to the really good ones again this year - Apache F1... they are a hybrid, so the seeds are more expensive, but the germination rate is over 95% and the produce loads & loads of chillis
I dry the seeds out of chilli's I use and grow them, they're free....
Originally Posted by Dirtyprettygirlthing:
chilli's (in pots) are the only thing Mr Ditty grows Issy. He started growing them 3 years ago, having never grown anything ever before..
First two years he had fantastic results.. we had fresh chilli's right through til September, and then he harvested the rest & dried them out very very slowly in a low heated oven.. they kept us going right through the winter.
last year they weren't as good.. cos he tried a different variety (Cayenne). He's gone back to the really good ones again this year - Apache F1... they are a hybrid, so the seeds are more expensive, but the germination rate is over 95% and the produce loads & loads of chillis
Ditty
You are a mine of information. So could I push my luck and ask when I should start thinking about growing them? Do I have to grow them from seeds and when do I need to plant them out? xxc
Originally Posted by stonks:
Originally Posted by Dirtyprettygirlthing:
chilli's (in pots) are the only thing Mr Ditty grows Issy. He started growing them 3 years ago, having never grown anything ever before..
First two years he had fantastic results.. we had fresh chilli's right through til September, and then he harvested the rest & dried them out very very slowly in a low heated oven.. they kept us going right through the winter.
last year they weren't as good.. cos he tried a different variety (Cayenne). He's gone back to the really good ones again this year - Apache F1... they are a hybrid, so the seeds are more expensive, but the germination rate is over 95% and the produce loads & loads of chillis
I dry the seeds out of chilli's I use and grow them, they're free....
Whoops - just saw this as well.
Thanks Stonks x
Originally Posted by stonks:
I dry the seeds out of chilli's I use and grow them, they're free....
I don't think that works with the Apaches cos they are an F1 hybrid.. if they did actually germinate they would be unlikely to be Apache's - they would look like one of the two parent plants (which were different species)
Originally Posted by Issy:
Originally Posted by Dirtyprettygirlthing:
chilli's (in pots) are the only thing Mr Ditty grows Issy. He started growing them 3 years ago, having never grown anything ever before..
First two years he had fantastic results.. we had fresh chilli's right through til September, and then he harvested the rest & dried them out very very slowly in a low heated oven.. they kept us going right through the winter.
last year they weren't as good.. cos he tried a different variety (Cayenne). He's gone back to the really good ones again this year - Apache F1... they are a hybrid, so the seeds are more expensive, but the germination rate is over 95% and the produce loads & loads of chillis
Ditty
You are a mine of information. So could I push my luck and ask when I should start thinking about growing them? Do I have to grow them from seeds and when do I need to plant them out? xxc
Hubby sowed his seed (
) last weekend... he has done them in growing on pots... smallest size - link to growing on pots
he gets 8 seeds in a packet (costing about ÂĢ2.35).. so has 8 of these pots.. they are now slotted into a plastic bag to aid germination.
at the moment they are moved around the house to the warmest places ... when they have germinated & get green he will then start the daily routine of moving them into the conservatory, to a light area, but not direct sunlight (it scorches & kills the seedling).. then bringing them back in on an evening.
If you can't be arsed with doing them from seed, then loads of places sell them as pot ready plants.. Dobies do.. 3 pot ready plants for ÂĢ6.95... which when you consider the price of 8 seeds is very reasonable I think.
Normal household should do fine with 3 plants.. we use loads of chillis, when having to buy them at least 2 packets of birds eyes chillis from Tesco a week.
If you are going to grow from seed then you will need to pot them on into bigger pots about 3 times before they finally get planted into their terracotta pot.
We nearly always bring them inside on an evening... then pop them out into the sun during the day. Though they may be ok in mid summer out overnight.. ours get left out at the backend of the season, and they still go on fruiting
Thanks Ditty and Stonks- I have copied and pasted all the info.
Autumn King 2
Should be a heavy crop 
It's now time to plant your potatoes.Some say to plant in a tyre ,but the toxins in a tyre puts me off.
http://www.primrose-london.co....9.html?cPath=734_755
I have only grown potatoes once, in one of these...
it wasn't really worth the effort for the crop we got.
Issy - I've done tomatoes in the past.. for cherry tomatoes "gardeners delight" is hard to beat for cropping & flavour (& relatively low maintenance)
Originally Posted by Cagney:
Originally Posted by stonks:
Nothing like home grown carrots....
If I had the space for it I'd be growing my own.
I don't think anyone on telly has ever said you can have your 5 a day from a window box 
OT. What is that cute thing in your avatar? It's got the colouring of my cat, the size of my cat, but I take it it's a dog.
I've tried tomatoes twice, first time the slugs got them, second time I don't know what happened, they were all coming out and suddenly went black. I had them in hanging baskets because I don't know what to do about the slugs.
It's a Papillion puppy
Cagney, I'm going to try and use that picture (hopefully with your permission) as my wall paper. It's the most georgeous little dog I have ever seen. 
I missed out on the carrot seeds. The local newsagent had sold out of Daily Mails - that must have been a first.
Yeah...it's a wee cracker Cags.
It's my dream dog. I'll have one soon Feel free to use the pic Cologne
we've got a huge garden and OH has fenced the bottom bit for an allotment-she's a qualified summat or other to do with gardening-she had her own section at birminghams botanical gardens-anyway-we always have great fresh stuff from allotment-really nice-better than that supermarket crapola-hers is homegrown and orgasmic
Originally Posted by pirate1111:
we've got a huge garden and OH has fenced the bottom bit for an allotment-she's a qualified summat or other to do with gardening-she had her own section at birminghams botanical gardens-anyway-we always have great fresh stuff from allotment-really nice-better than that supermarket crapola-hers is homegrown and orgasmic
Aye Yogi - there's more to pirate than meets the eye