Reweed Allotment Blog

There are many types of chillies available, why not grow several varieties.

Sowing Seeds

Start seeds 2 or 4 to a 4 inch pot, or use a seed tray if you prefer. Place this somewhere warm, you could use a heated propagator, or a sunny windowsill.

Depending on the type of pepper it could be anywhere from 2 days to 4 weeks before the seeds germinate. The warmer they are kept the more chance they will germinate.

Transplanting

When the seedlings are large enough to handle, carefully repot them 1 plant per 4 inch pot and place them back in a sunny spot. Feed them if required, but with good potting compost this isn’t essential.

Pot the plants into grow bags or 10 inch pots just before they become rootbound.

Plant Care

Water only when the soils starts to dry out. You can apply a general or tomato feed, you could also try using chilli focus.

Note: Some people say only feeding when the soil is bone dry and the leaves have started to wilt slightly will stress the plant and make it form hotter chillies. If anyone has any information about this, let me know.

Harvesting

Harvest the fruit when unripe or when fully ripened, different types offer different heats/flavours at different stages

Few pictures today of how my toms/chillies are getting on.

Most of my chilli plants are still only about 9inches high, not sure why as this time last year they were much taller. I’ve been pulling off the flower buds for a while on the smaller plants, leaving them to grow on the 2 large Ring of Fire plants. They are slowly turning into my favourite type of chilli.

Tomatoes are best grown in either a greenhouse or a warm conservatory. That said, they can be grow outdoors and there are varieties more suited to outdoor growing.

Sowing Seeds

I tend to sow multiple seeds per 4 inch pot of seed compost and place on a warm windowsill or in a heated propagator.

Keep the compost moist but not wet and once the seeds have several sets of leaves you can transplant them into their own 4 inch pots.

Transplanting

I like to wait until the plants are almost root bound to a 4 inch pot before transplanting either outside or into larger 10 inch pots.

If planting outside you must wait until after the last frost.

Plant Care

As the plant grows, tie the main stem to a sturdy cane, or provide a cage to offer support. Water and feed the plants regularly, you must keep the soil moist to avoid problems like splitting fruit.

As the plants grow some people like to restrict the fruit per plant, some experimenting might be needed to find what works for each variety to get a good crop.

Harvesting

Harvest the fruit when ripe and fully coloured, harvest with a sharp knife to avoid plant damage.

When growing onions, it is often advantageous to use onion sets rather than grow from seeds. Onion sets are immature bulbs specially grown to be planted, they tend to be easier to grow, less prone to bolting and more resistant to diseases and pests.

Soil Preparation

Dig in some manure or good quality compost the winter before you plan to grow onions, this gives it time to break down and improve the soil.

Planting Onion Sets

I always plant my onions in early April, but you may get away with doing it earlier depending on your location. Plant the bulbs 4 or 5 inches apart with rows spaced 8 to 9 inches apart. Push each bulb firmly into the soil with the tip still showing.

Birds will sometime pull your newly planted bulbs up, if this happens just push them back into the soil. You could also cover them with some garden netting for a few weeks until they start to develop leaves.

Weeding

Keep your onion patch weed free. No one enjoys weeding but keeping on top of the weeds will allow your onions to grow bigger.

Harvesting

Harvest onions once the stems/leaves have turned brown and fallen over. You should leave the harvested bulbs outdoors to dry out which should take a just over a week, weather depending of course.

Store dried onions in onion nets or on stackable trays in a cool dark place. Use larger onions first and discard any soft onions. Onions that are properly dried and stored will keep for up to 9 months.