I really should be planting my chilli seeds now but it’s still a bit cold with all of this snow we have been having so I have decided to leave it a few more weeks, maybe until the middle of Feb, I will just see how the weather plays out.

Everything has been a bit neglected of late because i’ve been so busy, things are calming down a bit now so you can expect to see more very soon.

In the meantime if you are wondering how to get your chilli growing off the ground then take a look at these posts from last year:

Growing Chills – Intro

Growing Chillis – Part 1 : Getting Started

Growing Chillis – Part 2 Germination

Growing Chillis – Part 3: Potting on

Growing Chillis – Part 4: Watering and Feeding

If you have any questions please get in touch

I have mainly been using the tomatoes in salads and sauces as well as giving a lot of them away as i just haven’t had the time to make as much sauce as i would like.

Our shopping bill has gone down a fair bit because we have been using the potatoes from the garden, carrots from the tubs, cucumbers (along with the tomatoes,peppers and chillis) from the greenhouse and most excitingly of all my first cabbages.

I’d never grown cabbages before as i didn’t have room until we bought the house, then last year i didn’t have space in the veg plots as i went OTT on other veg. This year i am so glad i grew them, they aren’t very big  but they are very very tasty and just the perfect size to have as part of a meal for the two of us.

The next month or two should see the chilli harvest keep ripening which will lead to me making some Chilli Up North Sauce and definately some chutney, so keep your eyes peeled for that. In the mean time take a look at the pics

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The weather has also brought about a bumper harvest of french beans and purple climbing beans…the purple beans and their plants are really pretty but they loose their purple colour when cooked.

The greenhouse is rammed full of tomatoes and chillis, along with a couple more cucumbers.  The random bursts of sun are causing a few problems with stuff drying out but they plants all seem to be healthy.

The rain destroyed potato plants are a bit of a concern but the spuds are still coming thing and fast and are showing no signs of damage so fingers crossed they will stay ok.

My parsnips and cabbages are getting a  bit out of control, i wish i had sowed them in nice straight lines like the blokes on the allotment (see pic)[SinglePic not found]

The slugs have had all of my onion tops so I’ve learned a valuable lesson to protect them next year. They have also made a start on the new rhubarb leaves so will have to look into protecting that next year.

Finally the apple trees are both full of apples so it wont be long before im making apple pies and crumble!!!

The wind and rain have messed up some parts of the garden, especially the spuds, they are looking worse for wear, slugs also seem to have gotten a taste for the tops of my onions so that’s not great, on the plus side everything seems to have shot up and started ripening and we have had bucket loads of peas, spuds, lettuce,raspberries and beans.

Ive also had a few problems with white fly but some organic spray seems to have done the job and my too rather poorly looking dorset naga plants have recovered well since i moved them so I’m still hoping for some fruit on them.

The biggest revelation so far is the hawaiian currant tomatoes, the seeds were given to me by a friend, they are about the size of…well you have guessed it a currant, The plants are nice and compact and you get lovely little bunches of tiny fruit. The fruit themselves are lovely, very sweet and have a great texture, they are perfect for scattering on salads or eating like grapes!

Fingers crossed the weather will sort it’s self out soon and i can start harvesting my chillis and other tomatoes along with my main crop spuds and the rest of my new spuds.

As far as Chilli Up North and the website goes, i am getting close to finishing the proper website so it shouldn’t be long now. I have lots of reviews to post of chilli products that i have been testing lately, if anyone has any chilli products they would like to see reviewed or has any products they want to send me to review then please let me know.

anyway here are a few pics:

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The rain followed by the sun,followed by the rain seems to have helped everything shoot up, i’ve not kept on top of pinching the tomatoes out so they are massive now, never mind you live and learn

We have also eaten our first peas, new spuds and yellow courgettes, both were very tasty and much better than anything from the shop!

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the garden has also gone mad with the weather causing everything to shoot up and grow like crazy…well apart from the chilli plants which seem to be alot smaller than previous years.

We have had our first harvest of peas from the “bucket o peas” in the greenhouse and they were delicious.

i’ve got some more recipes written and some more photos so ill upload those to here very soon along with the next part of the growing guide.

The weather has meant ive had to water the garden and veg plants lots over the past week, not that i mind as its nice being out in the sun. It also seems to have given everything a boost and really brought the garden to life.

The spuds are now poking through so it will nearly be time to earth them up, the onions are well on their way, the toms have shot up, the green house bucket o peas has started flowering, the peas and beans outside have all grown a bit too and the parsnips have definately grown.

The most important crop of all the chillis are doing well, all the plants are nice and healthy, some of them are still a bit on the small side but it wont be long before they are fully grown, of that im sure.

I also got a new toy this week, a nice shiny panasonic lumix lx3 digital camera, ive not taken many pics of the garden yet…just a few of the marigolds in the greenhouse, i have however taken a bucket load of pics when we nipped across to the lion inn at blakey ridge for a spot of walking followed by a few real ales and a lovely old perculiar casserole.

if you want to check out my photos from days out and about they are availble here

I will try and get some pics of the newly emerging veg along with adding a bit more info to my blog, if anyone has any requests for stuff they would like to see here please let me know

I’ve got loads more done in the garden since i last posted, i have now potted on my tomato plants, chilli seedlings and other veg along with planting my pea and bean plants out, sowing some sugar snap peas and raddish and having a general tidy round in the garden.

The carrots and onions are poking though and the greenhouse peas have started to flower.

I still have lots to do, and i still have to finish the coding for the main Chilli Up North Website, hopefully ill get a few hours one night this week to sort stuff out.

Anyway here are a few more pictures of the garden and seedlings.

Bean trellis

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Chillis and peppers:

• Peter Pecker
• Violet cayenne
• golden cayenne
• Mystery chilli
• chilil fuego
• Bell pepper
• Dorset Naga
• Hidalgo
• Hot portugal
• Sweet Pepper

Tomato:

• Hawian Currant
• Black Tomato
• Choc Cherry 
• Beams Yellow Pear
• Eva Purple Ball

Other Veg:

• Peas Early and meteor
• Sweetcorn
• Potato – Nicola,charlotte, kestrel and maris piper
• red onion 
• leek
• parsnip – gladiator and white gem
• golden cabbage
• romanesco broccoli
• mangetout
• sugarsnap peas
• purple climbing beans
• french beans
• Cucumber – telegraph, telapathy and crystal lemon
• courgette – taxi f1
• melon
• butternut squash

Everything is still quite small due to the poor weather but they will hopefully shoot up soon.