It works!

Hi!

Tonight, a week after we started our bokashi, we got some fluid coming out. It's said to be the perfecct fertilizer. So I diluted it 1+20/30 something, and watered our plants with it tonight.

Very exciting to see what comes out of this! More about this later :-)

And hopefully less reports from our tropical storms... :-)

Hot regards,
  Mats

Tropical Stockholm part II

Hi!

I hear myself saying - never ever give up... But now I'm close.  For I-don't-know-how-many times, the strong winds have thrown the plants all over the place. It may not look very bad, but they get messed up with each other, the branches break, and the fruits fall off.

Even the super heavy big pot was thrown over today, breaking my dedo de moca, and my cumari. The one that I thought was bod'e but turned out to be a baccatum, was also broken, as well as another one. So I have thrown them away now.

Here is my involuntary harvest tonigt. Too bad about the dedo de mocas, I really enjoy them when they are mature.

I don't know what kind of tactic I should have from now on. I need to calm down, and think about it. A good idea might be to take some pots away. The ones that don't have any flowers, will never get fruit this year anyway.

I have not picked many fruits this year, so it may be too early to draw any conclusions. But none of the chiles that we picked have had seeds. Earlier, I've had a couple of chile without seeds, but this year we've had ZERO seeds. Isn't that weird? What is your experience?

Another one of my favorite sayings are - the only thing certain is change...

Stormy regards,
   Mats

Tropical Stockholm

Hi!

The "much above average" temperatures continue. Today we had strong winds and lots and lots of rain. Almost like the afternoon rain in more tropical places. I was greeted by chaos on the balcony.

A few branches broken, but no major damage...

Hot regards,
   Mats

More caterpillars...

Hi!

Patricia screamed when she found this dude on our tulsi leave. Actually she found an even bigger on just before this one... I've found a couple of them on the balcony as well. No wonder why the chile leaves look like a swiss cheese...

Except chasing caterpillars, we are enjoying the temperatures. "Much above average". I like that, and there may be a chance for the chile plants to develop a good harvest...

Wishing you all a great week!

Hot regards,
   Mats

Bokashi

Today we went to Källtorps trädgård (http://www.kalltorpstradgard.se/). A very nice place. And Carl especially enjoyed the ducks :-)

We bought a bokashi starter kit :-) So now we can take care of our food left overs and create a highly nutritious fertilizer and soil for our chile peppers. The process is based on effective microorganisms (em). We think it is an interesting concept to sort of shortcut the circulation.

So we started our bokashi today, with some lemon, egg and coffee left overs. And hope that the micro organisms will do the work for us...

More about this later.

Wishing you all a great week!

Regards,
   Mats

Douglah

A short update. I'm so happy to have a picture with a couple of mature pods, so I want to share it with you! It's my douglah that is producing well, despite of the weather.

This picture should be labeled: Have a great weekend!!!

Hot regards,
   Mats

Black naga

It's funny. This year I have started to almost fear the heat in some of the varieties. And that is new for me. I have eaten chile peppers for 20 years... It's the fault of all my 7 pods :-)

And this one. The black naga. It's almost like it is looking at me, smiling, knowing, how hot it will be when I eat it. Anyway, it's definitely a beautiful pod. Both in shape and in colour.

Hot regards,
   Mats

Canario

Hi again!

Some more pictures from my canario. The plant is absolutely fantastic, and the flowers are so beautiful. Here are some examples.

And, last but not least. A tiny tiny pod :-)

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Hot regards,
   Mats

Bode roxa

It's the first year I grow this chinense. There are just a couple of pods on my plant, but they look very interesting. A marble-like texture. Very nice looking. I will wait a while before tasting it. I have a feeling that it will change even more in colour.

Hot regards,
   Mats

The little !"%#¤!

Today when I was chasing caterpillars, I found this little !"¤#"%.

 A very hungry guy... And he's not alone. All in all, I found at least ten of them... And there are probably very many more of them left out there...

The moment before this little fellow got his life's biggest surprise. A jump from the fourth floor, down to the garden below. There he can eat all he wants. :-) But he's not welcome back to my plants.

Regards from the caterpillar-chaser :-)
   Mats

7 pod brown

The plants are very late this year, and there are thousands of flower buds, but I'm afraid that it's too late for them this year. But that is not much to do about. I'm enjoying the rips pods that I have.

Some examples from 7 pod brown. More pictures here: http://petterssononline.com/habanero/peppers.php?action=variety&id=1246

But of course I'm still hoping for a long warm autumn. I would love to see more pods on the plants... :-)

Hot regards,
  Mats

Struggling with the heat...

I was having dinner with my friend Mikael yesterday. He made a fantastic chili! And just for the fun of it we sampled one of my 7 pot primo for dessert. Once again, this chinense knocked my socks off.

It smells fantastic. Typical chinense flavor. But I can't say I enjoy the taste. First, the taste is OK, but very quickly the heat takes over, killing my taste buds...

And - I got a gift :-) A box with naga jolokia. Phew. It's going to be a hot coming week :-)

Hot regards,
  Mats

Pimentón

I'm a big fan of Pimentón powder. I love the smokey flavor of this Spanish delicacy! For example, I use it in meatballs, and even when I make mashed potatoes. So in our family, mashed potatoes are not white, they are more or less red. So I couldn't have said it better :-)

I also love the typical containers. And yes... The collection has grown since I wrote this one. http://chilesinstockholm.blogspot.se/2011/04/it-was-never-my-intention.html

You can also read more here: http://www.fiery-foods.com/chiles-around-the-world/77-europe/1932-pimenton-the-smoked-chile-powder-from-la-vera-spain

Hot regards,
   Mats

If it isn't one thing it's another...

Hi!

If it isn't one thing it's another... I have had almost no aphids on the plants at all this year. Until a couple of weeks ago, I had absolutely none. Now there are a few. But they are not really the problem. The problem now is - caterpillars.

We had caterpillars some years ago, when we were away on vacation for a week. When we came home, they had eaten a couple of plants. Nothing left... Now I chase them every day, but still many leaves look like this. The caterpillars are not big at all, but they sure are hungry. Grow fat pretty quick... The positive side of that is that they are easier to find. Otherwise they are well hiddden. Have exactly the same colour as the leaves.

Not a very big problem, but quite annoying...

Wishing you all a great week!

Hot regards,
   Mats