Midsummer peppers

Hi!

Last evening of the Midsummer weekend. I went out on the balcony today, and checked the peppers, and it looks good.

Follow the links to see more pictures of the varieties.

This is the habanero red. It's almost ripe now. I can't wait to take a bite in this one :-)

And there are a bunch of promising flowers. I hope they will set fruit!

This is the habanero orange. There is a tiny pod also, but it looks a little weird. This plant has been out in the strong winds and fairly cold nights, so we will see how it goes.

The fidalgo roxa is a beauty. Look at these flowers!

And pods.

It reminds me of a variety that I grew some years ago. The Peru Scarlet Lantern.

The cheiro roxa is another beauty.

The name does not say it all. CGN 21500, looks like an "ordinary" chinense so far. Stay tuned.

The Trepadeiro Werner is another new acquaintance. It's a Capsicum baccatum, and grows and grows and grows. It's very easily broken, and reminds me of a Cumari that I grew maybe 15 years ago.

Nice small pods.

So, all the peppers are outdoors now. That's definitely worth celebrating. And, I can't wait for the first samples of them :-)

Wishing you all a great week!
   Mats

Hot socks

Hi!

What a weekend! We went down south, to Ystad, to meet our friends Jim & Dot. Here we are at Ale's Stones, having a great time.

It's a truly magic place. You can read more about it here.

We also went to Glimmingehus, which is a fortress from around 1500. It was a special day with Knights and tournaments.

It was a beautiful day, so many people visited.

Today we went home, and passed Brahehus, which is a nice place too.

The view over Lake Vättern.

But that wasn't was I was going to write about. I got socks from Jim & Dot. Aren't they cool? No, hot I mean :-) In grey.

And black :-)

It's a wonderful world of chile peppers :-)

Hot regards,
  Mats

Is it warm now?

I hope that the cold days are over for this spring, or summer, or whatever it is.

This is how my wind battered plants look like... Most of them are actually very nice looking. But they have had some tough days and nights in the cold winds.

The tepin hasn't enjoyed it (left), but the malagueta is fine. I picked some green malaguetas today, and had with the dinner. They were hot as !"¤#%" :-)

This wall of leaves is interesting. I don't even know how to move them out to the balcony.

The rocoto is OK. Starting to flower now. (It's our old agave in the front. Much more resistant to winds. Strong one. It has happened more than once that I have got one of the sharp "needles" in my forehead when I water the plants. It's such a strange feeling to almost hear how the bone cracks :-)

And here are some baccatum to the right. I use that protective net for a while. It's quite windy. In the upper left front, there is an aloe vera from the Azores. Considering how fast they grow, they will be huge soon. And to the left, bottom, there is my peppermint. Makes great tea!

Hot regards,
  Mats

Habanero

Hi!

Some plants are still indoors. They have grown a little too big, so I don't know how to move them out on the balcony. I'm saving that activity for the Midsummer holiday :-)

The ones already out there are looking OK. They have some leaves that are burned from the sun, and some leaves that look bad because of the winds. But overall it looks better than expected.

The habanero has two nice looking pods, which I thought was worth celebrating with a picture :-)

There are some other pods on the other plants, but I will get back about those later on.

Take care,
  Mats

Good news, bad news

An update...

It's been a windy day. The bad news. This is how one of the branches looks like. One that hasn't been under the net. Not a single leaf left... The good news. After cutting it, it now fits under the net :-)

It's Stockholm Marathon today. Usually we watch the runners. Today, with the rain and winds, it's enough to watch them from the balcony...

More later. Take care,
  Mats

Moving in... staying out... moving out... staying in...

This situation reminds me of the Clash. Should I stay or should I go. Don't know how my synapses in my brain work, but somehow I heard the song when I was faced with reality this morning.

I thought I was clever yesterday. Maybe not. It's been really windy tonight, and pretty cold.

So a few of the "hero peppers" were a little broken and soft. So they had to move back in today.

The overwintered ones, to the left, remain outside. And the shorter, more solid ones, to the right will stay there. I think....

That reminds me of another saying - what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. I hope it works with chile peppers as well. Actually, I've read that the harder/tougher surrounding for the peppers, the hotter they get. I already fear this autumn :-)

The weather forecast doesn't look so pepper friendly. It says wind 7 m/s, which isn't that bad. But the wind/gusts are quite strong, and that is what breaks them. 7 C at night is also a challenge, but I think it won't go below 10C under the "net". There is some heating coming from the house facade,

Hmmm, next year... I think I will grow fewer of them :-)

Have a great weekend!
  Mats

The middle ones moving out

What a spring...  I sure didn't plan for this. It's been a little too cold for the plants to move outside. That results in big and tall plants inside. Which makes it harder to move them out. Negative spiral...

But this morning I decided to do the move for most of them. The weather forecast predicts pretty cold nights, but OK temperatures during the days.

At least they won't be burned by the sun...

Here they are under the net. A happy crowd :-)

And here are the too-big-to-move-out-ones in the window... Actually, I don't know what to do with these guys. The habanero to the left already has one big fruit. That's nice.

A few are still in the kitchen. What did I think when I put all those seeds in soil... :-) Learning is good. But some things are hard to learn.

Well, the adventure continuous :-) Have a great weekend!
   Mats

The really big ones, are still inside.