I’ve not been able to do much in the way of gardening this month, thanks to some sort of sinus infection… But today – I got my fix.
Being under the weather can really put the knockers on any plans you may have for gardening, allotmenting and the like – and that’s exactly what’s happened to me over the few weeks.
I simply haven’t felt like doing anything except focusing on getting better. That said, as the cold trails off – I’ve started to get itchy green fingers, so today I decided to fulfil that much needed gardening fix.
For Christmas I was given a chilli growing kit and I decided to sow the seeds and see what happens.
The kit consisted of 3 terracotta pots, a pack of cayenne chilli seeds, jalepeno chilli seeds, habanero chilli seeds and pack of soil, just enough for the three pots.
I had a perfect little gardening tin to place the pots in. The base is slightly narrower at the bottom – so to keep everything a snug fit, I’ve place the pots onto ramekins, just to elevate them a little bit.
As is the case with terracotta pots, they have a hole at the bottom.
To help with drainage, I’ve added some stones at the bottom. This also helps with stopping compost from leaving the pot.
Cayenne Chillies
Cayenne Chillies are considered moderate when it comes to spice weighing in at between 30,000 to 50,000 scoville units.
They’re red and they usually grow from between 10-35cm long.
In cooking, the cayenne chilli is usually dried and ground into a powder for use in the kitchen.
Jalapeno Chillies
It’s amazing how popular the jalapeno chillies have become over the last two decades – I would put this down to the fact that they reach between 3,500 to 3,600 scoville units, which is snip compared to the cayenne above.
The use of jalapenos dates back thousands of years. The aztecs are said to have smoked them to help preserve them – otherwise known as chipotles.
Habanero Chillies
The habanero… a small pod of evil…
The habanero chilli is by far not the hottest chilli in the world, but it is considered a hot chilli at 200,000 to 300,000 scoville units.
It’s believed the habanero is nearly 8500 years old and originates from the amazon – which makes this fruit even more mysterious.
Generally speaking, I’m not a huge chilli fan and I’m not very good with hot food. Maybe if these plants are successful I can use the produce to build up my spice tolerance.
Have you grow any chillies before? If yes, I’d love to know what varieties you’ve grown and what you thought of them in the comments below.
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