Hi every1

[happybunny]

Hey Jon, welcome to the vine!

So you like it HOT HOT HOT then... We haven't tried chillis becos we dont have a greenhouse

Have fun chatting to people, if you want to know about moi, the one and only happybunny. Look at my intro titled Um Hi!!!

Luvin All
Stacey x

[robstott]

So you like it HOT HOT HOT then... We haven't tried chillis becos we dont have a greenhouse

Hey there - sorry, had to butt in here. Don't let your lack of a greenhouse put you off growing chillis! What started me off growing was growing chillis and tomatoes last year - I grew the lot on my window sill! I had way more chillis than I could use and ended up giving heaps away.

Oh, and welcome aboard, Jon - sorry to hijack your thread!

Rob

[jonnydotcom]

No worries Rob

that how i started off as well, couple of chilli plants on the kitchen window sill turned into over 30 in the greenhouse with about 2 to 3 hundred seeds left to sow.

[Hilary B]

I have a design (so far in my head) for a solar dryer. The simple version is simply hanging things under the roof of conservatory (or nearest you have) but this is a version for placing in the garden for maximum effect. It relies on the ability of a black-painted surface to absorb sunheat by day and give off heat at night (if you have a lean-to greenhouse, painting the wall it leans to black does the same thing, I think they call it a Trobe wall, but not sure of the spelling). The dryer has a twin-wall polycarbonate roof (but if you can get hold of a no-longer-wanted double-glazing panel so much the better), and a mesh floor on which the food rests, with plenty of ventilation (but not too much draught) and some black-painted bricks at the base. I am going to have to experiment with depths and ratios of ventilation to insulation when I can actually get to build it. If you want SUN dried, it might be a good cheat.....

[Stacey Steve]

Some of the drawbacks to sun/air drying is that the length of time it takes means that the sugars are likely to get bacteria build up or you would have to do like the commercial producers and sulphur the food to stop this. The other thing we are disadvantaged in this country is the relatively high humidity levels we have.