Chillies, Peppers, Tomatoes & Melon crazy 2019

[The Pepper Man]

So I figured I would do a diary on here, where I can both showcase what I am growing this season, as well as get advice/feedback and document my results. I will probably aim to update my progress on a weekly basis.

Lets kick this off with the Sweet Peppers, of which I have 12 different types this season. 9 of which have been started directly from seed, including the likes of Kaibi Round, King of the North, Lipstick, Orange Bell, Purple Beauty, Yellow Monster etc. I am trialling a whole bunch of sweet peppers this season to see what works best in my climate...

Here are the sweet pepper seedlings that were started from seed...



And here are 2 of each of the 9 types planted in the ground (picture taken 1 week ago). I expect these to really kick on now that the daytime and nighttime temperatures have warmed up considerably...



I can't seem to upload more than 2 pictures at present without getting it saying I have reached the limit, so I will have to do multiple posts I think...

[veggiechicken]

Maybe its the size of the ones you're posting?

[The Pepper Man]

Maybe its the size of the ones you're posting?

That could be the reason, but I have already compressed the ones I am uploading. I've noticed for every 1 picture that I upload, it says I have uploaded 2. So If I try to upload 3 pictures, it says I have uploaded 6 pictures, and thus exceeded the limit of 4...

[The Pepper Man]

I have a few sweet peppers in the greenhouse as well - Kaibi Round, King of the North & Yellow Monster...



And a number of other larger sweet peppers that are just about to produce flowers...



I will post better pictures of each one in due course...

[The Pepper Man]

Here is an interesting comparison between two specimens of my favourite chilli, the Trinidad Perfume.

On the left we have a windowsill grown specimen, which is clearly quite stretched and not particularly healthy looking. Whereas the specimen on the right has been placed outdoors during the day and brought inside at night. The result is a far more compact and healthier looking plant.

Both plants will produce well still, no doubt...



Here are two of the compact versions of the Trinidad Perfume planted up...

[The Pepper Man]

Here is my largest Padron as well, just getting ready to flower...



And now onto the 'super hots', of which I have quite a few this year. Here's a few of them...



The 'super hots' that I have this year include...

- Aji Omnicolour
- Bhut Jolokia white
- Bolivian Rainbow
- Carolina Reaper
- Carolina Reaper chocolate
- Douglah
- Naga Viper
- Peach Scorpion
- Pimenta de Neyde
- Scotch Bonnet
- Trinidad Moruga Scorpion

Last year, the Douglah blew everything else out of the water in terms of heat, growth/vigour and the number of pods produced. It was even hotter than my two Reapers! Almost certainly in the 1.2 million SHU range. Let's see how they compare this year.

Like last year, growth has been sub-par during the spring, but they will certainly kick on come June...

[The Pepper Man]

This year, I have gone tomato crazy! As it stands right now, I have 21 different types of tomato and about 35 tomato plants in total...

Here is a Black Russian and one of my Shirley F1's in a planter doing their thing...




And each of these is a different type of tomato... there's 12 different types in this picture...

[The Pepper Man]

Here are some larger grafted varieties setting flower now - Agora, Couer de Bouef & Maestria.



I have placed these ones straight into their final containers, whereas the other smaller, potted tomatoes will, at some point, need to be potted up again, or placed in the ground.

Excited for what's to come from these

[The Pepper Man]

Here is a tomato bed that was planted up in mid April during the warm spell (early, I know) but they are really starting to kick on now. I have a Black Russian, a Brandywine, a Purple Cherokee, a Sungold, 2 Shirley F1's and 2 late started Gigantamo's here.



Besides the Shirley F1's, one of the best performers so far this season has to be the 'Sungold' in this spot. It is really putting on lots of growth now and producing an abundance of flowers already.

[The Pepper Man]

The greenhouse Shirley F1 is flying away and growing at lightspeed now. I'm pretty sure this will be the first to be harvested this season...




Here is my Gigantamo in the greenhouse, the most advanced out of 4 different Gigantamo plants (which were started from seed quite late).

[The Pepper Man]

One of the types I am most excited to grow this year is the 'Indigo Blueberries' variant. I just love the colour of the leaves, although new growth comes in green and then turns blue/purple as it ages...




Another standout variety is the 'Sun Baby' which has very strange, abnormally shaped leaves. I am looking forward to growing this one as well...



I have a number of other varieties not showcased yet, including Tumbling Tom Red, of which I have about 6 specimens. I also have Tumbling Tom Yellow and an unnamed tomato that I collected seed from in the Azores last autumn. So that's 22 different types in total.

I will showcase each of the 22 different types as they grow bigger... as I plan on doing a detailed assessment of each type, assessing growth, disease resistance, taste etc. I am certainly looking forward to the taste test haha.

[The Pepper Man]

I have a bunch of cucumbers out this year, of the Telepathy variety.

Here is one in the greenhouse...




And another in a pot on the patio...



I have another 4 of these in the ground as well. Last year I did the Dominica variety with excellent results, harvesting numerous big, juicy cucumbers that were not kept inside a greenhouse or coldframe. Fingers crossed I can replicate that again this year.

[The Pepper Man]

This is also my first year growing melons. I have two varieties this year, the tried and tested 'Red Star', which has been bred to do well in our northern climate, and the legendary 19th century French heirloom 'Boule D'or' melon. The latter of which certainly hasn't been tried and tested in the UK, as I cannot find any grow reports or reviews on it in our climate. I don't know if anyone else has tried this variety?

Here is a bunch of Boule D'or that I am waiting to plant out...



And here is a batch of Red Star's...



Upon first observations, the Boule D'or seedlings are clearly larger and faster growing, but at the same time they have proven to be more susceptible to cold damage during cool spring nights when the temperature has dipped below 5C. A few have succumbed to, or wilted, as a result of the cold nights a few weeks back. But a bunch of the Boule D'or's are now thriving and are also my strongest growing melon specimens, given that the temperatures have warmed up significantly over the past few weeks.

[The Pepper Man]

I have some melons in the greenhouse as well, which are already planted into the ground, as opposed to in pots. These ones are clearly growing much faster and better.

Greenhouse Boule D'or...



Greenhouse Red Star...

[Small pumpkin]

Nice little selection you've got there.
Look forward to seeing it progress.
Your sun baby tomatoes doesn't have abnormal shaped leaves. It's got potatoe shaped leaves. Lots of tomatoes varieties have them