All things considered the weather has been pretty useless here this summer. It's gone from one extreme to the other with fantastic weather swiftly followed by howling winds and torrential rain. It's been impossible to decide what to wear at the plot and the unpredictability has almost entirely put paid to the long summer nights on the allotment that I love so much. It has also meant that lots of things that we have tried to grow have been really hit and miss in terms of yield. For example, our French beans did nothing at the cold beginning of the season but then romped on in the warm wet days, our tomatoes got blight in the wash out and our squash came on depressingly late in the season because it wasn't warm enough.
Despite all this, one thing that has done extraordinarily well is the chili peppers in the greenhouse. We've lost a couple to mice with very well developed palates who have climbed up and taken chunks out of the fruit but, apart from that mishap, they've been a real success. In fact, they've done so well that we're now having to choose how to preserve them because we've got so many and want to make the best of the harvest over the winter. The plan is to dry as many as we can to use in cooking later in the year and also to make chili oil for cooking. I love chilies so this glut of fruit is almost enough to console me for the other disasters that we've had this year!
I haven't grown chilis this year, but my sweet peppers aren't ripening at all. I think it's due to the lack of sun. It's throwing it down here again today!
Posted by: Jo | September 02, 2009 at 06:38 PM