Under Cover with Bob Flowerdew

August 2010 - 17 Peppers

I doubt there is any plant ornamental or productive that has had as meteoric rise in popular culture as the hot or chilli pepper. A decade ago few gardeners grew peppers of any sort. They were seldom mentioned and only a handful of varieties were widely sold. Now businesses survive on them- the plants, the fruits and their products appearing everywhere- even medicinally. All peppers need starting off in conditions much like tomatoes and growing on just a little warmer, though they do not like warm roots- you rarely find roots filing the sunny side of the compost in a black pot! Peppers do not need much feeding, nor de-shooting, neither do they do not get so leggy but they still need supporting as they can crop heavily enough to snap their stems. Not very prone to pests other than occasional aphid onslaughts, and slugs getting into the fruits, even the hottest ones are attacked-so you can forget using chilli extract against these! Peppers can be grown outdoors for the summer on warm patios but are better under cover. Outdoor grown fruits often get purplish blackening on the surface indicating cold wind damage. However, unexpectedly, once cropping hot peppers do not need as much warmth to continue as do tomatoes. Thus plants under cover carry on looking good and carrying crops deep into winter when the tomato plants have long gone to compost. In a frost free greenhouse hot peppers show their perennial nature perennial and may carry on for another year or even two. Sweet peppers seldom survive, they are more annuals, and fail sooner from their worst foe, grey mould. However most peppers are a hybrid mix of species in an incredible number and range of varieties. The sweet peepers have been improved so much that it is now easy to grow big, sweet, blocky, crisp fleshed fruits, don’t forget they all start green but turn to red, or yellow or black as they ripen. The hot peppers come in even more shapes, sizes and hues, some short and fat others very long and thin, mostly pointed at one end. Quite tiny very pointed little purple fruits prolifically covering small dwarf box like bushes seem remarkably popular for ornament, and are sometimes even eaten. Generally smaller fruited varieties are hotter than larger ones, and some are sold just on their heat alone. As more a gourmet than macho man I’d recommend you avoid these as heat may be gained but then the flavour is lost. Habanero Grannies Bonnet peppers are pretty hot anyway but still have wonderful flavour- I especially like Big Sun a very tasty yellow. Hungarian Hot Wax is mild as are the Jalapeno sorts, then there are the Cayenne and all those Indian nuclear munitions weapons grade varieties. You could easily fill a large greenhouse with hundreds of different curiously attractive pepper plants. And there is little waste as all that production is easy to store- either made into sauces and pickles or very simply dried.

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Bob Flowerdew-July 2010

Aug 4, 2010

Here’s a really lovely conservatory plant with a bit of a drawback. For once it’s not a poor name, though it’s origin is actually obscure enough... Read More...

Bob Flowerdew June 2010

Jun 25, 2010

So many of our most interesting and useful tender crops and flowers are closely related and in the Solanum family. All the daturas and petunias, brunfelsias and... Read More...

Bob Flowerdew - May 2010

Jun 4, 2010

This is a large genus of dozens of species carrying some of the most beautiful flowers of the world. (These were named after Christ’s Passion as priests tried... Read More...

Bob Flowerdew - April 2010

May 12, 2010

Now I must admit these are not the most attractive nor compact of plants however the Physalis family are exceptionally valuable subjects for growing under cover.... Read More...

Bob Flowerdew - March 2010

Mar 31, 2010

Now this is one of the finest conservatory and warm greenhouse plants you can grow. It is not quite, but almost, hardy in some varieties. Well it will survive a... Read More...

Bob Flowerdew - February 2010

Mar 5, 2010

Angels trumpets, or Angel Strumpets as someone punned, are spectacular, and easy. Once known as Datura now some are reclassified as Brugmansia which is not appealing... Read More...

Bob Flowerdew - January 2010

Feb 22, 2010

I’ll bet this is not a plant you would ever previously thought I’d be likely to recommend. However wait, yes petunias can be a bit cheap and nasty,... Read More...

Bob Flowerdew - December 2009

Jan 11, 2010