Hi there,
I'm a newcomer to the scene from Belgium, we're not a country where eating spicy let alone growing your own peppers is "hot" (pun intended).
Supermarkets in Belgium rarely sell anything but the classic (genetically modified) Cayenne, I've only found some Bird's Eye twice and to my surprise once found a temporary supply of Red Habanero's.
I got bit by the pepper virus about two years ago and it's only a good year ago that I came to the conclusion that I should start growing my own peppers.
So last year I ended up growing a couple of Red Cayenne plants, they were grown from seed and started somewhere around may wich was quite late but still early enough for them to give me a good harvest come the end of summer.
Growing and taking care of these plants, and most of all consuming the fruits has been wonderful and has given me a lot to think about in terms of my future, for a while now I've been thinking about what I want to do later on and I might actually try and take this pepper thing a lot further and start doing something commercial around them, it would certainly be a first in Belgium, but as our climate is quite similar to the UK I believe it might be possible.
Anyway, big dreams and such, but I'm still a realist and would first like to try growing a variety of peppers for a couple of years and see how things go, learning as I go along.
As great classic movies taught us, after a long and boring intro must come a great and rewarding experience, here's to hoping my glog is worth anything to someone out there!
These are the varieties I'm growing this year:
This is what things looked like feb 26th ...
First sprouts were seen on the 1st of march, they were Peter Pepper wich I found rather ironic. Others quickly followed ... next pictures were taken march 8th.
Fast forward exactly one month ...
Fast forward to just two days ago ...
If you're good at counting you might have guessed I've got around 60 plants going, give or take four of each of the 15 varieties. Yesterday I've potted up one plant of each variety to closely monitor troughout the season, the rest of them is going to be planted around where I can find some room and gifted to family.
This is what all plants looked like before they were potted up:
Chilaca:
Jalapeno:
Cayenne Golden:
Habanero White:
Cheyenne:
Big Jim:
Madame Jeanette:
Fish Pepper:
Bolivian Rainbow:
Peter Pepper:
Trinidad Scorpion:
Aussie Black:
Aci Kil Menderes:
Rain Forest:
Lemon Drop:
Plants are all looking quite good, we've got some bad weather coming the next week and the plants I've potted up are outside now under a sheet of plastic so I hope they won't suffer too much, nights will be going as low as 5°C and we won't be getting a lot of sun, hopefully things will be better soon!
Will follow up with more pictures.
I'm a newcomer to the scene from Belgium, we're not a country where eating spicy let alone growing your own peppers is "hot" (pun intended).
Supermarkets in Belgium rarely sell anything but the classic (genetically modified) Cayenne, I've only found some Bird's Eye twice and to my surprise once found a temporary supply of Red Habanero's.
I got bit by the pepper virus about two years ago and it's only a good year ago that I came to the conclusion that I should start growing my own peppers.
So last year I ended up growing a couple of Red Cayenne plants, they were grown from seed and started somewhere around may wich was quite late but still early enough for them to give me a good harvest come the end of summer.
Growing and taking care of these plants, and most of all consuming the fruits has been wonderful and has given me a lot to think about in terms of my future, for a while now I've been thinking about what I want to do later on and I might actually try and take this pepper thing a lot further and start doing something commercial around them, it would certainly be a first in Belgium, but as our climate is quite similar to the UK I believe it might be possible.
Anyway, big dreams and such, but I'm still a realist and would first like to try growing a variety of peppers for a couple of years and see how things go, learning as I go along.
As great classic movies taught us, after a long and boring intro must come a great and rewarding experience, here's to hoping my glog is worth anything to someone out there!
These are the varieties I'm growing this year:
- Jalapeno
- Golden Cayenne
- Fish Pepper
- Chilaca
- Lemon Drop
- White Habanero
- Aussie Black
- Cheyenne
- Madame Jeanette
- Bolivian Rainbow
- Big Jim
- Peter Pepper
- Rain Forest
- Aci Kil Menderes
- Trinidad Scorpion
This is what things looked like feb 26th ...
First sprouts were seen on the 1st of march, they were Peter Pepper wich I found rather ironic. Others quickly followed ... next pictures were taken march 8th.
Fast forward exactly one month ...
Fast forward to just two days ago ...
If you're good at counting you might have guessed I've got around 60 plants going, give or take four of each of the 15 varieties. Yesterday I've potted up one plant of each variety to closely monitor troughout the season, the rest of them is going to be planted around where I can find some room and gifted to family.
This is what all plants looked like before they were potted up:
Chilaca:
Jalapeno:
Cayenne Golden:
Habanero White:
Cheyenne:
Big Jim:
Madame Jeanette:
Fish Pepper:
Bolivian Rainbow:
Peter Pepper:
Trinidad Scorpion:
Aussie Black:
Aci Kil Menderes:
Rain Forest:
Lemon Drop:
Plants are all looking quite good, we've got some bad weather coming the next week and the plants I've potted up are outside now under a sheet of plastic so I hope they won't suffer too much, nights will be going as low as 5°C and we won't be getting a lot of sun, hopefully things will be better soon!
Will follow up with more pictures.
Your grandfather is smiling down on your efforts for sure.
