The three best ways to preserve chillies are freezing, drying and fermenting. Freezing is the quickest. Drying saves the most space and lasts the longest. Fermenting is my favourite because it gives you the best flavour and lets you make sauce whenever you like through the year. Harvest time gets busy. One of my Kashmiri […]
How to Preserve Chillies: Freezing, Drying and Fermenting a Glut Read More 🌶️
The best time to pick most chillies is once the whole pod has reached its final ripe colour and still feels firm and healthy. If you want green chillies, wait until the pods are fully grown and just about to change colour. If you’re saving seeds, leave a few chosen pods on the plant a
When to Pick Chillies: How to Tell When Your Chilli Peppers Are Ripe Read More 🌶️
When the weather turns, you don’t have to say goodbye to your chilli plants. Overwintering chilli plants keeps them alive through the cold months so they’re ready to go again in spring, often giving you chillies much earlier than plants grown from seed. We’ve had unusually high temperatures this year right up until now, so
There’s no easy fix for aphids on chilli plants. Neem oil kills aphids, no argument there. The trouble is it also kills off the ladybirds and hoverflies that would keep them down for you. So I’ve stopped using it, and here’s what I do instead. There’s no easy fix for aphids. I get asked about
Aphids on Chilli Plants: Why I Stopped Using Neem Oil Read More 🌶️
A greenhouse full of healthy growth can suddenly hold a few plants that look as though they gave up overnight. The instinct is to add more water. Most of the time, water is not the real problem. Heat can do strange things to chilli plants. Leaves fall, stems look bare, and the first reaction is
Why Chilli Plants Drop Their Leaves in a Heatwave Read More 🌶️
Mycorrhizal fungi are one of those gardening topics that attract strong opinions. Here is the full, honest answer on whether they are worth using on your chilli plants.
The Truth About Mycorrhizal Fungi for Chilli Plants Read More 🌶️
The common advice is to pinch off early flowers so your chilli plant can focus on growth. But the research tells a different story, and so does my experience with hundreds of plants every season.
USDA hardiness zones only tell you one thing about your climate. Learn what they miss, why the same zone can mean completely different growing conditions, and 4 things to check before following any chilli advice.
When can I take my chilli plants outside? I get asked this constantly at this time of year. If I had my way, I’d move them out sooner than I actually do. When the sun starts shining, I get itchy feet. It doesn’t matter how good your grow lights are, they’re never going to compete
When to Move Chilli Plants Outside in the UK (Frost Dates + Temperature Rules) Read More 🌶️
If your chilli plants look healthy but aren’t setting pods, or the leaves are lush and green but flowers keep dropping, there’s a good chance feeding is the problem. Not because you’re not doing enough of it. Usually because you’re doing too much, too early. I made that mistake for years. Loads of growth, very
How to Feed Chilli Plants (Without Overfeeding Them) Read More 🌶️
Leggy chilli seedlings driving you mad? Here’s exactly why they stretch, how to rescue them fast, and what to do so it never happens again.
Punchy, bright and ready in 15 minutes. This homemade kebab shop chilli sauce is made with cupboard staples and tastes better than anything from a bottle.
Kebab Shop Chilli Sauce: Make It at Home in 15 Minutes Read More 🌶️
You don’t need expensive gear to grow chillies at home. You don’t need a polytunnel. Here’s what you actually need and what you can ignore. People overcomplicate chilli growing. After decades of doing this and getting it wrong as often as getting it right, I can tell you that the chilli growing fundamentals are genuinely
Grow Chillies at Home Easily: The Bare Minimum You Need Read More 🌶️
