I’ve successfully grown Chilli’s for many years. They’re a useful and easy crop to grow, not minding a bit of rough treatment; in fact they seem to thrive on neglectful watering! Once ripe I pop the Chilli’s in the freezer and use them as needed throughout the year. To be honest we always grow far too many for our own consumption, so many get passed on to a friend who’s a complete chilli fiend.
Chilli’s are the first packet of seeds I reach for come the start of the seed sowing season in February, they seem to need a longer growing season. I keep them in the greenhouse or conservatory and by July their first fruit begins to appear and start to ripen.
I have always treated Chilli’s as annual plants, but last year I read that Chilli plants thrive in their second year if treated as a perennial. So I thought I’d give it a go; overwintering them in my frost free conservatory. Their leaves all dropped off and the plants took on a convincingly dead appearance. The sparse watering and frost free position during winter seemed to work, come spring leaves started to shoot and flowers quickly set, resulting in a fabulous chilli crop so far this year. It will be interesting to see how they perform in their third year.
Chilli ‘Ring of Fire’ in its second year
In comparison the Chilli’s I sowed this year are fruiting, but yet to turn red. The quantity of fruit is also significantly less. It should be noted that they did have a tough start in life as I forgot to pot them on and it was only when I popped them in a larger pot a month ago that the plants developed and tripled in size! I suspect this would make my little experiment scientifically invalid, however most decisions in my life are dictated by my faithful ‘gut instinct’ so I would highly recommend changing your chilli growing technique from annual to perennial!
Chilli ‘Ring of Fire’ in its first year
Todays Chilli harvest