Frankenstein's Pepper

I've been growing my chillies, sweet peppers and aubergines in a heated propagator on the windowsill in our office.

I like to check my seedlings very regularly (at least twice a day but much more if its a bank holiday or a weekend).  On one of these visits I didn't notice that I replaced the lid on the stem of my favourite sweet pepper "Sweet Chocolate".  At the time it was the only sweet chocolate capsicum that had germinated so naturally I was devastated - but in the next moment I had one of those.... What if moments.

What if I push the stem of the part that snapped off into the soil.  It works for tomatoes so I wonder if it works with peppers - they share the same family after all.

I am pleased to report that it worked and my sweet chocolate is happily growing more new leaves and romping away.

Sadly the stem that was left over hasn't really turned into anything but I'm very pleased that the sweet chocolate survived and that crudely shoving the broken stem into the soil was so successful.

Growing Aubergines Outside

I think I need to fess up... in my last post there were some pictures of my prize aubergines.

These were grown outside in the patio garden but with a little bit of help.

Now I don't have the space for a green house and am so envious of people who are able to grow their tomotoes, aubergines, peppers, chillies, physalis ... the list goes on!... under cover.  They always look so healthy when grown under cover.  And of course they do for they are in the solanaceae family, also known as the sun lovers family.

Whilst I don't have a green house, there are other options for the space challenged container gardener.

Last year, we had a rather disappointing summer (not that much different to the one we've just had) and all the flowers dropped off my aubergines - i.e. no fruit. 

This year the aubergines have been enjoying the comforts of a hort fleece tent fastened to the wall with clothes line pegs and a stone on the floor to stop it flapping about.  They seem to really like the tomato planters I have grown them in this year too as these are the tallest aubergines I have ever grown aubergines. They also enjoy a diet of worm tea from the wormery and comfrey leaves.

If we are getting a good sunshiny day I unveil them and then tuck them in once the sunshine's finished for the day to keep them warm for the night time.

I know, I know, I could just grow easier things that don't have such a need for heat but I love eating aubergines - they are just great roasted in the oven with tomatoes and garlic.  Its a challenging labour of love every year but this year I think I've cracked it!

The other thing I was not telling you in my last post was the peppers and chillies that are still happy outside despite the drop in temps.  They are not showing signs of stress yet and I don't like denying them outside sunshine if they are able to cope with our outside temps so to help them extend their stay outside that little bit longer, they are in the portable greenhouse, a present that my lovely boyfriend bought me last spring that proved invaluable when I was hardening off seedlings in spring and now to extend the growing season into autumn.

So there you have it... I'm now thinking of hort fleece tents for the tomatoes next year, especially if the summer's the same as it was this year I just need to improve on the frame for the hort fleece tent - any tips out there?