Monday 29 August 2011

winter surprises

Last year I decided to try over-wintering my little firecracker chili plant.  Supposedly as long as they don't freeze they'll go ragged over winter but have a head start for the next summer.  Mine did better than that, it never slowed down!  I had to give away the last of the summer's chilies.  This weekend I trimmed off the last stragglers, replaced some of the potting soil and gave it a good feed.  Whilst doing that I was quite surprised to find that it not only put out new flowers, it actually set fruit!  Here are the little baby chilies already starting to come in.  The foliage is a bit yellow because it needs a feed.
http://www.alexareynolds.com/garden11/chiliesaug.JPG
I'm also pleasantly surprised to see my little twig still holding onto its off-season fruit.  Both the mandarin and tangelo grafts should have already fully fruited a while ago, but these fruit set after the first main flush (which the twig wasn't able to hold onto).  I think they're tangelos since they've got just a bit of a neck on them, but I can't remember which graft is which.
http://www.alexareynolds.com/garden11/tangeloaug.JPG
My worry is that they're already turning yellow, so I'm not sure if they'll keep growing before they ripen up.

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