Allotments 4 All

A very happy PS to add.  Last winter wasn't quite as cold as the previous years, the coldest being -13C and not for many nights in succession either.  Seems that self seeded lettuces like similar to Flashy Troutback and similar to Flashy Butteroak can indeed survive these conditions. And similar to Flashy Troutback looks stunning right now!  They are beautifully winter hardy.  Outside in the garden.  I took the self seeded Rossia, planted it in the greenhouse over winter, and that has been feeding us for several weeks now already, as I hoped it would.  Just today I also discovered one tiny Red Evolution among the weeds.   I have taken photos of similar to Flashy Troutback and similar to Flashy Butteroak.  Thank you for these delightful seeds again Vetivert, which have just revealed a very useful additional feature, their hardiness.  Hope they will do equally well for the circle members. 

Going almost completely "out of the box", now is a perfect time to sow perennial chilli peppers (Capsicum pubescens aka. manzano, rocoto, locoto, "gringo killer" etc.).

That's because its possible to get them growing really fast with the current temps and daylight - you will still need a sunny windowsill until May but they are also much better at shrugging off occasional chills (they can even survive 0C - especially if they are 9 months old, but not -1C).

More importantly this October you will have plants that will still fit on a windowsill - (because they don't mind a bit of pruning at this point).

If your sunny windowsills are really narrow (and you don't have any kind of sun room - or even a glazed porch) then it's worth making a sowing in May or June so they will fit.

You might just possibly get some green chilli fruit this October - you should use all of them straight away - they can make any stew taste like it's got loads of black pepper in it - very different from the ripe fruit that are hot in the normal way.

More importantly, know that none of this species produce fruits that will dry out - even the ripest ones will go mouldy in a week unless used or frozen - they are just too fleshy to dry (unless you slice thinly and dry in the oven).

They will always survive on the windowsill (unless you don't have double glazing and turn the heating off).

There are plenty of websites for more information but I'm interested in how they can be more reliable than the other C. species. 

These are properly perennial, they don't sulk through the spring and get overtaken by seedlings (like C. annuum do). They will hit 1-2m in their 2nd year and have a yield to suit.

You must sow more in April '25 so you always have 1year plants the next spring - it's much easier than keeping them for year 3.

For year 3 you have to to grow them on a succession of pots and as soon as a 25-30cm pot isn't too silly, you bury the whole pot wherever it will do well - then you can lift the pot in Sep, remove all the ripe and green fruit and trim it to fit in somewhere above 4C. In my sunroom with a frost-stat I get over 70% survival after the 2nd winter and 50% in their 3rd.

Plenty of websites sell seeds but next year you might want some more exotic ones - semillas.de have about 30.

Cheers.

Interesting comments about the pepper germination, I sowed in a controlled heated propagator mid Feb and got very patchy germination with all of my chillies and peppers. I resowed  some more of the no shows four weeks later, with more vermiculite  in the mix of peat free multi purpose compost and most seeds performed better this time
I have just purchased four plug plants chillies from an eBay supplier to fill the gap which arrived today and are potted on, and I also got three cuttings from them as they were taller than expected!

Thanks for getting back to me Obelixx

My germination times were; Cucumber 4 days, Tomatoes 5 Days, and Chillis 8 days.

Looks very similar! They were germinated in my homemade seed compost on a hotbed holding around 65-70° F (18-20°C)

I think the cheapest netting to buy in any quantity is the stuff that is often quite a bright, green called either debris netting or scaffold netting. It’s used by builders to stop debris landing where it shouldn’t.

For strawberries I simply drape netting straight onto the bed and don’t find it needs a frame. I only do that as the fruit starts to ripen, as that’s when they become attractive to blackbirds etc.

Pigeons are definitely a nuisance with pea plants but I haven’t found them to be so with beans. They’re a nuisance when the plants are small and they can peck them from the ground, and then later when they can stand on any supports you’ve constructed for the peas. Then they strip the tops. For the later stages of shorter peas up to four feet,say, I simply drape netting over the tops of the plants and improvise ways of keeping it in place. Cheap clothes pegs are quite useful for that.