capsicums and chillies

Capsicum Californian Early Wonder

​This summer, I am growing capsicums and chillies as I normally do.  For capsicums, I aim for a balance between bell peppers and Italian bull’s horn type peppers.  For chillies, I like to strike a balance between hot and sweet varieties.  This year, I purchased some capsicum and chilli plants from the garden centre as well, so I could get a head start on the season.

I’m excited to be growing a few new varieties of capsicums this year, including Sweet Classic from Egmont Seeds.  I’m also excited that I’m growing two new varieties of chilli from Egmont Seeds, which were kindly given to me to trial by John McCullough – Sweet Shishito and Hot Jalwa India.

I am growing all of our capsicums in large 35 litre buckets filled with Dalton’s potting mix from Bunnings, as I normally do.  Unfortunately, I don’t have enough of these buckets for the chillies, so I am growing them in 18 litre black square pots that I purchased from the Warehouse many years ago.  Both our capsicums and chillies have full sun, which they need in order to do well.
Set out below is a list of the varieties I am growing this year.  Unfortunately, some of the varieties I sowed didn’t make it to this stage of the growing process so I excluded them from my list.  While I am disappointed by this, there is still plenty to keep us going throughout the summer.  We usually have a surplus of chillies to our needs in summer, so these go into the freezer free flow for us to use in cooking throughout the year.
 
Varieties I am growing this season
Capsicums
Belle Combo (plants purchased from Kings Plant Barn)
Californian Early Wonder (plants purchased from Kings Plant Barn)
Chardonnay (Kings Seeds)
Chianti (Kings Seeds)
Chinese Giant (Kings Seeds)
Jingle Bells (McGregors)
Mama Mia Gialla (Kings Seeds)
Mama Mia Rossa (Kings Seeds)
Mulato (Kings Seeds)
Palladio (Egmont)
Sweet Classic (Egmont)
 
Chillies
Bhut Jolokia (Kings Seeds)
Cayenne (plants purchased from Kings Plant Barn)
Habanero Red (Kings Seeds)
Habanero Sweet Yellow (Kings Seeds)
Hot Jalwa India (Egmont)
Hungarian Hot Wax (seeds given to me in a seed swap)
Jalapeno Early (Kings Seeds)
Sweet Banana (McGregors)
Sweet Shishito (Egmont)
Thai Super Chilli (Kings Seeds)
Wildfire (seeds given to me in a seed swap)
 
Progress report
At seedling stage, my Sweet Shishito chillies from Egmont Seeds look really strong and healthy.  I can’t wait to plant them out.  Sweet Classic, a capsicum also from Egmont Seeds, is incredibly robust.  I really thought I was going to lose my seedlings back in October as I had them in an exposed area of the garden, under the eaves of our house.  When I noticed that they had become discoloured, I moved them into the patio area, not thinking that they would bounce back.  However, they all did and the plants ended up looking very healthy.

I’m also pleased by how our Chardonnay and Chianti capsicums have been doing.  Mama Mia Rossa, which I have grown in previous seasons, has also done reliably well.  I have noticed that it is more robust than its yellow counterpart, Mama Mia Gialla.

I’m very pleased to report that two of our Hungarian Hot Wax plants already have chillies on them!
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I will be reporting back on the progress of our plants throughout the season, so keep an eye out on my blog.