More chilli than you can poke a stick at

Pregnant woman loves eating chillis; who can see a problem with this statement?!
Our vegie patch is not doing brilliantly at the moment. Half because when it needed to be lavished with love, care, and water, I was in the throes of morning sickness and spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself rather than working in the garden, and half because a reasonable amount got wiped out by the endless hot weather we had about two months ago (all the bigger tomatoes, in particular). However, excuses aside, the four chillies I planted from a mixed punnet are doing brilliantly. My favourites are the blasting hot Thai chillies (prik kee nu, literally 'rat shit chilli,' because that is what they look like), which we like to chop up small and soak in fish sauce (prik nam pla, ie 'chillies in fish sauce!') and eat sprinkled on practically anything savoury. I also have the bigger varieties Anaheim (lots of fruit, but suffers more from what may be blossom end rot than the others), Cayenne (not prolific) and Jalapeño (also not especially prolific).
Yet again, for about the third year running, I promise myself that I'll try to shelter the plants over winter so they have a chance or survival. Being tropical perennials, there is a chance they can make it through the cold if protected, but of course this does rely on me actually making an effort and not leaving it too late!

Propagating and preserving.

At the moment, in the midst of Summer and the growing season, it feels like there is so much going on that it's just easier to take a photo and make a note.
I cut most of the chillies from our Thai Chilli plant - it was a Christmas gift - and have laid them out on a wire rack on the concrete to dry. Not across the wires -they weren't fat enough- but between them to stop them blowing away. We haven't actually eaten any yet, the plant has been at my mother-in-laws after we forgot to take it a month ago, so we don't know how hot they actually are.



Many of the strawberry plants have sent out runners and so I've put some of them in pots, with a twig fork to secure them, to grow on properly, and later be cut free from their parents. I want lots and lots of strawberries, and it's a nice bonus to know I can buy half a dozen plants and they'll multiply so easily for me. Here's to many years of strawberries to come!



Yum!


My beetroot and cauliflower seeds have already sprouted mere days after being sown. It's so warm at the moment; the weather is perfect perfect perfect. That would be helping.


I am dutifully keeping the kangaroo paws damp in their pots (all recycled from previous purchases).


And, to my amazement, I already have a teeny tiny Sturt's Desert Pea sprout! Can you see it? Guess that hot water works on it's own after all :)


And I caved in and bought two American pomegranates today. The carbon footprint on these beauties doesn't even bear thinking about. Bad Greenie! I think I will plant my own pomegranate tree and then I can eat these ruby-jewels to my heart's content. I only need to decide on a variety: The American 'Wonderful' , or the Russian 'Rosavaya'?