It is always going to see chillies in the news. The BBC is running a story today about a delegation of 7 US Senators that have traveled to the Arctic Archipelago to bury chilli seeds 500 feet under a mountain.
image by Pierre J.
The Global Crop Diversity Trust runs a facility in the Arctic that aims to store a huge library of seed from over half a million of the worlds crops. The idea being that should a huge natural (or man made) disaster strike and decimate the US’s plant population.
The US Department of Agriculture has produced the seeds which will be stored 500 feet under the mountain and preserved at at -18C (-0.4F). You can checkout the the full story here.
I’ve not heard of two of the varieties mentioned in the article (Wenk’s Yellow Hots & San Juan Tsil from New Mexico) but it would be good to know some more about why they chose these varieties. Let us know in the comments below if you have tried either of these varieties.
Almost exactly one year on from my last battle and the aphids are back. I was actually getting excited that small flower buds are starting to form on most of my plants when I noticed the familiar sight of lots of tiny green monsters gathering around the new growth shoots at the tops of the plants.
I’m not sure about anyone else but it seems that aphids seem to be more of a problem when growing plants indoors (in my case in the chilli house). Does anyone else think this is the case? I guess it would make sense because there is less access for predators to hunt them down.
Initially i thought the problem was only limited to a couple of plants however a careful inspection found the majority of plants to be infested. My scotch bonnet initially looked to be in the clear however when I tried to hand pollinate it i was gutted to see the inside of the two open flowers covered with aphids.
How I Treat Aphids
As soon as i spotted the problem i mixed up a few drops of washing up liquid with water and sprayed the infected areas. The theory is that aphids breathe through the pores in their stomachs and the liquid soap blocks these up.The soap washes off after a day or two and has no ill effect on your plants or chillies.
Anyway next morning i went out to check the plants and was pleased to see a ladybird happily munching away on the aphids. I mentioned last year about the benefits of encouraging natural predators can be to controlling pests like aphids. Our new garden has a number of ladybird nest boxes dotted around and as a result plenty of ladybirds – the perfect natural aphid control!
Natural Aphid Control
After watching this little fella happily chewing on the aphids for about an hour i’m going to try to leave the plants outside (weather permitting) as much as possible until the problem has cleared up. Hopefully I caught them in time and not too much damage appears to have been done to my chilli plants.
Lady Bird Eating An Aphid
It was fascinating to watch this ladybird systematically eat all of the aphids on one of my cayenne plants. He even tried to have a nibble at me, flying off the plant and into my eye when i got the camera too close, only to land back on the plant to finish his meal after I had backed off a bit!
Searching For More Aphids
So be warned, keep a close eye on your plants as aphids can be quite tricky to spot and can cause a lot of damage in not much time at all and maybe consider grabbing a couple of ladybird nest boxes as a precaution..
Fresh, simple and extremely healthy is probably the best way to describe this spicy couscous salad.
Spicy Couscous Salad Ingredients
250 grams of couscous
400 ml of water
20 cherry tomatoes
1 red chilli
half a cucumber
1 handful of fresh thyme (and flowers if available)
1 handful of spinach leaves
juice from one lemon
2 grated carrots
4 table spoons of oliver oil
salt and pepper to taste
Method
Add the couscous to a glass bowl and pour over the water, stir briefly then cover with a plate and set aside for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile finely/roughly cut the remaining ingredients and add to a large serving bowl. Squeeze over the lemon juice and olive oil and mix thoroughly. After the 10 minutes are up stir in the couscous to the salad and season to taste.
I am a thyme addict so if possible i like to use flowering thyme in this recipe because it not only tastes great, it also looks fantastic.
