Long live the chilli plants

I am not sure what has been wrong with my technique of growing chillies in the last two years. I suspect they might have taken objection to my reluctance feeding them.

Anyway, come September they were, and are  - this year even worse - just about to flower for the first time if at all. Won't bear much of a crop.

Except last year I discovered chillies are tender perennials.

So I took 3 pots in over winter and kept them on the kitchen windowsill. They kept flowering and produced the odd tiny chilli. The only problem was greenfly, which affected them all winter. At some stage I also petted a ladybird, that I found on the window, to try and  get rid of them. But then it was summer and I put them outside again.

Here is one. It looks like I will get my crop from them rather than the new plants this year. So if you have not been very lucky with your chilli plants, don't give up. They might do better next year, given a bit of TLC over winter.

I myself am planning to make room in the loft this winter for my new and not so new chilli plants. And for my latest discovery: perennial basil...