Chili (phrik khi nu suan)

My Garden mouse-dropping chilis are doing well, and we have harvested several times for some weeks now. The oldest of the plants are just about two meters high, and look very healthy and happy.

Lots of green chilis on the plants.
Just a few more days and they will start to turn red.

These ones are ready for harvesting.

Even though all the plants is made from seeds from 3 red chilis, this single plant produces white/yellow chilis.

Compost

The picture above shows what the second compost - which was started in the beginning of may - looks like now 3 months later. The first compost I turned several times, but the second one has not been turned, and has decomposed nicely. This will save me a lot of hard work in the future.

The original compost has been emptied and repaired and is now ready for another round.

Filled up again with layers of withered leaves, grass, weeds and compost on top.

Garden mouse-dropping chili

Garden mouse-dropping chili flowers.

Garden mouse-dropping chili is a cultivar of the species Capsicum annuum. It measures around 50,000–100,000 SHU, and is the smallest and hottest of the five main chilis generally used in Thai food. In Thai it is called พริกขี่หนูสวน (phrik khee nuu suaan).

Support made from bamboo and nylon wire.

I have started to grow this plant from seeds taken from chilis bought at the local market. So far I have 81 plants and several more seedlings ready for planting, when I get the soil prepared. Within the last week the oldest plants are starting to flower.
We are just entering the rainy season, and have had our first big thunderstorms, that was a little hard on the largest of the plants. The chilis survived but the plants was growing in a 45 degree angel in the morning. I'm not sure they will survive the heavier thunderstorms that will come, so I am starting to build supports for the plants. It's pretty simple with a bamboo pole in each end of the rows, and some smaller bamboo cuttings to hold the poles in place. Between the poles there's two strings of nylon wire - one on each side of the plants.

Now it's just to wait and then hopefully harvest lots of tiny spicy chilis.

Making more compost

Expanding the compost.

Since the original compost is working very nicely, I decided to make two more in connection with the first one. The design is almost the same as the original one. The vertical supports made from the stem from coconut leaves, decompose too quick, so they have been changed with bamboo.

The third compost almost finished.

The two new is the same size as the first one - 3,8 x 1,5 x 0,8 metre - giving me room for making a little over 13 cubic metre of compost.

Where it all starts

My seedling table.

Just a quick shot of my seedling table, where all that's growing in the garden, starts its life. The table is located at the edge of my orchidshadehouse with a few papayas around, giving the seedlings filtered sunlight mixed with some short periods of direct sun. I have found that to be the best way to start them. If I give them too much shade, they will die from sunburn, when they are moved to their final growing place. Giving them to much direct sun, and they will die quick.

At the moment there are 3 different types of chili, sweet peppers, okra, 2 types of papaya, beans, eggplants, some orange and lemon trees and a single Kare tree.