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As we were back in NZ at the perfect time for planting (supposedly cold, wet and when the ground’s soft, I guess) we thought we’d chuck a few things on our patch of dirt.

• 100 odd teeny weeny Pittosporums as a hedge/windbreak
• 1 Golden Elm – Ulmus Pro, Louis V Houtte
• 1 Malus Ballerina (basically a pink blossom crab apple tree)
• 1 Purple Norway Maple (Acer Platanoides Nigrum if you care for the technical details!)

We managed to get the pittosporums more or less in a row, but then who wants a perfectly straight line anyway!

Of course we didn’t do this all on our own. We had a good crew of helpers always ready to give some helpful advice…  Whilst standing around drinking a few well deserved beers for all their hard work!

Just kidding! The crew were fantastic. I had wondered at the start of the day just how long it would take us, and whether Bec and I would have to return the next day to finish off, but in the end we had it all done in about 5 hours, and that was with a fair bit of mucking around at the end, and in between to recover from the hole digging from time to time (Bec – I think I  recall looking up from planting to see in the distance a lot of standing around doing nothing – apparently discussing what shape to dig the next hole in?!) (Mike – Well, Jacob had some very strong ideas about that!  Some were to be round, and some square.  It was obviously important to get it right! And there was a bit of a hold up when Lexi decided that the hole we’d just dug was the most comfortable chair in the world.)

And then there was the big stop for a dose of good old Kiwi pies to refuel.  Ahhhh Kiwi pies!  One of the joys of returning to NZ.  I could write a whole post on them, but then I’d just make myself hungry.

Now all we have to do is wait and see how many of the trees actually survive.  But we guess that’s up to the magic watering pixies (Rob and Dawn, and Jeff and Cole)…….  fingers crossed the roster for watering and TLC works!  All in all if was a great day out on the plot and if it works then, hey, we have a bit of a head start when we finally get our butts in gear and build a house!

Now that the Zimbabwe Bird Peppers have started ripening, you can see all 4 types together.

Now I just have to pluck up the courage to grab a knife and fork and taste them all to get some idea of what they taste like, and how hot they are!

The Ring of Fire’s have been sneakily turning colour over the last 2 days too. So I was really completely wrong about how long I’d have to wait for them.  I obviously completely missed taking a picture or note last year when they turned, or maybe it was when I was back in NZ that it happened. Whatever.  They’re red anyway.  Not the best photo today though.  Sorry.

So that just leaves the Zimbabwe Bird Peppers to go.  There are a heap of them on the plants, so they should look great when they start to turn.

But I have to say that I’ve been a bit slack with my flower flicking lately, and a lot of flowers have just been falling off unpollinated. And when that happens I get in trouble for them all falling over the place.  So must try harder to keep up with them all!

In the last couple of days there’s been a sneaky Prairie Fire chilli that’s been colouring up right in the middle of the plant. Tricky little thing thinks I won’t notice! But I did, and it’s going to be the first to get chomped to see what they taste like. Putting that off until I have a fully ripe chilli on the Riots as well so I can compare the taste. Won’t be long now!

He’s me wailing and whining that I’d still have a big wait until the chillis started to change colour, and then they go and show some blushes pretty much the next day! The Riots are starting to have some chillis turn bright orange, and some a bit purple. No idea how they choose which one will do what… But I’m happy. Maybe I should try even more whinging and whining every now and then…

The other day we scratch-built an Indian style curry for tea, but we weren’t sure how hot the curry powder was as we’d never used it before, so we didn’t put quite enough in. Chilli plants to the rescue! A big, fat green Ring of Fire in the pot, and another one for me to sprinkle on the top of mine, and it was all good! Yum, yum!

It’s good to finally be eating them! Not sure that I’d use any of the others in their green/yellow states, but these ones seem to be really nice green or red.

There are just so many chillis on the plants! I keep thinking at that I should do a count, but I just can’t face it! I just know that I’d lose track on the first stem of the first plant.

I’ve been hoping to see a bit of colour appearing on at least one chilli, but they seem to stay their initial colours. Checking back on last year’s blog entires, it seems like the first blushes appeared at about the start of August (maybe just a bit earlier)! That seems just so far away still! Oh well. Just have to wait for some more sun and see if it helps them along! Something to look forward to, I guess!

Didn’t really need to use an ultrasound to sort this out.  Just a picture.  Rach’s first chilli has arrived now too on one of the poor little plants that I had to give away.  I think it’s a Prarie Fire by the look of it, but not quite sure yet.  I can’t remember what I gave her in the end.  We’ll confirm that soon once it grows a little more…

Nice to know your offspring are doing well out in the big wide world!

Well, I was going to update you with the latest chilli count as it’s been a really slow week for any sort of news, but to be honest I just keep losing track. Let’s just say that there are well over a hundred now. It’s the Riots that are the problem. They’ve just keep exploding!

No colour appearing on any of them yet, but hopefully this week will be as sunny as today and that’ll happen soon. The Ring of Fires in particular are looking nice and big, and I can’t wait to get into them. I’ll be really interested to taste the others too, and see what the difference in taste between them all.

And the number of chillis has started to grow almost exponentially.  The count as of yesterday was up to 48.  Yum, yum!  The riots in particular are exploding.  One of them has such a dense little patch of them that I’m hoping the plant can support them.  I’m looking forward to seeing how the plant looks when they start to change colour…