Chilly Out, Chilli In

With temperatures dropping it won't be long until the first killing frost strikes so the windowsills are being filled with plants I've brought in.

The chillies here stand no chance of ripening red outside so I'll baby them a few days on a south facing windowsill and then place them in the lean to at the back of the house. With luck, I've read, they'll continue to flower and fruit providing fresh chillies throughout the year.

Anyone had success with this? I may be better off putting them in a warm room and treating them like a house plant than an unheated lean to.

All of the rooms in the house are threatened with becoming 'garden' rooms and here I'm hoping to ripen up a bunch of San Marzano tomatoes which I planted ridiculously late in the year so they had no chance of ripening on the vine. I did this last year with Illdi and they ripened a treat from hard green marbles to juicy yellow fruits in a few weeks.

Comments

[Joanna]

My tomatoes are a disaster this year, but, in the past, when I've had a glut, I've picked off the last toms at this time, put them into a large deep basket and put it in a cool place in the house. I find that they ripen from the middle, so you have to pick over the basket fairly regularly. In the end they all ripen. It puzzled me a bit, until it struck me that often the ripest tomatoes on the plant are those hiding under the foliage .. what I'm saying is that I don't think you need to keep them on a windowsill. (I've also had success ripening late tomatoes in a kitchen drawer.)

Good luck

Joanna
joannasfood.blogspot.com

--Thanks Joanna, they are starting to colour up already!

[Matron]

I've done just that with my chilli this week. The leaves are dying back, but the chillis are beautifully red and I will thread them on a string and dry them.

[steven]

I haven't tried this trick, but I hear about it over and over; If you've got late season tomatoes that aren't turning red, uproot the entire plant and hang it by the roots in the cellar (if you have one). Apparently they will ripen and keep for a very long time. I've never tried it simly because after bottling a couple of hundred pounds I'm more than ready to tear up and compost the plot.

[kate]

I wonder with the chili peppers if a combination of heat and some sunshine would be the ticket.

With tomatoes, we often store them in brown paper bags or cardboard boxes, with newpapers between layers of tomatoes. They ripen at different speeds ... but they do ripen and taste delicious!

I'm just envious because you haven't had a frost yet ...

----Kate, I'm hoping that sunshine (though we haven't had much in the past few days) and heat will help them along!