Chilli weather
How to grow plants that like it hot
Fruit and vegetable gardeners, don’t be downhearted. The recent (and, at least for the South, ongoing) heatwave has taken its toll on farms and allotments, as salad crops, broccoli and potatoes struggle and peas shrivel on the vine. Endless trips to the garden tap? Dismay as your lettuces wilt before your eyes? The continentally hot weather has taken its toll on much of the English country garden.
But there is solace. Slug numbers are down, and your tomatoes – if you can keep them properly watered – are less likely to get blight. Most of all, take cheer from the fact that some crops are positively cavorting in these hot and dry conditions. Fruits you’ve fussed over for years are finally ripening. Could this finally be the year you get to slice your own lemon into that G&T?
Here are a few crops that are positively embracing summer 2018.
Chillies
Some like it hot, and chillies really do. Naturally drought-tolerant, they are thriving in window boxes and pots from Falmouth to Fife. Varieties that normally struggle to ripen outside are already turning red, and in impressive numbers. Beware, though: all that sun means they’re likely to be hotter than ever, as the plant responds to the heat by producing more capsaicin, the alkaloid that makes your eyes water. Even mild jalapeños could pack a surprise punch.
Figs
In the south of France, these trees sprout out of the walls of old churches, so it’s not much of a surprise that they can handle a little bit of UK sun. You may expect to get a handful of ripe figs in a normal year, but the hot weather is making them ripen earlier, their indecently decadent, oozing fruits sweeter than ever. Pick them when they go squishy and dark. This may be the year you don’t have to type “recipes for unripe figs” into Google.
Truffles
Truffles are a fungus that grow in chalky soils under the roots of mature hazel, beech or oak forests, traditionally in continental Europe. Or, if you employ Olympic-level wishful thinking, in the back gardens of terraced houses in the UK. Yes, if you purchased a “truffle tree” – basically, a small hazel twig in a pot – several years ago, with great dreams of paying off your mortgage by selling rare fungi from your back garden, you were not alone. Heatwaves such as this one are meaning commercial truffle production is looking like a real possibility in the UK, especially since European production is in decline. A rare black truffle, valued at £2,000 per kilo, was recently cultivated by Cambridge University scientists in Wales. Watch that twig, it may yet deliver.
Physalis
If your idea of sophistication is a cocktail topped with a small orange cherry thing in a papery case – and if it’s not, what’s wrong with you? – breathe easy. The cape gooseberry or physalis plant is having a good year. These Peruvian natives, with their delicious, sweet fruits, can struggle to ripen in your typical UK summer, but they’re feeling positively Latin right now as the sun and drought pushes them into bumper production and early ripening.
Grapes
If your pergola has been nothing but a green tangle for the past few years, you may have noticed a change this summer: bunches of grapes dangling down. Anyone who has seen a vineyard in the Mediterranean knows that grapes won’t find our little warm spell any challenge at all. Their widespread roots can go deep to search out water, and the grapes are soaking up all that sun right now, leading to a higher concentration of sugar in the fruit. The wet spring followed by the summer heatwave will likely spark a vintage year for British wines – possibly matching France’s Champagne region.
Olives
That pot that has been languishing in the corner of your terrace promising Mediterranean good things may finally earn its keep. Have a close look among the branches and you might see little fruits. And not just one or two, but plenty. The drought holds no horrors for these gnarled, silvery beasts; in 30C heat, they’re in their element. Channel your inner Greek farmer and strew a blanket beneath to gather your bounty at the end of summer. Or just pop them in a small Tupperware box. Curing your own olives involves salt, vinegar, herbs, olive oil and an airtight container.
Lemons
Surely, in the Venn diagram of life, there would be a very slim shaded area for “lemon trees given as gifts” and “those still alive after two years”. However, with a summer like this, fruits are soaking up all that sun and ripening nicely. In fact, they are naturally suited to being owned by busy people, since they have a natural tolerance to dramatic variations in soil moisture. So, while your growbag tomatoes are turning black at the base from blossom end rot, the lemon tree marches on regardless. Well, until you leave it outside this winter and kill it.