[rivkele]

i was just wondering, do you think it would be ok to plant my chillies, which are outgrowing their pots, where i've just harvested my potatoes?

i've looked through the forum and don't find any mention of the idea, but then, a lot of you live in places where you would only grow chillies in greenhouses.

as far as not being too hungry a plant and not suffering from the same diseases, do you think it makes sense to plant them in the spud patch??

[8doubles]

The only reason i can think of for not putting the chillies there is that they will be dead after the 1st frost* and it will be too late to put leeks or brassicas in their place. If you put the chillies in bigger pots now you can overwinter them indoors.

*If you get frosts in your part of the world .

[rivkele]

we do, we had some nasty ones last year, but not until december. i didn't know that chillies could be overwintered though, that's interesting. i thought they just fruited and died (it's my first time growing them, as you can tell  )
i did think about planting cabbages now, but i don't think they'd stand the heat, i think i'll have to wait until about october for them.

[love-my-plot]

My chillies seem to be fruiting better by being in slightly too small pots 

They currently have loads of flowers and quite a few chillies ..... had none last year when they were in bigger pots. Dunno how much of this is down to weather or luck though as I hadn't tried them before these ones, which, incidentialy, have been overwintered from last year.

[peapod]

I found the same too Love-My-Plot

I worked on the assumption that last year they had concentrated on root growth too much at the start of the season.  They are now in less than half the size pots they were last year and looking promising

(even the ones Kate gave me, and she had dropped them!)

[peapod]

Just to add,  yours will also have benefited from being overwintered, they are much stronger in the second year

[rivkele]

ok, you've all convinced me, i'll leave my chillies in pots. so what can i grow where my potatoes were? will leeks be ok with a hot summer? maybe i should try sweetcorn? but i probably should have had it growing long before now, huh?

[peapod]

Not too sure about the leeks, but swwetcorn and courgettes are definately worth a go now

[jazzbyrd]

 I have been growing chillies for a number of years now and in my experience its better to grow them in smaller pots. They seem to like their roots being restricted and will go into fruit production rather than leaf production.
Not many of us need loads of chillies so why grow a huge big plant. I think its best to grow more varieties in smaller pots.

Jazz:)