FRUIT > CHILLIES > FEEDING
By ELIZABETH WADDINGTON Elizabeth Waddington, MA, Dip.Perm.Des. - Garden Designer Elizabeth is a Permaculture Garden Designer, Sustainability Consultant and Professional Writer, working as an advocate for positive change. She graduated from the University of St. Andrews with an MA in English and Philosophy and obtained a Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design from the Permaculture Association. Colin Skelly, MHort (RHS), MCIHort - Horticulturist Colin is a Horticulturist and Horticultural Consultant with experience in a range of practical and managerial roles across heritage, commercial and public horticulture. He holds the Royal Horticultural Society’s Master of Horticulture award and has a particular interest in horticultural ecology and naturalistic planting for habitat and climate resilience. Emily Cupit, Photographer & Videographer Emily is a Gardening Writer, Photographer and Videographer from Derbyshire, UK. She is the Founder of Emily's Green Diary - a community of more than 75,000 people who share in her gardening journey.
Reviewed By COLIN SKELLY 
Contributions From EMILY CUPIT 
IN THIS GUIDE
- When To Harvest
- How To Tell When Chillies Are Ready
- How To Harvest
- Storing Chillies
CHILLI GUIDES
Container Growing
Drying
Feeding
Harvesting
Varieties
– Cayenne
Growing your own chilli peppers is a great option for those who like the heat.
There are a huge range of different options to choose from, from fairly mild and sweet options to those that offer the ultimate kick, with many different levels of spice in between.
In the UK, chillies can be grown in a greenhouse or polytunnel or, after being sown indoors, can be placed out in a warm, sunny and sheltered spot in a garden for the summer months.
Here are the basic things you need to know about harvesting chillies:
When To Harvest
You should aim to harvest your chilli peppers between July and October.
The earlier you sow your seeds indoors, the earlier your harvest will begin and the longer you will be able to harvest.
If you are growing chillies in a greenhouse or polytunnel, you may be able to begin your harvest in July.
Outdoors chilli plants will usually begin to be ready for harvest from August.
How To Tell When Chillies Are Ready
Deciding when chillies are ready to harvest is not as simple as just looking at the colour, or waiting until the fruits reach a certain size because there is so much variety between different cultivars.
Many chillies start off green before maturing to more ‘hot colours’ like yellow, orange or red, but some start off purple before maturing or remain green even as they mature.
Telling when chillies might be ready to harvest and deciding when to do so means that you need to be aware of how the fruits of the particular chilli that you have chosen mature, and what they look like as they do.
When ready to pick, chillies will have a glossy shine to them.
It’s important to remember that as chilli pepper fruits mature, they tend to become hotter and spicier over time.
However, by leaving the fruits on the plant to mature further you won’t get new flowers and fruits forming.
Deciding when to harvest chillies involves deciding whether it is more important to you to get milder chillies, and more of them over the growing season, or brighter and hotter chillies, but a harvest that might be reduced by around a quarter overall.
Many will prefer to make the most of the growing area and increase their overall yield by picking the fruits relatively early (typically while they are still green but are nearing mature size for the cultivar in question).
But if you crave the heat and want your chillies to be as fiery and punchy as possible, then you should leave the fruits to mature for as long as possible, waiting for them to change in colour.
You might also wish to leave the fruits to mature if you would like to enjoy the ornamental appeal of the brightly coloured fruits – which can be particularly varied and vibrant with some cultivars.
“Some chilli cultivars are sold as edimental (ornamental and edible), such as ‘Basket of Fire’ or ‘Spangles’, which have multi-coloured fruit,” shares Master Horticulturist Colin Skelly.
How To Harvest
While deciding when precisely to harvest chilli peppers might not be all that easy, the actual process of harvesting chillies could not be simpler.
When you are ready to harvest chillies, simply use a finger and thumb or a pair of secateurs or gardening scissors to cut through the stem just above the fruit, to release it from the plant.
At the end of the growing season, you will remove all of the fruits to use, dry or preserve in other ways, but throughout the summer you can simply take the fruits when you wish to do so individually or in small numbers as they are required.
Of course, you can use the chillies you have harvested in a range of recipes right away.
Harvested chillies can also be stored whole in the fridge or in an airtight container for a week or so.
Thicker-skinned chillies may last longer than thinner-skinned ones – a couple of weeks or even a little longer.
Storing Chillies
If you want to preserve chillies for later use, there are a range of ways to do so. You can:
- Freeze chillies (for up to a year in a suitable container).
- Dry chillies (using your oven, or in a dehydrator – sometimes by air drying, though this is challenging in the humid UK climate).
- Use chillies in a range of preserves such as chutneys, pickles, etc. and can them using the hot water bath canning process.
By growing your own chillies and harvesting them successfully, you could be enjoying their spice in numerous ways throughout the rest of the year.
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