The sweet peppers and chillies are mainly all ripe now.  This year we’ve grown Early Jalapeño and Portugal Hot chillies, with Orange Bell sweet peppers.

Above is a photo I set up as an entry to the Grow Your Own showcase competition. I love the patch of lime green near the end of the scarlet red Portugal Hot.  At the back are two ripening Orange Bells, with Jalapeños on the right.  The latter are usually picked and sold green, but they will ripen to red – either on or off the plant – and the result is slightly more heat in the taste.

Picking the jalapeños today, there were some in every stage of the colour cycle so I lined them up in order for this shot: the sequence of maturity from green to red, including the strange and attractive black phase before the muddy red starts to come through.