Finally, by early November, my sweet peppers and chillis had turned red. The importance of that is not just for appearances but it means they’ve reached their peak flavour.

Indeed the Thor sweet peppers, a long variety, turned out delicious. As with many home-grown peppers they’re slightly thin-walled compared with commercial varieties, but that’s more than offset by the great taste.

That said, next year I plan to grow the New Ace and Carmagnola varieties. A few years ago I grew both and one of them was sensational to eat: a blend of piquancy with sweetness. Unfortunately I got confused over which was which, so growing both is the best I can do to get the same result!

That’s so long as I can get hold of seeds. Carmagnola for example used to be stocked by great dealers like MoreVeg, but since the madness of Brexit it appears to not be viable to import the seeds. And ordering from a dealer in Europe, where they’re easy to buy, would likely attract awkward customs processes.

Meanwhile, the raised beds are now covered up for the close season, apart from a patch of overgrown lettuces and the now sprouted garlic.

That’s the fairly routine Solent Wight variety, which I’ve grown several times before and which is good for retaining its flavour during cooking. As a softneck variety it won’t store for as long as a hardneck, but that durable taste is a fair trade off.

There were a few days of snow on the ground and very low temperatures a couple of weeks ago and that will have done the garlic a world of good. To that same end a few more days of the same wouldn’t go amiss. Maybe even on Christmas Day (please!)

Till next time, thanks for reading.