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Spice up your garden
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Chillies can make for colourful houseplants
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RED PATCH Chillies can be grown in any kitchen garden
Variously called mirchi (Hindi), mirapakaya (Telugu), mulaku (Tamil and Malayalam), chillies are grown in practically all over India.
The major producing States are Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Capsicum, belonging to family Solanacea, is anative of West Indies, Brazil, China, India and Egypt. There are several distinct varieties.
Capsicum frutescens or red chillies are annual or short-lived perennials with alternate, lance-shaped, mid green leaves 12 cm long. Solitary, bell-shaped white or yellow flowers to 1.5 cm across are produced at the leaf axils in summer or all round the year. The pendant narrowly conical twisted fruit 15 cm long are green at first, ripening to orange and red.
These plants are also used as ornamental houseplants. They thrive best in a light rich soil well tilled and well manured.
The seeds are sown in well prepared seed pans or beds and when the seedlings are about 3 inches high, they are carefully planted in pots or beds.
Chillies are a good sourced of Vitamin C, A and E. They are used fresh or dried. They can be grown in any kitchen garden with very little trouble on almost any kind of soil provided it is well prepared.
CHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN
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