Weeding the Web

Cinderella - coaching a star at Halloween

One of the most popular pages on Weeding the Web at the moment is Cinderella’s Pumpkin Coach. I doubt it if it’s all down to the Bishops' Conference's call to shun the excesses of Halloween, but a glance at America makes me wonder if the desire for sweeter things hasn’t to do with people, there and in this country, tiring of the ghoulish emphasis of 31st October.

Nothing seems to represent Halloween better than the pumpkin and personally I enjoy carving a gap-toothed grimace into something that will otherwise just go for soup. But websites offer all sorts of unexpected, non-harrowing alternatives.

Overwintering peppers and chillies

If you grew peppers this year, chances are that you’ve still got a tired-looking plant hanging around with the odd fruit still clinging to it. You could chuck it on the compost, but how about the alternative?

The Chile Man, with a database of 3729 peppers and chillies, is chock full of information, including how to overwinter your peppers. It could be worth it, as peppers, it seems, nearly always produce more fruit in their second year.