Haha, yeah Bottom_racer does sauces and that's far beyond my skill level so I'm just dehydrating them and giving excess bags away to friends :)

They just won't stop growing. This is my fourth harvest and I'm barely half way through and the harvested ones are still fruiting.

I think I may have went a tad too far this season. My tummy hurts.

I was being facetious because the real unspoken issue is not building it, it's that it triggers at midnight and will require ongoing support. Someone will need to use a cloud account with a credit card attached to it, unless it's run on a homelab and if it's run on a homelab and that person disappears even if it's open sourced we're back to just having someone simply post the thread every day.

I'm not on here every day.

You're doing awesomely. Please don't beat yourself up. Just think how many people you know that haven't even got close to what you've already achieved? I get that it's frustrating, heartbreaking even, but you're learning so see it that way?

Circumstances can seriously impact you and that's ok. I left my beloved bonchi (Bonzi Chilli) die because of real life circumstances for example. It happens, but then there's next season!

No matter which you pick they probably won't stick around, but they are truly machines that demolish aphids. Once their food is gone they will leave regardless unless you establish that full ecosystem which is hard. I've just had some of these move in on their own, have a few indoors too!

Just be warned that it means you'll get more birds and spiders and then you'll need to buy a lion to deal with those (obviously joking on the lion but it does escalate, beautifully, and you're making a positive change to our shared environment).

You can also buy permanent insect homes for things to just move into of their own accord :)

Maybe someday one of us will find the time and desire to do it. It really is less than a day's work for a single dev with a full CI/CD pipeline and executed on a cloud provider but well... ya know...

If Melbcats needs med prioritise Melbcats.

Gardening can be an expensive and time consuming hobby, particularly for initial set up, but it is highly rewarding over the years as you watch things grow and is worth every penny in my opinion.

Just know that's it's also okay to write off a season and try again next time; you'll still have the basic building blocks you have today and can add to it next time whilst learning from any mistakes.

It's a lifetime hobby that spans years, it's not about just one crop that'll guarantee you instant results.

Think of it like learning to play guitar if you're serious about it.

So sort your cat, do what you're already doing with the aphids and next season plan to solve this in advance ❤️

Yeah haha, I was just joking as you laid that one on a plate for me :D Again, good luck to you, you've defended got this. I can promise that the moment your lungs feel normal again will be utterly amazing.

Also hope you have fun in Japan! It's a beautiful country and I can't wait to go back.

Will you miss singing?

Yeah sorry, even the packets are branded like they used to be and so so cheap. I've even kept a packet in my memory box because of the novelty. I hope you both have more willpower than I do.

Also, I'm utterly terrified of flying but that was actually a nice flight, I'd expect yours to be the same! ❤️

Sorry for the double reply but just re-read your spoiler. Be warned about Japan. Not smoking is extremely hard despite you not being allowed to smoke in public. 20%+ of the population smoke.

The cigarettes are $6 for 20 Marlboro Red and you can smoke indoors whilst eating food in some places. The novelty of it means you will almost certainly smoke. I did as I couldn't resist. Excessively. Last year. And I quit about 6 years ago. If you've recently quit it will be even harder for you. You will almost certainly smoke there. Even my non smoking partner smoked.

This is probably a bit left of field as a tip that I personally found helpful (note that I do vape, but with almost no nicotine simply for the hand to mouth habit which I can't break):

So I always carry a box of cigarettes with me wherever I go, having them on me means that I never have that "oh no, I'm out of ciggies. Need buy cigarettes immediately at any cost" feeling and it reminds me not to smoke.

Also know that having a single cigarette isn't game over. You got this!

Ah, so you lived above Oaks on Market too?

Yeah mate I've got it installed, no incidents. It was probably just a weird coincidence.

And here I am doing the Melbourne meme of what was that loud bang haha!

If there is food (e.g. aphids) they will stick around and set up a colony, get them a box or a bag. When they're done they will eat each other... You could also look into lacewings.

This season I've been fortunate enough for predators to establish themselves and not had to buy anything.

You'll defo solve the problem if you buy those. Just one ladybird would demolish what I'm picturing of the problem you have.

For context we have somewhere between 120-160 plants, and about 70% of those are fruit and so prone to aphids and therefore ants marshalling them.

Bottom Racer (not tagging on purpose) and I have been talking about growing chillies for years.

Harvested a tiny amount the other day for dinner (hopefully proving that I'm not talking out of my arse here and that this is genuine advice and that the site is reputable and will solve your problem)

Well that was interesting. Just got woken up to the loud sound of "pop... pop pop; ... pop". Followed by multiple police car sirens.

I hope it was fireworks and someone just having a late night and that everyone is ok.

The police were heading towards North Fitzroy based on the sound.

Fast, reliable and relatively cheap ethical solution that I've used many many times before: bugs for bugs.

It is funny when you see some of your money literally flying away though, but in the grand scheme of things it's good for the environment.

Thank you! What's most incredible in my opinion is the mini ecosystem we've created with 120 pots plus 2 garden beds growing much more than just chillis.

So many bees.

Ladybirds even set up shop on their own.

Now I just need to deal with the spiders...

Yeah, this is just one plant and about 70 plants survived this year

Might finally be getting over covid and the flu but sheesh that was harsh. One day I took out the recycling and then had to sleep for 13 hours I was that wiped from something so simple.

Also I may have grown too many chillis this season, I don't think my dehydrator is big enough to deal with this impending win/doom 😂

I had already assumed that was the reason for the name lol!

I was looking at getting one last year and be aware that they don't ship the coolest ones to Australia, I tried contacting them...

I designed my custom fender instead which my partner stopped me buying as she was like "indisin, you don't even play your current guitar why are you buying another?" haha.

My current is just a semi acoustic Fender California Newporter Special in black.

You'd also love my partner's drum kit...