The message
from "David W.E. Roberts" contains these words:

got several tubs out on the patio - one chilli, one green pepper, two cherry
tomatoes (all plants bought in) and one more tub with a couple of broken of
bits from the tomatoes which are now going well in their own right.

I have never grown chillis and green peppers outside before (at least not
for the last 15-20 years) and I was wondering how I tell when they are ready
for picking.

Peppers don't do very well outside, and really need to be cultivated
under glass. Don't expect even medium-sized ones unless you can cobble
together some cloches to cover them.

Chillis may do better - I have about a dozen (j)chhhhhalapinos growing
(very slowly) in my front garden, but the ones in pots inside are doing
much better.

Do I wait until they start to ripen (i.e turn yellow/orange/red depending on
what they turn out to be) or can I judge by size?

Judge by shape and colour.

I assume they won't grow to be as large as the ones in the supermarket, and
the pepper plant is only 20" tall at present with the largest pepper about
3" long.

You have some sort of magic working for you.

And while I am on a ramble, how do they get all the 'cherry tomatoes on a
vine' to ripen at once in the supermarket? My trusses are fully ripe at one
end and still small and green at the other, which seems reasonable as the
flowers develope over quite a long period.

Some varieties ripen in a lump, so to speak. You can hurry them on a bit
by putting them in a polythene bag with a ripe banana. Do remove the
banana before it oozes.

Lovely evening now the wind has dropped.

Damn thrips are making an aerial soup round here.

--
Rusty http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm
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