Feeling Chilli?

It's time to turn up the heat. As chilli peppers have a long growing time before fruiting and ripening, they need to be started early.

I only included chilli's in my growing plans two years ago and I've never had trouble producing fruits from plants on the kitchen windowsill. This year I'm stepping up production as I've gone for 5 varieties and I'm going try some of them outside in growbags, in a sheltered spot at home.

Although a high temperature is required for germination, I don't have a heated propagator and mine have always started well enough. I use small margarine tubs - as I only need a couple of plants for each variety, using a whole seed tray for each of the five varieties seems a bit lavish.


Earlier in the month I brought in some seed compost from the shed - no seed is going to like cold January compost. I propped it up against a radiator in the spare room for a week or so (on an old piece of lino to save any hysterics from the wife).

Once sown in the tubs, I lightly water and cover them with a plastic freezer bag. This helps maintain warmth, moisture and humidity and I place them in the boiler cupboard, which is the warmest place in the house.

Then, once germination has started, I'll move them to a light windowsill and pot them on once two true leaves have formed.

This year's varieties can be found in my 2014 seed list HERE