Spent Sunday morning sowing chillies, surely one of the best plants to grow. I love the shape of the leaves, the flowers and, of course, the fruit. And they come in such amazing varieties – grow for heat, flavour, or as an ornamental (all three actually).
I’m starting these off in a heated propagator – temperature about 25C (77F). You certainly don’t want them lower than 18C (65F). Too cool and they won’t germinate too well, especially the hotter varieties.
So I’ve sown a row of ‘Carolina Reaper’ (very very hot of course but very aromatic when cooked), ‘Loco’ (purple fruit to start with followed by rainbow of colour), ‘Pot Black (starting off black and then turning to red) and a couple I’ve not grown before, ‘Christmas Bell’ (also known as ‘Bishop’s Hat’), which produces very striking flying sauce shaped fruit, and ‘Spaghetti’ (long, thin, straggly fruit as the name suggests).
Here’s some ‘Numex Twilight’ (another very colourful variety) which I started off in January coming on well but delay sowing until March if you can’t provide that initial heat. If you don’t have a propagator, a warm windowsill with plenty of light will get them going.
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