May: Chillis
Chillis have not done well outdoors over the last couple of summers as they like sun and don’t like too much wet, but they will succeed under cover regardless of how little sun we get. The great thing about them is that the plant adapts to the size of container it is in, so they work in anything from a growbag to a small pot, and there are some stunning ornamental varieties which make brilliant presents (and of course you can eat them too). There is a huge range of seeds available – I have grown Pretty-in-Purple, Numex Twilight, Filius Blue and Fish as ornamental plants, and this year’s variety is called ‘Aurora’! Cayenne chillis make wonderful winter decorations if you hang bunches of them to dry (use a large needle and thick thread to gather them together), while if you have ever enjoyed Chilli Padronas as tapas in Spain these grow easily and produce a prolific amount of chillis (pick them green and fry them in sunflower oil for a couple of minutes!). You can tell I’m a chilli enthusiast!
Sow chillis in moist compost, in small (or newspaper) pots, setting the seed upright as far as possible. They need much the same conditions as tomatoes, so a sunny windowsill or greenhouse. If you sow them now they should be ready to go out in the garden after the last risk of frost has passed, or into growbags or pots in the greenhouse in about 6 weeks. Mine are slow to germinate this year, due to our current cold nights.
Pinch out the leading leaves when you put them out, which will make the plant bush up. Keep watered, but not water-logged and, if they are in pots/growbags, start feeding weekly with a tomato feed after 6 weeks. They sit back and wait for the chillis to start forming!
If you can bring a couple of plants into the house or conservatory before the first frosts they will carry on producing fruit. They will survive the winter, and if you then cut the branches back and plant them out in the garden after the last frost they will carry on for another year. I have one from last summer in the conservatory, and it has just started to flower again!
Note: Peppers grow in the same way, but need to be in big pots/growbags. simpsonsseeds.co.uk and plantsofdistinction.co.uk both have a wide selection of chilli and pepper seeds.