Now is the time to start
At this point, it is still too cold in the UK to be planting Chillies outdoors but it is a good time to begin indoor propagation. By doing this, come May or June, when it will be warm enough to take your seedlings outside, they will have already grown eight to twelve inches and will be well on their way to a good season. Start now by following this step by step guide to growing your Chillies.
There is good reason for starting the Chilli growing season right now. Nothing is more frustrating and upsetting than caring for a plant from seed, then watching it die when the weather becomes too cold The growing season in the UK is quite short. It comes to an end more or less at the end of September. With this in mind, it makes perfect sense beginning early. Indeed, if you want to stand the chance of harvesting Chillies for a month or two after your plants mature, now is the time to start .
In fact, starting the season almost flat bang in the middle of winter is particularly important for super-hot Chillies like Carolina reapers and Habaneros. These Chillies (particularly the super hots) have a long growing from seed to fruit-bearing stage ( over 100 days). Even as early as it is right now in the season , it may even be too late for these Chillied to have been planted . Ideally they should have been planted indoors as early as mid-January to stand the chance of a harvest.
This year I will be keeping a log of each step in the growing season. The selection and preparation of my seeds for propagation . Follow me as I show how I take care of them until they sprout, and every step of the way after that. This will carry on right through until I finally harvest some Chillies (and hopefully a bumber crop at that!)
. I hope that following this step-by-step guidance to growing Chillies will lead to a successful growing season to all our readers .
Let’s have a great Chilli growing season in 2021!