Is it too late to start this now, I fear it is...? Completely slipped my mind, was planning on having my first bash at growing chillies this year, bugger.

It's a piece of cake.

This is the second season we've grown stuff in the kitchen window.

All you need is some soil, the seeds and pots! Some people go the whole hog as evidenced in this thread, but we've never bothered with fancy lights or lids and get plenty of chilli's.

Same here.

We've never tried growing anything from seed before, but this year we've got ten chilli plants on the go - all from seed, all looking healthy, and just germinated in a simple covered propagator on a windowsill.

However, a question for the chilli plant experts: once we've established the plants, are they indoors all year around?

That's a very good question. I've currently got 24 plants indoors (I've already given some away) and they are just about using up all my window sill space. They just about need repotting now, which means bigger pots taking up more room.

A couple of years ago, I tried some plants outside, and in my mini plastic greenhouse, but they didn't do very well and also became diseased even with spraying.

So, my plan is to keep as many indoors as I can (esp the Naga's etc), give a few more away, and any I have no room for can go outside and will have to see how they get on.

The only problem with keeping them indoors is that not much pollination occurs naturally from insects, so they may need to be manually cross pollenated.

Apart from drying, I freeze them and use them in cooking. It seems to work well and I'm still using last years crop.

Other than that I made a nice chilli chutney last year, and this year I'm planning on trying making a chilli jam if I have enough crop....

Difficult to say as I like it hot but like you say not putting as many in, using less hot variety, plenty of milder ingredients such as tomatoes and onions etc in chutneys etc, and probably lots of sugar in a jam/jelly

My chillies are doing well. Got loads of fruit and flowers on my random harvested seeds purple tigers are starting to get flowers but my Big Bananas are dropping flowers. They are outside currently enjoying some fresh air and sun. I have also got some other seedlings growing which include Cayenne, Peter Pepper, Ox Horn, Californian Wonder and some Mixed bells.

I have enjoyed growing chillies this year and started to gather seeds to grow next year. So far I have got 39 different varieties with 14 of them being either sweet or mild and I’m planning on giving the Habs, Bonnets, Jolokias and Butch T’s a go as well. I think I will have so many that I will need to sell some through work to thin the numbers.

With my crop I plan to make Chilli Jelly, Chilli Vodka and hot sauces.

In Tamworth, I put the Cayennes in the sunroom over winter but where in the courtyard in the late spring to mid autumn. The Bhut Jolokia and Birds Eye servivied last winter outdoors with no protection in Newcastle. If you are in a cold weather climate make sure they have some heat and as much light as possible in the winter and are kept away from frost.

That was Tamworth UK and Newcastle NSW although if in Tamworth NSW, I would also put them in doors as you get frosts !

Just ordered some chilli plants online so I'll see how I go - thanks for the tip!

Aren't Nagas and Bhut Jolokias just too hot for everyday use though, these are some of the hottest chillis in the world?? I can't imagine how hot a homemade chilli oil would become using these, thermonuclear one would imagine!

Went and actually read the label on mine - Apache Chillis - I don't know anything about these things other than I like them as they suit my taste, any info as to scale etc?



Here's the Habanero plants