The chillis are a mix of some I grow every year and some new ones, I’ve also got some chillis over wintered in the greenhouse. The tomatoes are my favourite varieties as I’ve just decided to grow the ones I like this year to save on space.

2012 Chillis (sown 22/01/12)

• Mixed Caribbean - A mixture of 5 very hot chilli peppers from the Caribbean, includes Habanero and Scotch Bonnet chilli peppers in different colours and shapes.
• Naga Morich -  is a small-medium shurub with large leaves, small, five-petalled flowers, and blisteringly hot fruit. It differs to the Bhut Jolokia and Bih Jolokia in that it is slightly smaller with a pimply ribbed texture as opposed to the smoother flesh of the other two varieties.
• Sweet Pepper – Traditional sweet peppers, I use loads of them so like to grow them.
• Guajillo chilli - The guajillo chilli’s thin, deep-red flesh has a green tea flavor with berry overtones. Its fruits are large and mild in flavor, with only a small amount of heat (rating 2,500 to 5,000 on the Scoville scale).
• Hot Portugal – one of my favourites and a type of Anaheim, great flavour and not too hot.
• Gold cone chilli - Capsicum annum that has small white/yellow pods that look great on a window sill or patio, brilliant for in salads or stuffed with cheese.
• Aji Pinguita De Mono - The name Aji Pinguita De Mono translates to ‘ little monkey dick’ a reference to the pods shape. The pods are small measuring only 0.5 to 1in long, are slightly curved and taper to a point. They mature from green to a bright scarlet. This variety is among the hottest of the little Aji’s known in Peru measuring 70,000 – 80,000 Scoville units. The Aji Pinguita de Mono is found in all regions of the Peruvian jungle, mainly in the central valley of Chanchamayo.
• Aji Limon – Another Peruvian jungle chilli, bright yellow pods with a distinctive citrus flavour, great in salads.
• Violet Cayenne – Brilliant purple and white flowers, 3″ long thin purple pods, a real stunner.
• Numex Big Jim – The largest of all the chillis, mild heat, perfect for stuffing, frying, battering etc etc.
• Dedo De Moca – Small Brazilian variety, often dried and ground also known as pimenta-calabresa.

2012 Tomatoes (sown 22/01/12)

• Beams Yellow Pear – Sweet, yellow pear shaped tomato.
• Hawaiian Currant – Tiny, pea sized tomato, perfect for salads and garnish. Great as a snack too.
• Red Cherry Tomato – Generic red cherry tomato, always a favourite.
• San Marzano Tomato – widely considered as one of the best tasting tomatoes in the world and a firm favourite of mine.

2011 Chillis (over wintered)

• Sweet Bell Pepper – Small, sweet, no heat but great for stuffing
• Hot Portugal – one of my favourites and a type of Anaheim, great flavour and not too hot.
• Naga Morich -  is a small-medium shurub with large leaves, small, five-petalled flowers, and blisteringly hot fruit. It differs to the Bhut Jolokia and Bih Jolokia in that it is slightly smaller with a pimply ribbed texture as opposed to the smoother flesh of the other two varieties.
• Yellow Scotch Bonnet – hot and fruity, great chilli
• Orange Habenero – like the yellow scotch bonnet but orange.
• Explosive ember – Purple leaves, purple chillis that grow upward.
• African sun – I don’t know much about this one, hoping it’s second year will prove more fruitful

I will post a full seed saving guide on the website as soon as i can but in the mean time the quickest way to do it is as follows:

1. Gently scrape the seeds from your chosen chilli
2. Remove as much of the white pith as possible.
3. Place the seeds onto a piece of kitchen towel and then fold up securely or place another piece on top.
4. Leave in a warm dry place until the seeds become snappable.
5. Place in an air tight container and keep until next year.

There are loads of different ones on the market ranging from £8 up to £100′s, they come in all different shapes and sizes and with lots of different functions. I tend to prefer the simpler ones as they are cheap and there is less to go wrong with them.

I currently have 2 different propagators, A home made one that consists of a standard window sill greenhouse that was £2 and a heat mat i had left over from keeping reptiles. I’ve been using it for a couple of years with lots of success.

The second is an 8 watt 38cm B+Q heated propagator that ive not used yet but its much the same as my home made one.

I find the easiest way to get the seeds going is to seperate the propagator up using a seed tray filled with compost then place 1 seed in each section, this makes it easier to prick out the seedlings and transfer them to their next pot as the roots don’t tend to get tangled. If you are careful when pricking out you can also use the seed trays again.

Below are a couple of pics, one of my home made prop without its lid on, and the other is of the B+Q one. As you can see the heatmat doesn’t quite fit on the window sill (oops)

Also to prevent the chillis going leggy and leaning too much , i rotate the propagator reqularly.

Home made heated propagator