Seed Sowing - Getting Ahead

I am always tempted to try and get ahead with sowing the seeds of tender vegetables that require a long growing season, things like chillies. We're proper chilliheads and if I cannot get a load of jalapenos pickled for the winter my name is mud!

Last season I had a very average chilli harvest, mostly because the really long, cold and wet spring meant that the plants were slow to get away once planted out. In truth I probably put them out into the ground too soon; cold soil or limited sunshine & the cool weather will have stopped the plants from growing on.

The advantage of sowing early indoors is hopefully having a long cropping season that starts earlier. The disadvantages are either risking planting outside before conditions are ideal, or having plants that need potting on indoors to keep them growing happily. My indoor growing space is limited to the floor and ugly temporary shelving in our modest open plan living space and it can become pretty overcrowded by May when planting out should be beginning!

My main seed sowing for tender vegetables kicks off in February for the bulk of the chillies, plus aubergines and peppers, running into early March for tomatoes, courgettes and pumpkins. As a general rule of thumb, the faster the plant grows the later it can be sown. Tomatoes and pumpkins romp away once it is warm enough and would soon take over the sejour if they were indoors for too long.

This week (mid-January) I've set up my small heated propagator - a simple plug-in mat that the propagator stands on, insulated from the tiled floor with a stack of paper (seen here) and a towel - and sowed six varieties of chillies. The key variety to get going is the Krishna Jolokia because last year the fruit had only just begun to appear when we were hit by the cold weather and as a consequence we didn't get a single one! In addition to that, I'm also sowing Jalapeno, Habanero Maya Red, Yellow Scotch Bonnet, Fatalii Yellow (my absolute favourite chilli pepper) & Chiltepin

Once the chillis have germinated and can be moved off the heat mat, I'll set some aubergines off. It may only be January, but it is already time to start planning for aubergine curries and pickles!