Growing chillies from seed

by Bev
(Hillarys, Perth, WA)

At 12 days after planting the seeds

In June 2007 I had been in Perth just over a year and was battling to find HOT chillies which I'm pretty much addicted to!

A colleague at work had heard my sad tale and brought me some off his chilli bush to try. I was over the moon - they were probably up there with the hottest of the hot. So he brought me gobs more.

I managed to keep about 20 aside, sliced them open and left them to dry.

This was how I came upon this site; I have never grown anything more exciting than an avocado pear tree from a pip and had no idea how to go about it. But I REALLY wanted my own chilli bushes from these magnificent chillies.

So I took myself off to Bunnings and got the best potting soil I could find. They didn't have any seedling trays so I made my own (hence the foil in the photo). I was taking no chances so I made about 15 holes about 1cm deep with my finger in each "tray" and put about 4 or 5 seeds per hole. I then made sure that they were watered enough but not drenched (I was scared that they would go mouldy) as it's been unbelievably hot here in Perth for the past few weeks.

Imagine my complete excitement when they started sprouting! At last count I have 103 shoots and they keep coming! At this rate anyone who casually mentions that they like hot food will be getting one of my "babies" as soon as they're big enough to transplant.

I AM SOOOO PROUD OF MYSELF!