~ Some special HOT PEPPER Seed (Chilli or Chile Peppers) ~
Please order your seeds in time! Peppers grow slowly in our short summers & need to be started early - you really need to plant them by the start of March at the very latest to have any chance of a decent crop.
We've got some a selection of early hot peppers for every taste, in different colours and shapes! Some are of more unusual species such as Capsicum pubescens and Capsicum baccatum. All have been chosen from our trials in Wales.
Beginners may not realise that chilli and pepper seed doesn't have as high a germination rate as other vegetables, which is why packets contain more seed than you might need - do sow many extras to be sure of getting enough plants.
Small screen: Turn your device sideways to view sowing calendar.
= normal sowing & harvest time = also possible depending on conditions
TIP: The biggest cause of problems is lack of moderate heat. An electric propagator is ideal, but if
you don't have one, you can still get excellent results by improvising
with a warm airing cupboard, a radiator shelf or anywhere that is around
25-30C for at least a few hours in each day. Once germinated, the seedlings
can grow on at lower temperatures. We grow excellent plants when our propagator is full by starting seed on the counter
next to our Rayburn & then growing on in a sunny windowsill.
Ohnivec HUGE, CRAZY HOT CHILLI
This is undoubtedly the biggest hot chilli we have ever had - loaded with fruit, almost a foot long and 2 inches wide, starting out a wonderful pale yellow, and ripening through orange to red. They are completely mild when yellow, but don't say we didn't warn you - they really are extremely hot once ripened to orange. Control the heat by picking them at the colour you prefer. The plants are about 2ft tall and 18 inches wide.
Photo shows them growing near Newcastle Emlyn on the west coast of Wales.
18 seed £
NOTE: If you can't take the heat of this one, but fancy trying out this type of pepper, then over on the sweet-peppers page we also have its less-evil twin, a very similar but sweet pepper called 'Semaroh' from the same breeding line .
Pyramid UPRIGHT POINTY FRUIT
A large tasty chilli, with upright clusters of pointy 2-3 inch peppers, on bushes about 1ft wide and high.
The peppers start out luminous yellow-green and then ripen to bright red; their heat raw is quite strong, but it mellows on cooking, so one to three peppers per dish gives a good flavour without being too risky.
Decorative and tasty too!
20 seed, organic £
Kristian
An unusual and beautiful long and thin, bright-yellow chilli pepper, on compact bushes about 2ft across. The plants are really pretty in the greenhouse, and it did well in our 2018 trials. Fruits are a couple of inches long.
Good flavour, with a decent amount of heat (about 55,000 on the Scoville scale).
22 seed £
Killian ORANGE
From the same breeding project as the yellow Kristian pepper, a beautiful orange chilli. We added this one because it is such an unusual colour - it looks great mixed with the yellow and red versions.
Another with an excellent flavour, and a slightly less ferocious heat - about 30 to 50,000 Scoville.
22 seed £
Chinese Dragon Tongue
This new addition is a wonderful chilli - a quick-growing and really productive variety. Quite large bushes a couple of feet tall, making large (5 inches long) fantastic wrinkled, crinkly twisted fruits ripening from lime green to cherry-red.
A nice extra is that it dries really easily, so it is a great one to grow and hang up a string in the kitchen for use year round.
A traditional Chinese pepper, from the collection of Ulla Grall.
12 seed £
Nigel's Outdoors Chilli
From Nigel Green of Halesworth, Suffolk, this chilli really will tolerate growing outside. We were sceptical, but it does ripen outdoors with no protection even in Wales. The picture is from our back garden- it has ripened properly red despite being swamped by a squash plant.
It makes fat wedge-shaped 2-inch hot green fruit that later ripen to red if we have a hot summer. They are medium hot, and very sweet, making a fantastic chilli chutney, or we like them sliced on top of pizza.
Although it does fruit outdoors, you will of course get far more chillies if you grow it under cover. It is a medium-sized plant about 2ft tall and a foot wide, and can also do well in a container on a sunny patio.
14 seed, organic £
Pretty in Purple
We have here an amazing chilli that we love, and which is always popular.
First offered back in 2004, we'll bet you've never seen a vegetable this colour before!
It make a bush about 20" tall, covered in incredibly purple little peppers. They then ripen to a whole range of pinks, oranges and reds, so you get all the colours at the same time.
Ideal as a patio or conservatory pot plant, and is very hot, too!
18 seed £
'Lemon Drop' LEMON FLAVOURED
This favourite of ours is a very rare pepper: large robust bushes (about 2' tall) covered in thin green chillies that ripen to bright yellow.
The fruit are very, very hot, with a strong lemon flavour. When you cut them they really do smell - and taste - strongly of lemons! It makes a fantastic change to your chilli sauce or salsa.
Its not super early, as the fruits ripen in early autumn - but it is very productive and decorative - and can sometimes do well in a big pot on a sunny patio, or of course it will be very happy in your greenhouse or polytunnel. This is a large bush about two foot square.
Note that this type of pepper - Ají - is only semi-domesticated; some of the seed is always dormant, even with good heat - but you should get plenty of plants from 16 seed, which is loads as the plants are really quite big and vigorous.
Lemon-flavoured Aji from Peru.
16 seed £
Red Basque Chilli
A fantastic heirloom chilli from the south of France that does really well in the UK. We were delighted with this variety when we trialled it - the plants are vigorous, and produce large numbers of good-sized deep red chillies, with a respectable heat to them and a great flavour.
If you enjoy hot chillies, try roasting and stuffing them with a herby goat's cheese mix - tasty but will definitely give you a warm glow!
Originally given to Felicia by her neighbours who grew them on their family farm in the south of France for years and years.
18 seed £
Alberto's Locoto
Now here's something different. Sometimes known as the Tree Chile or Rocoto, this rare and unusual pepper is unique - it has fuzzy leaves, beautiful purple flowers, and - believe it or not - black seeds. Huge numbers of pretty, 1.5" pendant fruit with thick flesh slowly go from green to deep red, on large bushes about 2 to 3ft across.
We grow it as an annual pepper in the usual fashion, and get lots of ripe fruit in October.
(But note you can also grow it as as a perennial, overwintering indoors, & plant can fruit for several years. This is moderately easy - if you can overwinter fuschias or geraniums, you will have no trouble with this beautiful plant. )
We use the fruit to spice up pasta sauces and keep some in vinegar for later in the year. They are pretty hot but it is a warming rather than burning heat, and they have lots of flavour too.
Very, very rare. A different species! Limited stock - order early.
12 seed, organic £
Yellow Traveller Locoto NEW
This rare variety of Locoto is enormous! It's the biggest we’ve ever seen, almost the size of a bell pepper, but consequently needs a longer growing season, so not really for beginners.
It was donated by Stewart Holden, who says: “I usually start harvesting in September so not to bad for a Locoto , but they do take a long time to get going as seedlings - I start them in December on my windowsill with no lights etc just sunlight - my window isn't too warm but is south facing.”
Like all locotos, it is a different spceies with furry leaves, purple flowers and black seeds.
Large bushes 3 ft across; big yellow fruit. Very limited stock.
8 seed, organic £
Stock:
Chocolate Locoto
Adding to our collection of very rare peppers is this large brown locoto chilli donated by Christine Farbäck of Sweden. Early varieties of this type of pepper are very rare , so we are pleased to finally have found a brown one.
This one has really huge fruit that are a deep chocolate brown colour. Like all locotos, it is later than normal peppers, has furry leaves, purple flowers and black seeds.
Large bushes 2 to 3 ft across; bigger fruit - that's a pound coin for scale in the picture.
10 seed, organic £
Stock:
Black Hungarian A TRULY BLACK CHILLI
In 2006 we did a big chilli pepper trial and this old variety was one of the real stars. It is a very hot & early chilli pepper that really is truly black.
It is one of our favourites, the 1 to 2ft bushes are covered with small conical peppers that are a proper black colour, and a good strong heat too.
Definitely one for those who want to grow something different! Produced for us by the growers at Trill Farm Garden.
14 seed , organic £
'Padron' pepper
Grown for us by Ian at Llanwern, this small blocky chilli is a fantastic tapas pepper - pick it green and grill or roast it, and serve with a sprinkling of salt as a wonderful nibble. A plate of them is ideal for parties.
The special thing about this one is that when green it is mostly very mild - but it is also the Russian Roulette of chillies, one in ten green fruit on the same plant are crazy hot. There's no knowing which it will be without biting into it . . .
Large prolific bush, turns to red but normally picked when green & under 2 inches long.
18 seed, organic £
'Palivec' Medium-hot chilli
This is a new addition from the Czech Republic which has received rave reviews from lots of people, including our friend Ian who runs an organic box scheme and liked them so much he grew a long row of them for his customers.
We also really like this long 'goats horn' style chilli, which starts out pale green and ripens to a dark red. It is unusually productive, making loads of peppers (even in the useless summer of 2012!) with a good flavour. Plants are about 2ft tall and a foot wide.
Because it isn’t stupidly hot, you can actually cook with it without worrying that you will overdo things, and as the heat is mostly concentrated in the seeds, and you can easily adjust its bite by leaving some of them out (or putting them all in if you prefer!)
18 seed £
Chilahuacle Negro
This was an exciting addition in 2019: a very rare brown pointy-bell chilli. When ripe, the flesh inside is deep red-purple, and really quite hot indeed.
They dry easily, and when dried, it is ground and used as a key ingredient in the classic 'mole negro' black sauce from Oaxaca, Mexico.
About 1-2ft tall. Good flavour. Seed crop grown for us by Melissa Holloway in Wales.
14 seed £
I was given some of your seeds from a friend last season , very impressed with the results , the Chilhaucle Negro chillies in particular , best chilli sauce I've ever tasted bar none , cheers - David Evans
Early Green Jalapeño
Finally, a jalapeño pepper that will mature in the UK! We were really excited to discover this extra-early strain to grow in your greenhouse or polytunnel.
Jalapeño peppers are fleshy with distinctive blunt-tipped, cigar shaped fruit with the traditional 'jalapeño' corky marks on the skin.
It is easy to grow, and quite hot, too. Mmmm!
Early variety - traditional shape, just really quick. Plants about 2ft tall.
20 seed £
Prairie Fire
Our new pepper for the 2020 season, produced in small batches in our greenouse. This is a compact bush making tiny pointy-oval white peppers that ripen through lemon yellow to a ferocious red. It's beautiful!
Extremely happy growing in a small pot, say on a windowsill - and decorative that way, but you can also grow them in the ground, where they will make slightly larger bushes about a foot across.
Very very hot. We actually have to wear a proper organic-vapour breathing mask to deseed this one! Don't put too many in your dinner! Just a few packets each year.
12 seed £
Slim Jim
A new variety bred for growing in the UK by Pete Dollimore, who has also produced this seed for us from his selected breeding stock. Slim Jim is an "Anaheim New Mexico" type that has been selected for vigour, productivity, long classic shape and easy to pick pod.
A project he started in 2010, he dehybridised it from a Tozer variety called ‘Piros' and crossed in some Hot Portugal , then kept refining and selecting until 2017. He called it Slim Jim as it is a slender version of the famous 'Big Jim' that is so popular in Mexican and Southern USA cooking.
Pete wrote to us: The fruit have thick flesh so are great for sauces, and the green pods are amazing 'brine pickled' later in the season once ripening stops and the crop is cleared. Despite this they do dry out well too and make a great chilli flakes and powder. After saving the seed we either freeze the pod flesh for making sauces in Winter, or dehydrate them and blitz them to a powder for a milder and flavoursome cayenne pepper.
It has a mild to medium heat (depending on ripeness) and ripens quickly, to a vibrant red colour.Tall and fast growing so needs support, especially due to the heavy crops.
16 seed £
Saving Pepper Seed:
Here Kate is collecting seed from 'Lantern' chillies.
(The rubber gloves only last about an hour before the chilli oil eats
through them)
After that we pick out any empty or misshapen seeds.
The left-over seedless fruit are chopped up & made into wickedly
hot chutney!
Chillies are great but the effort (and pain!) involved
in seed production
are why we only have limited packets available
each year.
Chilli peppers will cross with one another, and also with any sweet peppers growing nearby, so either grow just
one variety or plan to isolate plants/flowers if you have several.
See our seedsaving instructions on the website and with your order for more information.