Time to sow the Sweet Peppers and Chillies

It’s time to bring the heated propagator into action. I usually put it in the conservatory as the greenhouse is full of overwintering plants. The first seeds in are always sweet peppers and chillies. They usually take that bit longer to germinate compared to tomatoes which I usually sow two weeks later. This year I’m growing two sweet peppers ‘ Round of Hungary’ and ‘Tollies Sweet’ and two chilli peppers ‘Bulgarian Carrot’ and ‘Krimzon Lee’. All from Simpson’s Seeds.

Here they are sitting in their pots in the propagator. I’ve had the propagator for a couple of years and it’s been well worth the money. Peppers in particular need warmth to germinate efficiently.

‘Round of Hungary’ is a pimento pepper. It’s a slightly flattened, ribbed, round pepper with a thick, sweet flesh. It ripens to an intense red. Pimento peppers are supposed to be more aromatic than ordinary bell shaped peppers. They are the red stuffing often found in olives. I’ve never grown this variety before but it is supposed to ripen early which is quite important to me. Peppers love heat and their growth slows at the end of the season unless you can afford to heat the greenhouse, which I can’t.

I grew ‘Tollies Sweet’ last year and it was a great success. It was prolific, early ripening and tasted sweet even when green. It is a long, thin skinned pepper which ripens to a dark red when it tastes even sweeter.

Chilli ‘Bulgarian Carrot’ looks like a small 4″ carrot - no surprise there! It’s hot, prolific and a lovely orange colour when ripe.

Chilli ‘Krimson Lee’ has long 8″ fruits which ripen to red. It’s slightly hot when ripe, very mild when green and also prolific.

As soon as that first seedling pops up I’ll know the new vegetable season has begun.