Growing chilli plants from seed

Chillies are very popular and a very rewarding plant to grow. Their fruits can be used in Indian and Thai curries, Mexican food as well as to pep up salads and chutneys.

Sow the seeds in John innes seed compost, somewhere warm indoors in February or March. If you have a thermostatically controlled propagator then use that as you will see best germination results between 25 to 30C. But do not worry if you do not, they will still germinate at normal room temperature.

The seedlings will need pricking out into 9 or 10cm diameter pots. Once the plant has around 5 to 7 leaves it can be potted on again into a 20-30cm diameter pot. It needs to be somewhere warm and sunny so a greenhouse is ideal, but if not a sunny spot on the patio late May onwards is fine.

You can pick the fruits once they are firm and glossy. Please note red fruits will start off green or yellow. If you have more fruits than you can use we recommend freezing them, rather than trying to dry them. Here are a few varieties to look out for:

Chilli Padron:
These pepper's are very mild, (though a bit hotter if you let them turn red). They are regularly seen on tapas menu's stuffed or chargrilled. 500-2000 Scovilles.

Chilli Joe's super long:
Slender long chilli's of medium strength which can add a fiery kick to sauces. 15,000-20,000 Scovilles

Chilli Hot thai
Originally from Thailand, this hot pepper makes a lovely impression in a patio container. These ornamental plants are decked out with up to 200 small fruits that ripen to fiery red. Can be used fresh or dried to make an excellent chilli powder. 50,000-70,000 Scovilles

Chilli Habanero big sun: 
Wrinkly pepper with a hot fruit flavour.
The fruit's mature from green to a vivid yellow. Very Hot!
250,000 to 300,000 Scovilles.

Chilli Habanero big sun

Chilli Padron

Chilli Hot Thai

Chilli Joe's super long

Fragrant Sarcococca

One of the earliest flowering evergreen shrubs to grace the garden in the new year, is the scented Christmas box  (Sarcocca confusa). This small evergreen shrub produces masses of creamy white, wonderfully fragrant flowers followed by dark berries which often last until the following winter. The scent really is stunning, when we have a batch in flower under our canopy, we often see customers following their noses to find the plants! , 

Another good selling point of Sarcoccoa is that it will happily grow in almost any location. It grows up to 150cm (5ft) and is easily trimmed if required. It is often planted with other winter garden favorites such as hellebores and snowdrops to give a impressive seasonal display. We have Sarcococca available in our centre at £9.99.

For more information on plants please feel free to contact me

James Allen
Plant area manager, Waresley park garden centre
plants@waresley.co.uk

Sarcococca confusa

Sarcococca flowers

Sarcococca berries

 

New hanging basket plants for 2016!

We are gearing up for a busy spring on our Nursery. At the back of our garden centre, we grow a large selection of basket plants, some choice larger pot bedding plants, as well as planted hanging baskets. 

We are growing lots of new varieties this year. Here are a few plants we are looking forward to: Bidens 'Pink Princess' has a neat and compact habit with feathery foliage and beautiful bicoloured blooms. Calibrichoa 'Sunshine berry' is an excellent trailing plant that flourishes in sun and light shade and has very striking multi-coloured flowers.

Petunia 'Designer blue star' is a mound forming and free flowering novelty petunia ideal for baskets or pots. These three should be available as part of our basket plant range (which will include many more new varieties) from around mid-April.

Bidens Pink princess

Calibrichoa Sunshine berry

Petunia designer blue star

Plant of the month: Anchusa loddon royalist

Our plant of the month for May is Anchusa azurea 'Loddon royalist'. We particularly love it for its striking, intense blue flowers which usually appear in May and June. Flowering will persist longer if you deadhead the plant. It is reasonably tall (it grows up to 4-5 feet) but has strong stems which do not need staking so it is a great alternative to Delphiniums.
It prefers a sunny position in good well drained soil. It is also very popular with Bees and butterflies!

Anchusa azurea 'Loddon Royalist'