From seed
to fire
In Belgium, between a seed and your first ripe chilli lie about eight months, a grow light and a lot of patience. Down here you scroll through them in a minute.
or go straight to the range →January · day 1
You sow while it freezes outside
If you want to plant in March, you sow now. Peppers need warmth and time, and in January those two are only to be found indoors: a windowsill above the radiator, or a lamp.
25–28 °C · moist · dark is fine
February · day 18
The first thing that happens, you don't see
A seed grows downwards first. The rootlet comes before the shoot — only once the plant has anchored itself does anything go up. Anyone who sees nothing after two weeks often thinks the seed is dead. It is at work.
germination 14–28 days · superhots slower
March · day 45
Two leaves that aren't leaves
The first two are seed leaves: the provisions from the seed itself, pushed up towards the light. Only the third and fourth leaf are real leaves. From then on the plant eats sunlight.
pot on as soon as the third leaf appears
June · day 120
Small white flowers, easy to miss
A pepper pollinates itself. Indoors a tap against the stem helps, or a gentle breeze. Every flower that stays becomes a fruit.
tap the stem daily
August · day 190
Green is not finished
The fruit stands weeks in full green, and then the colour starts. Yellow on one variety, red on another, purple to red on a third. The waiting is longest now.
ripe = the colour of the variety, not of the clock
September · day 240
And then, all at once, everything
Eight months after that single seed: a full bush. Enough to dry, to preserve, to give away — and to save your own seed for next year.
store seed dry and dark · germination holds for years
September
harvest
Harvest — and save seed
Take seed from your finest fruit and dry it. That is next year for free.
Seed for unusual peppers, sweet peppers and tomatoes — with the knowledge that goes with it, because a seed without explanation is a gamble.
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