Je browser is verouderd, waardoor deze pagina mogelijk niet juist wordt weergegeven. Bekijk Waplantikier op je telefoon, tablet of computer voor de beste ervaring.
Skip to content

who's sowing here

Hi, I'm Arno

Every summer I grow chillies and tomatoes, and I'm a little too enthusiastic about it. Waplantikier is what happens when you give that enthusiasm a shop.

How it started

As a kid, you could sometimes collect a seed packet with Doowap biscuits: cress, something that grows while you watch. I loved it. Sowing, then checking every day how far it had got — and something had always changed.

My grandfather had his own vegetable garden, and he worked hard in it all year round. I loved seeing how he showed he cared: a lettuce to take home when you visited, some potatoes when you needed them, cauliflowers he could be proud of. So the love of growing vegetables came first.

“Every single one came up. And I couldn't bring myself to part with even one.”

Then came the chillies

When I moved in with my girlfriend, I started reading up on the nightshade family: chillies, tomatoes, aubergines. I ordered my first chilli seeds and was hooked straight away.

I followed the sowing guide to the letter. It said only some would germinate, so I sowed a whole row of each variety. Every single one came up. That's when you're supposed to keep the strongest and get rid of the rest — but I couldn't bring myself to do it. So there I was, with far too little windowsill and ever-bigger chilli plants that I raised like my own children.

There are good seed shops, and I had my favourites. With one, everything I sowed came up. Another had varieties I didn't know existed. With a third, it was the grower himself who'd got me hooked with his explanations. I was looking for one shop that had all of that. I didn't find it, so I started it myself. I don't make videos; I write it down, with every variety and on the blog. I do this alongside my job, so when you email, I'm the one who replies — and if I don't know something, I'll say so.

— Arno

Growing corner with two grow lights above chillies in large black pots, a caged tomato and basil
At home in Zellik. No greenhouse, no garden: a corner next to my desk with two grow lights.

What Waplantikier stands for

Not three hundred varieties to pick from at random, but a selection with the reason for every single one. Every batch gets a lot number and a tested germination rate, with the date. Tested, not promised.

And with every packet, the explanation so many packets leave out: how long it takes to germinate, how warm it needs to be, how hot the fruit gets and when to sow. The packet comes through your letterbox, with a European plant passport.

See all seeds →

wadisdadier

Waplantikier has family

If you liked the name: there are more.

  • Wastikikier

    Rani, my girlfriend, makes baby items with a name on them: bibs, dummies, dummy clips and gift sets in calm, timeless fabrics. All by hand, in her studio in Zellik. The baby gift that doesn't disappear into a cupboard but gets picked up every day.

    Visit Wastikikier →
  • Wariekikier

    Jona, my sister-in-law, makes soap: bar by bar, by hand, using the cold process, with plant-based oils, colours and scents. For a wedding, an event or your business she also makes custom soap from twenty bars, with your own logo or text on it.

    Visit Wariekikier →

growing tips

What the packet doesn't tell you

On the blog I write about what goes wrong and why: slow germination, chillies that won't colour up, seedlings that get leggy. The kind of questions you only ask once you've already sown.

Read the blog →

Once a month, what to sow, pot on or harvest right now:

See all seeds →