Chilly Chilli Shed Masterclass

There are several ways of getting warm.  We tried three. The first was to make a small fire.

The second was to eat cake.

Delicious Victoria sponge made by Debbie Mitchener. The bag of apples is just for show.

And the third was to go into the shed and lick a chilli seed or two and learn a lot more. For our second Grow A Gardener workshop this year, we ran a session on basic seed-sowing followed by a master class by the knowledgeable, interesting and resourceful Raul Couselo.  He grows chillies indoors but it is also possible to grow outdoor varieties in London (bring them in in the winter). Chillies are often difficult to germinate. They need a long period of warmth with a soil temperature of at least 18 degrees C.  Raul has designed a fail-safe seed propagator using a bit of folded cardboard in which you put your seeds, wrap it in a plastic bag and put on somewhere warm.   He gets 100% germination (as opposed to my rate which is about 30%).

Cutting edge seed propagator made from cardboard and staples. Place the seeds in the recesses , dampen and enclose in a platic bag. moisten the cardboard every couple of days.

Once the seeds have germinated, transplant them to pots and place them on damp cardboard in a mini greenhouse made from a croissant box placed on an electric blanket.

Raul runs the beautiful Beecholme Community Garden off the Lea Bridge Road

Raul gave us some brilliant tips.

• Once they have grown and produced flowers, to get more even, bigger and better crops of fruits, hand pollinate with a paintbrush. It’s much easier than it sounds.  Just move pollen from the stamen to the stigma. Use different brushes for different plants to avoid cross-pollination.
• Soak cardboard beneath pots to keep plants moist.
• Add good quality soil to water so that you are watering your plants with nutrients. Comfrey is too strong!
• Prune chillies. They are perennials and benefit from the stress.
• Save seeds from shop bought chillies as well as your own.They may not come true but you can experiment. You must!