Some like it hot: sow chillies now for plants with a kick

It is late January and I only have one thing to say – sow your chillies. You could wait until March, but there is little chance of you eating a chilli until September that way. You’ll have plenty, but they will have ripened in the weaker sun of autumn, rather than the hot summer, which will affect their flavour and heat.

The reason we sow chillies early is because they are slow to get going, especially the hot ones. The basic rule is the hotter the chilli, the more temperature-dependent it is, and this affects the time it takes to germinate and grow to harvest.

Also, what else have you got to do? It’s wet and cold outside; sowing chillies on a dark winter’s night is a welcome sign that the days are lengthening and spring will return. There is little else to sow now (unless you are into growing giant show leeks and onions, in which case you are already three weeks too late). By the time your windowsill is packed with other seedlings, your chillies will be a decent size and able to look after themselves.

Chillies germinate between 20-30C, and do it best with a little underfloor heating, AKA a heated propagator, and a propagator lid or a clear plastic bag to keep in humidity. Make sure the seedlings don’t sit in wet, cold soil: keep them on the propagator until they have at least two sets of true leaves; to stop the soil from getting too wet, cut your compost with something to improve drainage, particularly if it is standard multipurpose peat-free compost. The most sustainable option would be homemade, sieved leaf mould. But if you don’t have that, horticultural sand, fine grit or vermiculite are other options.

There are many chilli varieties – too many for here – but you can’t go wrong with Nigel’s Outdoor Chilli from Real Seeds, which ripens whatever the weather, with no protection. If you have space somewhere protected and warm, the unusual flavour of Aji Limon or Lemon Drop, originally from Peru, is worth a go. It has a delicious kick of lemon and then a hit of heat, and works wonderfully in sauces. It does need heat to germinate, around 28-30C, and makes a huge bush, so it won’t fit on a windowsill.

Related: Give hellebores the time and they’ll flower their pretty little socks off | Alys Fowler

Of course, not everyone has a propagator. Many excellent nurseries offer not only a plethora of varieties, but also understand this issue and send out truly well-grown plug plants later in spring (from the end of March to the beginning of May), so all you have to do is grow them on. Order now, though, because the best varieties go early. My go-tos for chilli plants include Sea Spring Plants, Simpson Seeds, South Devon Chilli Farm, Victoriana Nurseries and World of Chillies.