'The more mean you are to chilli plants, the hotter the fruit seems to get'
I have a ritual where I sow a few chillies early in January. It's mostly a symbolic gesture to surviving winter: with each day that passes, the seedlings get a little more light, and I get to mark the last stretch. I start these chillies off knowing that I will end up juggling space because of them. Too young to go out to a cold greenhouse, they take up space in the heated propagator like teenagers loitering around school hall radiators. Still, I am deeply fond of the ritual.
The smart thing would be to just start the chillies off now, allowing them to grow with the lengthening days. They still need heat to germinate: between 21-28C and as much light as you can give them - remember they hail from sun-drenched South America.
Many chillies are slow to germinate, which is why you have to start them off early if you are to have growing season for a decent crop. Chillies range from miniature windowsill sorts to giants that reach 1.2 metres (4ft) or more. In that gamut is every range of flavour from sweet and mild to dragon's-breath hot. The more you repot a chilli, the happier it is; they are hungry things. Every time you see new roots emerge from the bottom of the container move it up a pot size, until it starts fruiting. You can cram a plant in a small pot, but the chillies will be smaller and less numerous, though they may be hotter. The more mean you are to the chilli plants, the hotter the fruit seems to get.
'Numex Twilight' is the best windowsill chilli I've grown; tiny, upright fruit that start purple and ripen to bright red. As hot as hell, but oh so pretty and perfect for those without a garden. 'Prairie Fire' is another tongue-blower that is neat and compact, a little larger, but still perfect for indoors.
If you like smoked things, grow jalapenos that can be processed into homemade chipotle (now there's a boast). They fruit prolifically so there's plenty to experiment with. 'Serenade' is a large-fruiting F1 jalapeno variety if you want to go smoke-mad.
'Goat Horn' is a mild to hot chilli and great for Thai green curry - the fruit stays green for some time before ripening red. If you like making salsa, pickles and sauces, 'Serrano' is the one to go for, as the fruits have thick flesh. Give this one a large pot, 10 litres or more.
For the fermenters out there, it has to be 'Tabasco', the variety used for the famous sauce. It's a big sprawling plant and mine did best when allowed to grow in the polytunnel bed rather than a pot. The new kids on the block for heat are 'Lucy' and 'Katie' available from Simpson's Seeds. They've rocketed up the Scoville Scale (a test that ranks chillies by how hot they are), meaning you need to handle the seeds with gloves and put goggles on to cut them up.
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'"Numex Twilight" is the best windowsill chilli I've grown.' Photograph: Alamy
