We perhaps go a bit overboard with chillies… I don't really know where the “chilli bug” started, we have grown chillies going back a long way but it didn't really get out of hand until we had the allotment space. In 2025 we have planted 25 different sets of seeds, and now have seedlings across 22 varieties (2 failed to germinate, and 2 are both Padrons just different seed lots).

For most of our core fruit varieties we will have one plant in the polytunnel and another in a medium sized pot in a greenhouse. The polytunnel plant will grow large but fruiting can be an issue in our short season, the potted one gives a better guarantee of ripe fruit just fewer fruit on a smaller plant.

Some we will only plant one of, either in the ground or in pots depending on the purpose of the variety.

Padron is a special case where we will have at least 6 plants on the go as we just love to cover a charcoal BBQ with padrons and make a big bowl of BBQed padrons with a drizzle of EVOO and sprinkle of sea salt.

I think in 2026 we will need to reduce the variety count to under 20. If we have a good crop this year we will require fewer plants next year anyway. We're still using the last of the frozen chillies from 2023 right now, 2023 was a good year but 2024 was a bit rubbish so we are in need of replenishing.

Those marked “core” will have one plant in the ground (polytunnel or greenhouse) and one plant in a pot in a greenhouse.

# Code Name Keep Spare Notes Planting
1 X1 7 Pot Primo 2 1 ridiculous-hot naga-derived variety core
2 X2 Naga Morich 2 1 best core superhot chilli, fabulous classic naga flavour core
3 X3 Wraith FAIL old seed, prolific but not excellent, won't repeat
4 X4 Trinidad Perfume 2 1 NEW: all the fruity flavour, none of the heat? core
5 X5 Scotch Bonnet 2 1 NEW: a classic that haven’t grown for years, nice mid-range heat with fruity flavour core
6 X6 BB Mama 1 naga variety with an iffy name, just finishing off the seed greenhouse pot only
7 X7 Big Sun Habanero FAIL very old seed, was always troublesome but tasty, maybe another hab variety in future
8 X8 Aji Mango 2 great tasting little chillies, made a fantastic powder core
9 X9 Orange Drop 1 good everyday tasty orange chilli, like it in everything from salads to stir-fries greenhouse pot only
10 X10 Bishops Crown 2 1 pretty shape, but an otherwise basic red chilli greenhouse pot only
11 X11 Madre Veija 2 1 yellow with distinctive tasty flavour, makes an excellent sauce with ginger and tumeric core
12 X12 Tangerine Tiger 2 1 pretty, good for sweet-pickling whole, reliably stripey polytunnel plant only? maybe houseplant
13 X13 Sugar Rush Stripey 2 1 pretty, good for sweet-pickling whole, not reliably very stripey polytunnel plant only? maybe houseplant
14 X14 ChilliChump Jalapeño 2 2 a good version of a classic chilli, slice and savoury pickle for pizzas etc core, maybe 2 in pots
15 Y1 Rocoto Marlene 2 1 beaut spherical fleshy fruit excellent for stuffing 1x polytunnel plant only
16 Y2 Rocoto Costa Rica 2 2 NEW: as above but red? 1x polytunnel plant only
17 Y3 Kashmiri Mirch 2 2 NEW: classic for long skinny red/green fruit, replaces whippet tails for us core
18 Y4 Candy Cane Chocolate Cherry 2 1 NEW: pretty? variagated fruit and plant, mild heat 1 greenhouse pot, one houseplant
19 Y5 Yaki Blue 1 NEW: pretty? variagated fruit, quite hot houseplant
20 Y6 Biquinho Red 2 1 Cute chillies to sweet-pickle and scatter (think “Roquito®“) core, potted as houseplant
21 Y7 Thunder Mountain Longhorn 2 1 NEW: extra long skinny chillies, for fun really greenhouse pot only, maybe 2
22 Y8 KangStarr Starrling 1 1 NEW: Free seed from Chilli Chump, going to grow as a small home pot-plant for fun houseplant
23 Y9 KangStarr Sweet QueenHi 1 NEW: Free seed from Chilli Chump, going to grow as a small home pot-plant for fun houseplant
24 Y10 KangStarr Lingria 1 1 NEW: Free seed from Chilli Chump, going to grow as a small home pot-plant for fun houseplant
25 Y11 Beaver Dam 2 2 Largish semi-fleshy fruit with a nice hit of spice, we're growing these to try out for making our own gochugaru, and maybe gochujang core, maybe 2 in ground
26 Y12 ChilliChump Piri Piri 2 2 NEW: good all-rounder small red/green chilli core, maybe 2 in pots
27 Y13 Biquinho Yellow 2 1 Cute chillies to sweet-pickle and scatter (think “Roquito®”) core, potted as houseplant
28 Y14 Padron 1 Gotta have padrons! A BBQ essential! We grow at least 6 plants of these. This seed was old and didn't germinate well. one in home greenhouse
29 Z1 Padron (new seed) 5 3 New seed of the above, same source (Nicky's Nursery) as we liked them, keeping the 1 from the previous seed in case different and will hopefully save seed from both one in home greenhouse, four in polytunnel