Mexican chilli growing, SE26

[Tim Lund]

I recently came across this marketing idea from Wahaca Southbank Experiment

When we first came up with the idea of giving away matchbooks of chilli seeds we had no idea you were all going to love them so much. The sheer number of tweets and posts from around the world are testament to the number of you who have turned green fingered and have turned your seeds into plants, fruits and salsas. Have a read below for some of our favourite chilli growing success stories (and a few failures) below.

CHILLI GROWING

So, with one of their matchbooks of fiery chilli seeds (geddit?)


I filled in some empty plugs in a seed tray in my greenhouse.

I've grown chillis before, and it is well worth it - far better value than more demanding members of the same family such as sweet peppers or aubergines. They are also easy to preserve, whether by freezing or drying.

Anyway, thinking about the guys selling Mexican street food in the Queensthorpe Road mini-square today, I wondered if they could do something similar. The actual seed is cheap as chips, so you could just repackage it into small packets in one way or another of ten seeds - which is what Wahaca do, and offer it at a mark up which will easily make some profit. But the main point would just be marketing - something different to attract people's attention to the stall, get them talking, and coming back.

[JRobinson]

I've twice tried growing chilli seeds from wahaca match books previously.
once they didn't germinate, and once the got very leggy, and then died.
probably me not doing something right, but I'd be happy to have another go.

[Tim Lund]

Getting leggy is almost certainly because they are not getting enough light. If you're trying to grow them indoors, you are going to need a south facing window.