Growing chillies

Chillies are the hot fruits of a range of capsicum species that originally came from the warm northern regions of South America. In the past 500 years they have been traded across the warm areas of the globe, and today chillies are an integral ingredient in many different cuisines around the world.

Chillies thrive in alkaline soils, with the exception of Capsicum chinense ‘Rocotillo’, which has a rating of 8 and likes acidic soil, but chillies are generally very adaptable to a variety of soil types. They are also ideal for growing in containers.