Pepper Seeds - Basket of Fire F1

At Grow Sow Greener, we generally shy away from hybridised varieties. However, Basket of Fire F1 is an excellent ornamental and culinary chilli plant, perfect for UK conditions. You can't save your seed, but it is definitely worth growing. Bred for countertops and hanging baskets, a mature height of 12 inches and cascading branches to 20 inches, produce hundreds of chilli peppers per plant. Tolerant of cooler temperatures and beautiful warm colours, Basket of Fire is a worthy addition to your windowsill or garden.

• Pack size: 4 seeds
• Type: Hot
• Scoville Rating: 80,000 SHU (medium)
• Time to germination: 7-21 days
• When to sow inside: January – March
• When to sow outside: March-May
• Spacing: 30cm +
• Soil preference: Fertile, well-drained
• Light preference: Full sun
• When to harvest: August – October

How to grow Basket of Fire Peppers from seed

Peppers belong to the same family as aubergines and tomatoes and should be grown in much the same manner. Chilli and sweet peppers are extremely similar; however, chilli peppers do appreciate slightly warmer conditions. They need a long growing season and are cold-sensitive, which will halt the plant's growth, reduce its vigour, resistance to pests and disease, and its yields. We recommend trying Basket of Fire as it is much more tolerant to the cold and therefore successful in UK conditions.

Sow your Basket of Fire Seeds shallowly and aim to keep the temperature between 21 and 24. However, once germinated, pepper seeds can tolerate somewhat lower temperatures. After germination, place on a sunny windowsill or under LED lights to grow on and develop in 8cm thin-wall pots, before planting out in late spring, pot and all. We especially love the compact nature and appearance of this highly ornamental variety and recommend growing close to hand in a sunny kitchen window or under lights. We start our pepper seeds under lights in February before growing on indoors with our kitchen herbs. The fruits start creamy in colour and ripen to yellow to orange to bright red, and at any time, all the colours can be present on the plant.

With well-drained soil and even watering, they are generally very low maintenance and an easy plant to grow.

What to feed your Basket of Fire Pepper plants

Pepper plants enjoy free-draining soil loaded with plenty of organic matter. As they are heavy feeders, add a few handfuls of fish, blood and bone meal with some volcanic rock dust and some kelp powder to give them a rich, balanced and diverse diet for strong organic growth and cropping over the season. This diet will also help the plants to form strong, well-developed immunity.

By preparing the hole/soil with the above organics before planting and applying a side dressing of phosphorus-rich bone meal or wood ash just prior to fruiting, you feed the whole soil ecosystem, which feeds your pepper plants a much broader diet. Off the shelf bought chemical fertilisers are limited in their scope and kill life in the soil web, trapping the gardener into spending time and money, to fertilise repeatedly.

Keeping pests away

Basket of Fire is a fairly pest and disease resistant plant. When grown indoors, your plants are very low maintenance, and pepper plants generally don’t suffer much in this regard.

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