Update On Our 2013 Chilli Growing Season

So… we started the year 2013 in good spirits and lots of hope for our new plantation and therefore decided to not wait another minute and strike the iron while it’s hot. The result? A hell of a lot of chilli seeds planted in record time and safely stored in our two big propagators looking all cosy and warm, only to be hit by a huge snow storm and the coldest two weeks of the past twelve months, with temperatures reaching -12 degrees Celsius at night!

It is fair to say that we are probably a bit too emotionally attached to our chilli seeds here at Bountiful Seeds but when you have been growing for a few years and go through the ever satisfying process of seeing seedlings turn into mature plants, tantalising you with a multitude of different gorgeous fruits, then it is easy to become a tad obsessed and to want to get the best out of each chilli seed.

The snow hit the polytunnels so fast that we had to take a broom and take as much as we could off every two hours so it wouldn’t endanger the specially treated plastic. Trailing through the 12 inch deep snow to get there was also good fun, especially since we are totally not equipped for it but if we are perfectly honest it was also kind of magical to see nature wrapped in white like that.

The chilli seeds weren’t best pleased tough so we had to wrap the propagators in horticultural bubble wrap and then add an extra blanket on top to keep the soil at a decent temperature… which means there wasn’t nearly enough light for them to show their faces so out came the T5 propagation light that we hoped not to use as it costs a lot to run after a while. The chilli seedlings definitely liked it and the remaining chilli seeds have started sprouting like mad.

So after a lot of stress and questions such as: are we going to have enough germination rate? Are we going to have to plant new chilli seeds from our stock to make up for the potential loss? Is the cold weather going to delay the harvest in September, we are well on our way to have our best plantation yet.

The weather is much more merciful this week so the chilli seedlings are doing well, so well in fact that we are going to have to repot some already into individual containers. Fingers crossed that the weather doesn’t change too much in the coming weeks so come back here to get another update and see how our plants are doing!

New Plantation 2013

So you could say that at Bountiful Seeds we are starting the year 2013 with a bang, and by that we mean we have planted chilli seeds that later on in the year will provide us with real fireworks of colour, flavour and of course heat!

We have set up our two big propagators in our main polytunnel while our little one that we have had for years is inside our premises so we can keep an eye on progress, especially since this one contains the more delicate chilli seeds such as Douglah and Chocolate Bhut Jolokia.

We have “millions” of plants to grow this year, not only for the Bountiful Seeds’ website but also for people that are keen to use us as we are located in a nice sunny area which gives us better chances at a good crop as well as having competitive prices and being able to find rare varieties to really tailor people’s needs. The main factor, we have been told, is also the fact that all of our plants are isolated to prevent cross-pollination which is a high standard that we were keen to set from the start as we have been disappointed when getting seeds from other suppliers that turned out not to be “true”.

We still have a hell of a lot of seeds to plant as well as planning the layout of the polytunnels for the year and stocking up on nutrients and good compost. Some of the varieties we shall be growing are Bih Jolokia, Carolina reaper, Scotch Bonnets and many more although we are keeping some secret just so we can surprise you when the time comes… so stay tuned!

A Happy New Year in the making indeed!

The team of Bountiful Seeds has had a very good Christmas and is gearing up to celebrate New Year’s Eve but sadly, people here are actually more excited at the idea of starting the 2013 plantation soon!

The year 2012 has been very fruitful (quite literally!) in more ways than one and we have made lots of great plans for 2013 amongst which setting up new polytunnels, increasing our wholesale trade and making the Bountiful Seeds’ website more user-friendly as well as adding lots of new varieties of course!

Speaking of which, after much debate we have at last finalised the list of varieties we are going to be growing this year from the all-important five families of chillies: Annuum, Baccatum, Chinense, Frutescens and Pubescens. Making such a business decision is always a bit excruciating, nerve-wracking as well as being a thrilling process as we just want to make EVERYTHING available to you but for now we think we have chosen a good selection of superhots, mild/medium and ornamental chilli seeds to delight the senses.

We will of course update this blog as well as our facebook and twitter page with images, comments and news of our new seedlings in the weeks to come so make sure to come and have a look and be a part of our growing season 2013!

Out with the old, in with the new!

We love our 1st polytunnel!

After a very prolific (and experimental!) first year of growing totally isolated chillies for seeds here at Bountiful Seeds, we are glad to be able to take advantage of the relative quiet of winter (although Christmas is getting ever closer and therefore increasingly more orders to deal with lately) in order to take care of things like website maintenance, SEO and of course getting ready for the yearly cycle of planting and growing fantastic varieties of chillies!

We have been able to extend our network of contacts in the chilli world throughout the year and have gotten our hands on pretty interesting chilli seeds for next year’s plantation. We are currently in the process of getting rid of old plants (always sad to see them go but it needs to be done!) and taking stock of all that’s happened, good or bad,  and learn from it. We are also completely modifying the layout of our polytunnel in order to promote better growth and add more plants next year although we are also looking into getting a second polytunnel to meet the demands of the market and our growing number of regular customers.

The first step once everything is nice and clean is of course getting our two large propagators out of storage and setting them up in the polytunnel. We then have to finalise our ever-changing list of chilli varieties to grow for next year’s plantation, a process most difficult that is currently driving us on the verge of total insanity!

We might also be getting orders from several local garden centres for ornamental plants to be sold at the height of summer so we have to really plan ahead to cater for our website needs, local business ones and keep a bit of space for experiments and our own produce as well! We have certainly gorged on everything and anything in 2012 and have managed to create blends of chilli powders that we are mightily proud of although we are unfortunately not in a position to sell them commercially yet.

So all in all we have a lot of plans in the works and look forward to sharing our trials and hopefully many successes over the coming months so watch this space!

End of Growing Season 2012

As some of you might know, the team of Bountiful Seeds has been growing chillies for many years and what was at first a mere hobby quickly turned into a fully-fledged obsession. The year 2012 has been a very important one for Bountiful Seeds as it was the first time that we had the opportunity to grow at such a scale for commercial as well as personal use.

We took it upon ourselves (and with great difficulty may we add) to select relevant varieties that could be experimented on and would show us the way to future plantations. The germination rate we got was really good, close to 90% in fact so we were more than happy to see our seedlings grow throughout the season and become beautiful tall plants with gorgeous pods on.

We pride ourselves in selling “true” chillies at Bountiful Seeds, meaning seeds that come from totally isolated pods to avoid cross-pollination. This is the only way to keep the fruit to its true origin and ensure the continuity of the species. But don’t think that we didn’t try our hands at a bit of alchemy as well, putting specific varieties close to each other on purpose to see what would happen and we got very interesting crossed chillies indeed (some, if we are totally honest being total mutants!).

But we must come to the matter at hand which is the current state of affairs of our plantation. We have been lucky enough to pick fresh pods up until now which is pretty late in the season knowing that we do not heat up our polytunnel. Some of our late plants unfortunately won’t produce much more chillies so we extracted what we could of each variety to dry out and sell on the Bountiful Seeds’ website… which can only mean that soon enough plenty of new seeds will be ready to be added so you can browse at your leisure and see which ones take your fancy.

So remember names such as Aji Omnocolor, Douglah, SBS Demon and Peter Peppers because although we currently have a good amount of stock, it won’t last forever once added to the site, especially with the busiest planting time of the year approaching at such a quick pace. But fret not if you haven’t been able to get what you want as we will endeavour to find it for you so do not hesitate to contact us if you are desperate for a certain type of chilli. And let’s not forget that soon enough we’ll be growing even more beloved, rare and wonderful chilli seeds for your own delight!

Making Chilli Powder

Without trying to put ourselves on a pedestal, we truly wish you could try out a sample of the various chilli powders that the team of Bountiful Seeds was able to create this year. There are some for all tastes and colours (no, really, we now have an array of sunset orange, bright yellow, dark red and even pastel green powders!).

We will hopefully at some point be in a position to sell these chilli powders commercially and on a big scale as they are really something. We have been using chilli powder for years, sprinkling a bit on our cheese on toast, adding a pinch to a number of traditional and exotic recipe and even (may we shamely admit) letting some raw chilli powder melt on our tongues when we needed a bit of a kick in the butt. But let’s face it, a lot of commercial chilli powders leave a lot to be desired. Thanks to our varied chilli plantation this year we have been able to experiment a bit and came up with interesting results. So, although it is a lengthy process (we might as well warn you!), why not try and make your own chilli powder?

All you have to do is get some chilli seeds that tickle your fancy and do everything you can to nurture them and turn them from seedlings to fully fledged mature plants with gorgeous pods to collect at the end of the season (about 6 months on average). Your first instinct will of course be to use any fresh pods you can get your hands on, especially if they are full of flavour like the Bishop’s Crown, Habanero and Scotch Bonnet or extra spicy such as the Bhut Jolokia, Trinidad Scorpion, 7 Pot, Douglah and Chilli Pepper Pete’s Naga.

But do not loose sight of the ultimate goal which is to have a chilli stock to outlast winter and spring so you don’t go into utter chilli withdrawal which, trust us, is not a pretty sight. That’s where chilli powders come in. Whether your want to make a blend of your favourite varieties or wish to be a purist and do only one type of chilli powder, the world is your oyster. We have come up with amazing results in terms of flavour and spice by drying our fresh pods in a dehydrator (air drying them works as well but takes longer) before turning them into powder in a coffee/spice grinder. If you only intend to make a small amount and have the patience you can also grind dried pods with a pestle and mortar.

We advise you to put the resulting chilli powder in a small breathable plastic bag and put the lot in a tin or sealed container (adding a few grains of uncooked rice in the tin with them to absorb any moisture) that will be put within easy reach so you can curb your chilli craving at any time of night or day!

Choosing chillies to meet your tastes

Choosing the right chilli is a tricky thing. Are you one to go for flavour rather than spice? Are you after a plant to brighten up your home or garden? You would think that after years of practice the people at Bountiful Seeds have got a pretty good selection of favourite chillies that they use and abuse on a regular basis but the truth is that there are so many kinds and flavours available that we are often left puzzled. Let’s be honest though, that’s when the fun really starts!

After all, what attracts people the most to chillies is the sense of adventure and it is often with a sense of dread mixed with utter delight that we take the first bite out of a fresh pod or eat the first mouthful of our supper wondering if our tastebuds are going to get scorched or entranced… or both as it is often the case!

One thing you can trust are the levels of heat unofficially set up by the chilli community all over the world. A Big Jim or Jalapeno is always a good starting point, especially a Tam or Purple Jalapeno but if you like to feel a sting at the tip of your tongue then definitely go for the notorious Cayenne.

Looking for an unusual chilli to try? Why not get yourselves some Fresno or Poinsettia chilli seeds? Both plants are gorgeous and the numerous pods that they produce are just the right balance of spice and flavour.

If the warrior in you is whispering for you to go up the Scoville Scale then the exotic Scotch Bonnet or fruity Habanero chilli pepper should satisfy him and keep him in check for a while! If he is still alive and kicking though, better get him some Naga (especially the Naga Morich or Chilli Pepper Pete’s Naga!) or any 7 Pot chilli pepper and see if he still comes-a-knocking!

But fret not chilli beginner! If for you chillies are all about beauty then why not grow some ornamental kinds from Bountiful Seeds such as the Filius Blue, NuMex Twilight or Pinata and of course the renowned Little Elf? They will definitely brighten up your home and will also provide you with a multitude of mild to medium pods for you to try when you feel brave enough!

Habanero Varieties at Bountiful Seeds

In the chilli world you could say that there are real milestones when it comes to trying chillies, the first step being of course a Jalapeno or a Cayenne. Things start hotting up when you reach the Scotch Bonnet or the Prairie Fire whilst on the other end of the scale some nutters are fervent addicts of the Naga chilli pepper, the Morouga or the Bhut Jolokia. A good middle ground between these two extremes is to be found in the habanero chilli pepper.

This particularly fruity chilli is well known amongst the community and has been used in international dishes for millennia. The oldest trace found of the Habanero is in South America, home of wonders for chilli heads, dating as far back as 6,500 B.C!

The habanero has a very specific aspect that makes it instantly recognisable even if you are a total novice, we of course mean its lantern shape. The types of habaneros that are the most used in the market of hot sauces, chutneys, curry pastes and the like are without a doubt the red and orange ones, the first one being quite sweet while the other one is more peppery.

If we had to choose a favourite in the habanero family though we have to confess that we would go for the white or chocolate habanero. The white one is the smallest of its kin, barely the size of a cherry tomato whereas the chocolate one (called thus because of its colour, not its taste!) is probably the biggest. Both have an incredible flavour that really stands out in dishes such as chilli con carne or curry for the chocolate one and in fresh salads for the white habanero.

All in all, the habanero chilli pepper really has to be tasted to be believed. The plant itself is absolutely gorgeous and will make a striking feature in anybody’s garden or home so whether you are a habanero fan already or a chilli beginner, make sure to order some seeds at Bountiful Seeds before stock runs out and see for yourself what we’re talking about!

Red Savina

Well one thing is for sure, the Bountiful Seeds’ polytunnel is definitely starting to show its true colours what with the numerous varieties we decided to grow this year, some for seeds as we know what to expect, others as an experiment to see what would come of them and if they would be good or true enough to fit in with our already bountiful stock of seeds (see what we did there?).

The Red Savina was definitely part of the latter category. We had heard of this wonderful (and HOT) chilli of course since it was officially the 2007 hottest chilli in the world but until you try a freshly ripened chilli you’re not quite sure what you’re getting yourself into really…

The Red Savina plant in our polytunnel is rather admirable with its fresh green colour making you want to eat it just about as much as its abundance of fruits that hang delicately, showing their reddest of skin to entice you. And enticed we were. And scared. We of course knew that as part of the Chinense family this was no chilli to be popping in our mouths like candy but after gaining a few self-proclaimed medals when it comes to handling hot chillies, we thought we would at least be a good contender.

The boss chopped the Red Savina in half, not demented enough to eat it whole like he did with a Trinidad Scorpion (and lived to tell the tale!) and was assaulted right away by the sheer amount of capsaicin fumes coming out of the pod. He approached the fleshy skin from his experienced nostrils who confirmed that he was in for a jolly ride. Bracing himself, crossing his toes and blessing the Virgin Mary he popped the half pod in his mouth. The symptoms of chilli madness didn’t take long to creep in amongst which humongous hiccups, sweats, teary eyes… and a smile as big as a house.

Indeed past the initial kick in the nuts (well, we’ll have to trust the boss on that one!) a wonderful flavour spread all over, reminiscent of a very fruity Habanero but with an added subtle tone that definitely adds a touch of mystery to the already mythical red Savina.

So overall this is yet another fantastic fruit to have, one that chilli heads will surely love growing not only for its beauty but also for its extreme yet tasty properties!

The Red Moruga/Morouga

Well, well, well… Who hasn’t heard of the Moruga (also spelt Morouga) chilli pepper lately? As of February 2012 it is officially the hottest chilli pepper in the world after the Naga Viper in 2010 and the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T in 2011, not that we’re keeping count obviously…





As soon as we heard of this new strain we acquired some seeds from a trusted supplier in order to see what the fuss was all about. The plant took a while to get there, like all Chinense, but overall it was pretty easy to grow. A single chilli started ripening lately so we picked it in order to give a chance to the smaller pods that were starting to grow on the plant.





Its aspect alone is chilling (pardon the pun!). Of the size of a golf ball, its pale blood red colour and bumpy skin are Nature’s way of indicating that this is going to be a hot one… The boss of Bountiful Seeds brazenly cut it up with bare hands rather than wearing latex gloves (not that it’s been much use to those who measured its potency at the New Mexico Chilli Pepper Institute, mind), revelling in its slightly indecent yet tempting fleshy interior and was immediately assaulted by the capsaicin fumes despite having his nose about 50 cm away from the actual pod.



Cutting 5 mm square pieces he distributed the Moruga around to the team who looked at each other defiantly before a brave but foolish member popped it in his mouth before describing the overall experience in between tears, sweats, hiccups and over-salivation. What we got from this (before trying the Moruga ourselves of course) was that its heat is instant and builds up slowly but surely, making you wonder when it’s going to stop. And just when you’ve reach that stage where you tell yourself that it couldn’t possibly be any hotter, it gets hotter, and hotter, and hotter, finally reaching a none too disagreeable climax if we’re honest. At the very least, just like after any near-death experience, it makes you feel glad that you’re still alive, which in our books is a good thing to be reminded of on a daily basis! Its fruity flavour came slowly after the burn but if we’re perfectly honest, 90% of the experience is about heat rather than taste, having been rated at more than 2 million on the Scoville scale! That’s the official rating of hand grenades!





We of course advise extreme caution when handling this wonderful chilli but trust us, if you like growing stuff or simply want to give yourself a kick up the butt for the fun of it, then the Moruga will always be there for you so pick up some seeds from Bountiful Seeds before they run out! We have already had to sell seeds that are still in pods on the plant it’s that successful!!