In the last week or so the seeds I’ve been getting going have started to appear, including these chilli peppers ‘De Cayenne’ (Capsicum annuum). This year, I’ve kept them over a water held at about 27°C, making the soil about 24°C and, since the seedlings appeared, I’ve had grow lights on for 12 hours a day (they sit in a fairly shaded bit of the kitchen).

I was wondering how to get them out of the tiny pots I started in but still give them heat and then I remembered that we had a few 2l bottles (from sparkling water) in the recycling. I’ve put the strongest seedlings in individual larger pots and moved the heat pad so it should service this and the original propagator. Next week, there might be more seedlings to pot up but I’ll call time on the ones that haven’t come to anything because it will be time to get the tomatoes going.