GARDENING: Q&A: What's the best way to grow red hot chilli peppers

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Feb 1, 2004 | by ADRIENNE WILD

QI LOVE hot, spicy food and would like to try my hand at growing chilli peppers. - Sheila Thatcher, Swindon, Wilts

ACHILLIS can be grown on a hot, sunny patio and will add a fiery glow to your container displays. Names such as Firecracker and Inferno hint at what's in store with some of the spicier, volcanic varieties. Treat chilli pepper plants like your tomatoes. You need to start off the colourful varieties now and can leave sowing the green ones until late February. When the fruits start to swell, feed them with a potassium-rich feed, such as tomato feed. Be sure to support the top-heavy growth. It will take 18 weeks from sowing time to harvesting. Fruits last for up to two weeks once harvested.

QI WOULD like to have a pussy willow tree in my front garden, but don't have much room. What can I grow? - Kerry Burgess, Duffield, Derby

ATHE small weeping willow Salix caprea Kilmarnock would make a good focal point in a small garden. It produces silvery catkins that are prominent throughout the winter before turning fluffy yellow in spring. Plant it in a pool of crocus and snowdrops or alongside red and green stemmed dogwoods. It is necessary to stake the small tree throughout its life to protect it from wind rock.

QI WANT to plant a border with winter heathers. Do I need acid soil? - Jack Bates, Addlestone, Surrey

AHEATHERS such as Erica carnea and Erica x darleyensis varieties can tolerate limy soil up to pH 7.8, so don't worry about having an acid soil to grow these. They should be grown in a sunny border and also look great in containers.