Number 15 update

Why has no one ever told me about seeds? Basil seeds, it turns out, are tiny little dots, like full stops. That's what I expected from seeds. But chilli seeds – sit down for this one – are actually the bits you throw away when you chop a chilli ...

How daft is that? To me, as far-fetched as planting a banana skin or a tomato tin. It's made me curious/suspicious though – how do you get a potato? – plant the skin? Or any basic foodstuff – a grape, or a walnut,  or a pie? And why have people been keeping this from me for fifty years? Anyway, I'm prepared to put aside the secrecy, to move on to boasting at how flippin well my seeds are doing, thank you very much.

Look at this rainforest of basil – looks like the answer to global warming from my angle.

And meantime in the chilli section, a monster is emerging, which could easily be the first sign of the first mass-produced chilli jam ...

With hindsight, it was in the stars – I was born on St Basil's Day (as any fool knows – the second of January – it was only because of my mother's insistence that I wasn't named Basil), in the coldest winter in living memory (1963-4), so that's clearly where my obvious knack with basil and chilli comes from.