Yeah, to be honest I don't need any more chilli plants, still got more than 10 surviving from last season.If nothing else though having a bit of a gap in your growing season with less plants can also give you a chance to break bug/disease cycles and generally clean up the garden. If you start plants in April (when I still had all my plants) you have to tend to them while your others are still producing and possibly pass on issues to them (if you have any).
Great if you have the space though.
If fact I started again in April because it was so easy, put seeds in pots on the window sill and forget, don't need to do anything.
I will see how they go over the winter left outside with again no attention. If they survive with a light water every 2 weeks that's the way to go here.
But germinating them was so easy, I was just more for an experiment. I doubt I'll take any full grown plants with me when I move, so was just experimenting how easy it would be to start again as I had heaps of problems last winter, and I was going to give most of what I have grown and what I was germinating away to friends/family anyway, as it would be too hard to move them long distance. (hopefully moving long distance as I hate Perth!)
But anyway, if the april seedling manage fine over winter outside, this experiment definitely proved that if they can survive mild winters, better to germinate before winter. Obviously better for people with really low winter temps to do it indoors and later than autumn. But my early ones are doing OK in an ebay cold frame box outside. Didn't need heat to germinate, never had a light on them. Sure they'd do better with a light on them and indoors, but my experiment was "In Perth, can you germinate without heat or light in late summer/early autumn, and keep them alive over winter"... I'm sure they'd be twice the size now if they were in a warm place with lights, but I just wanted to start them early and keep them alive costing nothing more than a $30 small greenhouse/cold frame box kept outdoors.
So far they are doing better than any winter seeds with heaters and lights for me,