How to Grow Peppers

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers (or even fresh ones), he'd have a basket full of nutrition and great taste - not to mention some pretty good-looking veggies. Peppers are easy to grow when given their druthers: warm weather and a long growing season.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bypass Pruners
• Garden Trowels
• Plants
• Mulch
• Pepper Seeds
• Compost Makers
• Garden Spades
• Fertilizers
• Cloches

1. Buy pepper plants at the nursery for planting after all danger of frost has passed. Otherwise, start seeds indoors 8 to 10 weeks before the last expected frost.

2. Choose a site that gets full sun and has well-drained soil with a pH of 6.7 to 7.0 (see "How to Have Your Soil Tested"). Raised beds work wonderfully for peppers because they need warm soil, as well as warm air, to thrive.

3. 

   Work a moderate amount of compost or manure into the soil, then dust the planting surface with a fine layer of Epsom salts and work it into the soil. It will provide magnesium, which peppers need for good development.

4. 

   Harden off the seedlings, whether homegrown or store-bought (see "How to Harden Off Seedlings"), then plant them outdoors two to three weeks after the last frost and when the soil temperature has reached 60 degrees F. Set normal-size varieties 14 to 16 inches apart and smaller ones an inch or two closer.

5. Provide support for varieties that grow over a foot tall.

6. 

   Keep the soil evenly moist; especially when the fruits are developing, peppers need about an inch of water a week. After the ground has warmed thoroughly, mulch with organic matter to conserve moisture and deter weeds.

7. Spread compost or a balanced organic fertilizer around the plants when they flower and again three weeks later.

8. Harvest peppers early and often - the more you pick, the more the plants will produce.

Tips & Warnings

• Peppers taste good from the moment they're big enough to eat, but their stock of vitamins A and C is highest when the fruits have reached full maturity and (in the case of nongreen varieties) achieved about 2/3 of their destined color.
• Don't let the similarity in names confuse you: Garden peppers, of the genus Capsicum, are no relation to the black pepper on your spice rack. That comes from the seeds of a plant called Piper nigrum, which hails from Sri Lanka and India.
• For a novel touch in an ornamental garden or salad bowl, try 'Purple Beauty' and 'Sweet Chocolate' (yes, it matures to a yummy shade of cocoa). But be forewarned: They turn green when you cook them.
• If you live north of USDA zone 4, your peppers will need extra help to reach maturity. Start seeds extra-early indoors, protect young plants with cold frames or cloches (bell-shaped glass jars sold in nurseries and catalogs) and look for short-season varieties such as 'Ace' (60 to 80 days), 'Biscane' (65 to 85 days) or 'Yankee Bell' (65 to 85 days).
• Insects cross-pollinate peppers with abandon. Plant hot peppers and sweet peppers at least 900 feet apart; otherwise your sweet peppers will deliver a kick you hadn't bargained for.

[nomader]

on 3/29/2008 Cross pollenation will only affect the next generation: plants grown from the seeds of the fruit produced. It won't affect the current fruit. If you aren't planning to save your seeds to plant next year then it's not an issue.

on 3/28/2006 If you plant peppers in pairs 8 inches apart, they will partially intertwine, hedge-like and support one another. Great for breezy areas.