Like most gardeners, when you’re planning your vegetable garden, you’ll probably want to include bell peppers. Peppers are excellent in all sorts of dishes, raw and cooked. They can be frozen at season’s end and enjoyed in dishes throughout the winter.
Brush up on some bell pepper info to learn all about growing these delicious and nutritious vegetables. A little knowledge about pepper plant care will go a long way.
What Growing Peppers Need to Get Started
Growing bell peppers isn’t difficult, but temperature is an important factor. While they’re fairly easy to grow, pepper plant care in these early stages is critical.
Always start pepper plant seedlings indoors. The seeds need the warmth of your house to germinate. Fill a seed tray with seed starting soil or well-draining potting soil, placing one to three seeds in each container. Place the tray in a warm location or use a warming mat to keep them between 70 to 90 degrees F. (21-32 C.) – the warmer the better.
If you find it helpful, you can cover the tray with plastic wrap. Water droplets will form on the underside of the plastic to let you know the baby seeds have enough water. If the drops stop forming, it’s time to give them a drink. You should begin to see signs of plants popping up within a couple weeks.
When your little plants get to be a few inches tall, gently pot them separately in small pots. As the weather begins to warm, you can get the small plants used to the outdoors by hardening the seedlings off - putting them out during the day for a bit. This, along with a little fertilizer now and then, will strengthen them in preparation for the garden.
When the weather has warmed up and your young plants have grown to about 8 inches tall (20 cm.), they can be transferred to the garden. They’ll thrive in soil with a pH of 6.5 or 7.
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How Do I Grow Peppers in the Garden?
Since bell peppers thrive in the warm seasons, wait for the nighttime temperatures in your region rise to 50 degrees F. (10 C.) or higher before transplanting them to the garden. Before you plant peppers outdoors, it’s important to be absolutely certain that the chance of frost is long gone. A frost will either kill the plants altogether or inhibit pepper growth, leaving you with bare plants.
Pepper plants should be placed in the soil 18 to 24 inches (46-60 cm.) apart. They’ll enjoy being planted near your tomato plants. The soil should be well drained and amended before you put them into the ground. Healthy pepper plants should produce peppers throughout late summer.
Harvesting Peppers
It’s easy to determine when your peppers are ready to harvest. Begin to pick the peppers once they are 3 to 4 inches (7.6 to 10 cm.) long and the fruit is firm and green. If they feel somewhat thin, the peppers aren’t ripe. If they feel soggy, it means they’ve been left on the plant too long. After you harvest the first crop of peppers, feel free to fertilize the plants to give them the energy they need to form another crop.
Some gardeners prefer red, yellow or orange bell peppers. These varieties just need to stay on the vine longer to mature. They’ll start out green, but you’ll notice they have a thinner feel. Once they begin to take on color, the peppers will thicken and become ripe enough to harvest. Enjoy!
FAQs
Start Bell Pepper Seeds Indoors for Spring
How long does it take for a bell pepper plant to produce peppers? ›
About Bell Peppers
Peppers have a long growing season (60 to 90 days), so most home gardeners buy starter pepper plants at the garden nursery rather than grow them from seed.
What is the trick to growing peppers? ›
Pepper plants require well-draining soil, but also plenty of water, especially in the hottest times of the year. A thick layer of mulch around plants helps retain moisture and cools the soil a bit for the growing peppers.
What to put in the hole when planting peppers? ›
#1 Compost
Not only for the energy it provides, but for what it does for the soil around a pepper plant's roots. Adding compost to your planting hole makes it easier for a pepper plants roots to expand. But it also feeds those roots and helps to hydrate them too!
How many bell peppers should one plant produce? ›
Bell pepper plants may produce six to eight or more fruit per plant.
Do bell peppers need full sun or shade? ›
Bell peppers need full sun to grow and ripen properly, so keep them in a sunny spot in your vegetable garden—unless you live in a climate susceptible to extremely high heat and intense sunlight, in which case shade cloth or nearby plants can be used to manage temperatures.
How often should I water bell peppers? ›
We recommend watering after the soil has dried somewhat. During the longest hottest days of summer, that may be every day. During cooler weather and during spring and fall you may only need to water them every 2-3 days. The best bet is to feel the top layer of soil to see if it's moist, if it is, wait before watering.
What do bell peppers look like when they first start growing? ›
Interestingly, all bell peppers start out as white flowers before a little green pepper emerges. They stay green for most of their lives, ripening into their final color at the very end of their lifecycle.
How much room do bell peppers need to grow? ›
Space pepper plants 18 inches apart, in rows 30 to 36 inches apart. Grow plants closer together if temperatures are below 60°F. Closer spacing requires fertilizer at planting and during the summer.
Why are Bell peppers so hard to grow? ›
Soil is Too Cold to Germinate
Pepper seeds need warm soil to germinate, around 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit, and they can take from a week to 14 days to sprout. If the soil is too cold, the seeds will either germinate very slowly or the seeds may rot and not sprout at all.
Brassicas: Almanacs and home gardeners recommend avoiding planting brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards, cauliflower) near peppers because they require different soil acidity levels and can deter pepper plant growth.
Should I plant peppers deep like tomatoes? ›
Space in-ground holes 18 inches apart for most peppers; some of the larger bells may need 24 inches. Step 2: Gently remove the plant from its pot. Step 3: Set the plant in the hole so that the top of the root-ball is level with the ground surface. Do not plant deeply like tomatoes, or the plants may rot.
Do coffee grounds help bell peppers grow? ›
Some plants that benefit from coffee grounds include: acid-loving plants like azaleas, blueberries, and rhododendrons. plants that need nitrogen, such as tomatoes, peppers, and leafy greens.
Do you put Epsom salt in hole when planting peppers? ›
Peppers & Epsom Salt
By adding one or two tablespoons to the area before planting for seeds, starter plants and full-grown plants, and then adding it twice a week based on the height of the plant (see above), you can give your pepper plants a much-needed magnesium boost.
Can I use potting soil for bell peppers? ›
Use a seed starting mix or potting mix for your peppers. They drain much more thoroughly than garden soil, which is key to preventing peppers from becoming waterlogged. Look for a natural, organic potting mix—they're specially formulated for containers with nutrients already added.
What month do you plant peppers? ›
When To Plant Pepper Seeds (by Hardiness Zone)
| Hardiness Zone | Last Frost Date | When To Plant Pepper Seeds Indoors |
|---|
| 6 | April 26 – May 8 | March 15 – March 27 |
| 7 | April 4 – April 15 | Feb. 21 – March 4 |
| 8 | March 3 – March 22 | Jan. 20 – Feb. 8 |
| 9 | Feb. 8 – Feb. 22 | December 28 – January 11 |
4 more rowsWhile not necessary, you can soak pepper seeds prior to planting them to encourage faster germination. Place pepper seeds in a bowl or jar of room temperature water for up to 24 hours to soften the seed coat and break dormancy.
How deep do bell peppers need to grow? ›
For the best harvests and healthy plants, we like to plant pepper plants in deep beds, we recommend 18-24" of soil depth. Small peppers (less than one foot high) can grow well in two-gallon containers, but bigger plants need at least five-gallon pots, and all peppers thrive best with more room.
Should you mound pepper plants? ›
Plant your Peppers where they'll receive full sun and are less likely to be damaged from the wind. Make sure the soil is well drained. A raised bed (either using a border like brick or wood or as a borderless mound) is a good way to help insure the ground remains drained.
