How to Grow Peppers, Growing Bell Peppers, Growing Sweet Peppers

Learn how to grow peppers in your vegetable garden. Here are some easy tips for planting, growing, fertilizing and harvesting peppers in your backyard gardens.

Design Your Own Vegetable Garden Layout Using our Free "Vegetable Garden Planner" Software!

The advice we offer on how to grow peppers is meant to give you the greatest opportunity for successful vegetable gardening. We want your very first attempts at growing bell peppers, sweet peppers, hot peppers, or any other variety of peppers in your vegetable garden to be a rousing success!

Many times, beginning gardeners (as well as seasoned growers) are met with frustration and disappointment at their efforts. Often the reason for a lackluster harvest can be chalked up to a gardener attempting to grow plants that are not suitable for their particular region.

There really isn't much you can do about the weather in your area. Although, you can start out a step ahead by choosing seeds and plants well-suited to your climate. For instance, if you live in Kentucky, as inviting as the name sounds, planting the bell pepper variety California Wonders may have little chance of performing well in your garden.

How to Grow Peppers

Gardeners all over the US can choose from dozens of pepper varieties suited to different vegetable gardening zones.

While peppers are native to the tropics, successful cultivation is possible in northern climates including Canada.

Some of the more common pepper varieties include sweet or bell peppers; hot peppers such as chili, cayenne, jabenero and jalapeno peppers.

Pepper plants can be grown in container gardens, raised bed gardens, or can be planted in the ground in a traditional backyard row garden.

When to Plant Peppers

Download zone chart here!

Pepper plants are not frost hardy, and should only be planted outdoors after the danger of frost has passed. Use the zone chart to help decide when it is a good time to plant peppers outdoors in your climate zone. If you find out that it is going to frost after your peppers are planted in the ground, cover the plants with a plastic milk container, bucket, or a hat made of newspapers. If you are growing peppers in a container garden, move the container indoors or to a sheltered area to avoid frost bite.

Download Free Garden Planning Worksheets, Garden Diary, Zone Chart, Or Planting Guide

Planting Pepper Seeds Indoors

Start your plants indoors 10-12 weeks before the last expected frost.

Cover seeds lightly in the seed containers.

Germination takes place in around 10 days when soil temperature is kept at 70-80 degrees F.

Transplant when seedlings develop their first set of true leaves.

Buy Pepper Plants Ready to Transplant

Where to Grow Pepper Plants,

Tips for How to Grow Peppers

By planting your pepper plants rather close on a wide row, you can increase the harvest yield. Set smaller plants two abreast and stagger larger plants.

Harvesting Peppers

Selecting a variety of sweet and hot peppers gives you a harvest of fruits over a very long growing season. (50-75 days after setting out.) Peppers will continue to set flowers and fruits until a hard frost.

When growing sweet or bell peppers, they may be harvested as soon as they have any size to them. Colored varieties, such as red and chocolate, will start off green and then mature into their namesake colors, if left growing on the plant. Peppers hold up well on the plants in the garden, so pick fruits as you need them.

It may take a season or two to find the right variety of peppers for growing in your garden. However, by selecting local plants or seeds recommended from local growers, you may experience a bumper crop consistently from your initial planting! One of the easiest vegetables to grow is bell peppers. By following our guide on how to grow peppers, you will soon be on your way to vegetable gardening greatness!

Back To Top

How to Grow Peppers to Vegetable Gardening

You Might Also like to Read:

"Get the Dirt!" on Vegetable Gardening! > > A FREE Vegetable Gardening Tips and Ideas Newsletter < < "Where to begin with my own vegetable garden? I need some help!" Should I just try planting some seeds in the ground? Is there more to vegetable gardening than meets the eye? How about a container garden? Get the answers, tips, ideas, and more by subscribing to our FREE "Get the Dirt" newsletter.

New! Comments