Homegrown sweet peppers are easy to grow and taste delicious. People often grow them in a greenhouse, but as long as you have a warm, sheltered spot such as a south-facing patio, you should still be able to harvest your own in summer.
Sowing and Transplanting Sweet Peppers
Fill a pot with compost and firm it down to remove any air pockets. Sow 4 to 5 seeds per pot, ensuring they are well-spaced. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of compost and water well. Place the pot into a propagator or a warm, well-lit windowsill. Keep the soil moist.
When the seedlings reach a height of 5-7cm, you can transplant them into individual pots. Fill the pots with compost and make a hole for the seedling. Carefully ease the seedlings out of the original pot and separate them. Be sure not to damage the stem and handle them by their leaves. Place each seedling into their individual pots and firm the compost around the root. Give them a good watering and return them to the greenhouse or windowsill.
Continue potting them on when they become pot-bound until they can be planted into 30cm pots. Once they are in their final pots, staking them to provide additional support is a good idea. Place them into their final position in the greenhouse or garden.
Feeding and Care
When the first flowers appear, start feeding them a high-potash liquid feed, such as tomato fertilizer, on a weekly basis. Keep the plants well-watered throughout the summer months but ensure that the pots do not become waterlogged. Mist the flowers with lukewarm water as this will help increase the fruit set.
Harvesting Sweet Peppers
Harvest the peppers when they reach the size and colour specified on the seed packet. To harvest the peppers, use hand pruners or scissors to cut the fruit from the plant and avoid tugging at the fruit as this can damage the branches.
Varieties
There’s a wide range of varieties to choose from, but some of the most popular include:
- Californian Wonder: a prolific, vigorous pepper that is great tasting and easy to grow. It features a crisp, mild flavor and is excellent stuffed, sautéed, or cut into bite size pieces for snacks.
- Popti F1: The perfect bell pepper for those with limited space, suited for small space gardening but will do well in a pot inside a greenhouse at the allotment!