Bell Peppers aka Capsicums or Sweet Peppers are warmth-loving plants, and will not stand frosts

If you’re looking to grow flavorful and nutritious bell peppers this season, then look no further. I’ve put together a comprehensive guide on how to successfully cultivate bell peppers in your garden. I’ll be covering soil preparation, planting techniques, and maintenance tips.

Grow in a warm, sunny situation, and a position at the base of a fence or wall is the most suitable in hot climates or kept in the green house or full sun in temperate situations. 

Soil Preparation

Bell peppers require a fine, well drained, rich, sandy, loamy soil, which must be well broken-up and properly prepared.

Bell peppers prefer neutral to slightly alkaline conditions, so apply lime to acid soils at the recommended rate, water well in and allow to settle for two weeks before planting.

They will thrive in well-draining soil that is rich in organic matter. To ensure your soil meets these requirements, mix in compost or aged manure before planting. If you have clay soil, incorporate sand and peat moss to increase drainage and aeration. Additionally, if your soil is not naturally high in nutrients, fertilize with an all-purpose fertilizer prior to planting your seeds.

Bell Pepper Varieties

My favorites include the following varieties: Sweet Conical, Midas, Chocolate Beauty, Purple Beauty and Californian Wonder.

The best sorts for the home garden are Cherry, Chinese Giant, Long Red, and Tabasco. The latter is very pungent, and is the variety used for making the famous Tabasco sauce.

Planting Techniques

Bell pepper plants can be started from seed indoors or directly planted into the ground outdoors. It’s best to start seeds indoors 8-10 weeks before the last frost date for your area.

To get early crops, your seed must be raised in a hot bed or in a seed box kept in a warm place in the house, and the plants transplanted when large enough, after frosts are over.

When transplanting seedlings outdoors, wait until the temperatures are consistently above 60°F (16°C) under these conditions, seed may be sown during early Spring.

Plant each seedling 18-24 inches apart in rows that are spaced 36-48 inches apart. Bell pepper plants require full sun and should be watered 1-2 inches per week depending on weather conditions.

Bell peppers like to be planted into warm soil, when large enough to conveniently handle, prick the young seedlings off into pots, or better still, into deep seed boxes, so as to thoroughly develop the roots. Harden the young plants off, and when strong enough, they are ready for planting out. The use of deep pots of boxes reduces the possibility of any check during transplanting. Owing to the possibility of late frosts, it is not advisable to transplant to the open ground before the beginning of Summer.

Seed cannot be sown in the open ground or an out-door bed before the last week in Spring, but where possible, it is advisable to have plants from early sowings ready for putting out as soon as the weather is warm, otherwise the greater part of the season is lost.

Maintenance Tips

Once established, bell pepper plants require little maintenance beyond regular watering and weeding. Pruning is also recommended; remove any dead foliage or blossoms as the plant grows and pinch off any competing fruit stems from the main stem at least once a month to promote larger fruits.

Keep the plants growing rapidly and shade them from the hot sun until thoroughly established. During dry weather the plants must be kept well-watered, and a mulch of well-rotted Cow Manure, besides acting as a fertilizer, helps to protect the roots from the sun, competing weeds, and also to conserve the soil moisture in dry weather. Liquid Manure may be applied if necessary, but except for an application when the fruit is just forming, if the soil is rich, it will hardly be necessary. About twelve bell pepper plants will be sufficient to supply the average-sized family through a season. Grab some shorter bamboo canes to stake the plant to stop them topping over as their fruits mature.

Pests and Diseases

The main insect pests are fruit fly aphids and tomato grub. Aphids and other insect pests can be controlled with sprays. The spray should not be applied within seven days of harvest. You can also use insect traps such as yellow sticky cardboards or pheromone traps if needed for pest control purposes.

Bell peppers generally suffer less from disease than their related crops, such as tomatoes and potatoes. However, they are also susceptible to bacterial spot and wilt or a virus called Mosaic. Bacterial spot causes spotting on the leaves. Affected leaves will fall off an under favorable conditions spots merge to cause blighting of the leaf.

In warmer months of the year, Bacterial wilt can cause plants to wilt and die. Sprays will not control it as the organisms which cause the disease live in the soil. To avoid losses and diseases like this, practice crop rotation planting bell peppers in a different bed each year or in ground where the wilt problem has never occurred. Most varieties of bell pepper are susceptible to these diseases. Destroy affected plants and try and use resistant varieties where available.

Growing bell peppers may seem intimidating at first but with the right preparations and techniques it’s totally achievable, plan ahead, sit back and enjoy your delicious homegrown bell peppers.