Tips for Growing the Best Peppers

The best peppers are full of flavor, good nutrition, have great color and are large in size. No matter what type of pepper you are trying to grow, all varieties have the same or very similar needs. With the right conditions and a few tricks, versatile and easy to grow pepper plants can flourish giving you the best harvest you ever had.

Here are a few tips and tricks I have picked up while growing all types and varieties of peppers for the last ten years. These tips work for both pepper seedlings that you have started yourself or plants that you have purchased from a nursery.

Preparing the Soil
If the garden bed you use to plant your peppers in is not prepared properly the rest of your efforts will be useless. Peppers flourish in well drained, loamy soil that is well worked. You should prepare your garden in a sunny spot that receives at least eight hours of sunlight a day.

If you do not have a part of your garden where you cannot control the drainage and soil quality, create a raised bed. At the beginning of the season, when you are readying the bed for planting, add a two inch thick layer of compost to the soil and till it into the bed. Do not add large amounts of compost to the soil again through the season, because an excess of nitrogen will cause the pepper to grow without bearing fruit.

Prepare Your Plants
Both seedlings you grow yourself and seedlings you bring home from the nursery will need to be hardened off before you plant them in the garden outside. Slowly let your pepper plants adjust to outside conditions by placing them outdoors for a few hours each day once a normal temperature of sixty degrees is reached. Start with two or three hours during the warmest time of the day and gradually increase the time left outside till you reach eight hours.

Planting Your Peppers
There are a few things you need to make sure you do when you plant your peppers to ensure that they will grow and produce a harvest. Wait to plant your peppers until all danger of frost has past, the warmer the weather the better. Plant the peppers deep enough so that two inches of the stem is covered with soil. Place stakes near your pepper plants for support once they reach their final height and begin bearing fruit. Cover the soil with a layer of mulch about a month after planting to help the ground retain the soil, but not too early that you will stunt the plants growth. Water well, pepper plants require a lot of water all season long.

Gathering Your Harvest
Once the first set of flowers appear on your pepper plants, gently pinch them off. Don't worry, more flowers will grow and your plant will be able to bear large peppers when they do. Wait until your peppers are ripe and have turned their mature color. They taste best at this point rather than pulling them when they are still changing colors.