How to Grow Peppers

Depending on what you’re using them for, there are a few different types of peppers you can grow in your garden. Bell pepper plants like green peppers, red peppers and yellow peppers are great raw or in salads, while chiles like poblano and jalapeno plants are spicy and can add flavour to dishes. Chiles go from green to red in most cases, and usually the redder the colour, the hotter the pepper. You can even grow the different types of peppers together, so grow whichever peppers you like!

Growing peppers is easy. Plant them 18 to 24 inches apart in a raised bed, container or garden bed with well drained soil. Keep them at about 20-30 degrees Celsius in an area that gets at least 6-8 hours of sunlight per day. Peppers get their flavour from sunlight, so give them as much as possible!

Use a well-balanced fertilizer to feed your pepper plants. Pay attention to the NPK numbers on the bag, the N or nitrogen promotes leafy plant growth but the P (phosphorus) and K (potassium) play a huge part in fruit growth. Be sure to trim damaged leaves to keep your pepper plant healthy. You can even stretch your pepper growing season well into fall by watering and feeding them through the late summer heat. Remember, picking them also encourages more production, so enjoy!