Bell peppers are a very common vegetable in many countries. Their crisp and cool flavor makes them prefect for eating alone or with your favorite dish. Growing your own peppers can be very rewarding and it isn’t very hard to get started.

 

Sun – Bell peppers love 6 hours of direct sunlight daily. They also don’t mind getting more if you live in a place that gets more sunlight, but be careful. Once the peppers start to grow they can get sunburn which makes them look black. This is blackness goes away if you put them in the shade for a day or two. Their leaves will mostly protect them from this happening.

 

Soil – The grow best in heavy clay and grit soils that are well draining, but the good news is they can and will grow in any type of soil.

 

Spacing – If you are growing more than one bell pepper plant, or you want to plant them along side other plants you will need to space them at least 18inches apart.

 

Water – Soak your peppers in a good inch of water once a week. Make sure to water them more often when it is hot out and if it hasn’t rain.

 

Food – If you are growing your bell peppers indoors they will need to be fertilized once a month. If you are growing them outside you may only need to fertilize them when you plant them and once they start to produce peppers.

 

Annual or Perennial – Bell peppers are perennials. If they are kept away from cold and frost they will come back year after year. Not only that but if they are kept warm the will produce peppers serval times before having a short resting period and stating over again.

 

Climate/Hardiness – These sweet peppers actually like it hot. They are not hardy and do not to well when they temperatures star to lower. If it gets to cold they will die off.

 

Harvest – You can harvest the bell peppers from your plant multiple times a year with the first harvest coming 60 to 90 days after it is initially is transplanted.

 

Transplant – Bell peppers don’t like to moved once they are planted in their long term bed. However they can tolerate being moved if there isn’t enough space or the weather is getting to cold.

 

Tips– Another reason bell peppers can turn black is because they need to be fertilized. If you have tried shading your peppers but notice they are still black the reason could be that they need to be feed.