Vegetable of the sun par excellence, pepper comes from Mexico and South America. It requires a lot of heat to grow, but it is possible to grow it at home, provided you have a greenhouse or heated shelter. Read on to discover two simple ways to sow pepper at home, outdoors or indoors.
The necessary equipment
For sowing under shelter
- Greenhouse or heated veranda to sow peppers outdoors.
- Mini heated greenhouse for indoor sowing. If you do not have a greenhouse, choose a location near the window and warm enough.
- Terrines or scoops.
- Terreau for vegetable garden.
- Spray.
- Board to pack.
For a seedling in place
- Stiffer to trace the furrows.
- Garden cord to sow in a straight line.
Which varieties to favor?
You can use the seeds of your vegetables to sow pepper, or choose a specific variety in a gardening shop. Color, shape and taste vary depending on the variety. Here are several:
- Rosso pepper : early variety. Conic-shaped pepper, sometimes more rounded, with red skin, fresh and sweet taste.
- Corno di toro rosso or giallo : early variety. Slim and elongated form with red skin (rosso) or yellow (giallo).
- Yellow Cuneo : square shape, shiny yellow skin. It has a crunchy flesh and thick.
- Sweet moors : early variety of very elongated form, resembling chili pepper, but sweet to taste. Its dark green skin turns red when ripe.
- Golden jubilee : big, round fruit with yellow and orange skin and firm, juicy flesh.
When to plant?
In order for them to develop fully and be more tasty, peppers must be planted in a warm environment. The temperature must not not be less than 13 ° C because that interrupts their growth. Try to keep the temperature around 24 ° C so that the flavors and size of the fruits grow.
If you sow peppers under glass, you can start as early as February. Transplanting will be done in April. For sowing on the spot, wait until March and the end of the last frosts. Let your plants grow for two months before transplanting them.
Their shoot is quite slow, between 20 and 24 weeks for the first harvest. Sowing pepper early in the year will allow you to pick it during the summer.
How to sow peppers? Two methods
Sowing in a bucket
- Plant a few seeds 1 cm deep in pots filled with potting soil. Space the seeds 3-4 cm apart.
- Tamp by hand or with a small board and sprinkle with lukewarm water using a spray bottle.
- Keep the soil moist by watering it daily until the first few seedlings appear, after one to three weeks. During this phase, the seeds do not need light but they require an ambient temperature of at least 20 ° C to germinate.
- After emergence, move your pots or pans to a bright spot and water only when the soil is dry.
- Transfer your plants to an outdoor greenhouse once the first leaves are out. They will resist the cold better.
- Plant your seedlings in individual pots, when they have at least two leaves.
- Put them in the ground in the kitchen garden during May, when the last frosts are spent. Leave about 40 cm of space between each foot.
Sowing in open ground
- Make a groove with your sling and the chalk. Leave a 1 cm deep.
- Sow in line, taking care not to sink the seeds too much, and cover with soil.
- Water in rain to keep the soil moist until the first leaves appear. After emergence, remove weeds.
- Thin 30 days after sowing and transplant in place, spacing 15 to 20 cm apart.
You can start harvesting your first peppers by the end of July. While waiting longer, they will take more color but it will be necessary to reap the last fruits before the return of the frosts.
Our tips for a successful shoot
To sow peppers in place, choose a sunny and unshaded place.
When sowing in scoops, be sure to follow a distance of 3-4 cm between seeds. Same for terrine seedlings, in line or in place. The space between the rows of seedlings must be 4 to 5 cm in terrine, and 50 cm in the ground.
You can boost the productivity and quality of your plants by doing the right combinations. Peppers blend well with tomatoes and eggplants from the same family, as well as herbs such as basil.
How to maintain your plants?
Once the seeds have sprouted, the soil must be kept moist at all times. You can install a mulch so that the water infiltrates more evenly and evenly.
The land used must be rich. You can enrich it with compost when you plant your peppers, or use fertilizer when the first fruits have already grown.
Pruning the plants is useful for maintaining them. For this, cut the stems when they gave at least 10 peppers. This leads them to maturity more quickly and gives them a good size.
Even more plantations:
