Bell peppers are a great addition to any vegetable garden. They are pretty easy to grow and will provide an abundant amount of peppers throughout the season.
One cool thing about growing bell peppers is they can be found in a variety of great looking colors, such as red, purple, orange, yellow, and green.
A very popular variety is California Wonder. It is a large, green bell pepper that will turn red if you leave it in the bush a bit longer. It's one of my favorite bell peppers.
Growing a couple bell pepper plants of each color will give you a burst of color in your vegetable garden, and also your meals. They can be added to salads, stir fry, and sandwiches.
If you are interested in growing a few in your vegetable garden, here's an easy guide on how to plant bell peppers.
How to Plant Bell Peppers
Planting bell peppers is pretty easy and straightforward. This method of planting can really be used for any type of pepper, whether it's a bell, jalapeno, or habanero.
First, prepare the soil where you intend to plant the bell peppers by adding compost and working it in six to twelve inches deep. You can add well-aged manure, earthworm castings, or leaf mold for organic matter.
If you are planting bell peppers of many different colors arrange them in an alternating pattern to give them an interesting look once they have started producing fruit. I like to lay my pepper plants out onto the bed to get an idea of the arrangement before planting.
![Purple Beauty Bell Pepper Transplant]()
Once you have the arrangement you like, simply dig a planting hole that is as deep as the container the bell pepper transplant is in.
You want the soil line of the container to be the same height as the soil line of your garden. If the soil line of the transplant is a bit higher, that's fine, but you don't want the transplant too deep.
Remember, a bit higher is fine, but too low is not good.
![Place the Bell Pepper Plant In the Hole]()
As you can see in the above photo I placed this bell pepper transplant a bit higher than the soil line of the garden. I can now mound soil around it.
Again, avoid mounding the soil up higher than the existing soil the bell pepper plant is in from the container.
With the first bell pepper planted, simply repeat the same process for all of your pepper plants (if you are growing more than one).
Once you have them all planted water them well saturating the soil. You may want to stick your finger a couple inches down into the soil to check how well the soil is watered. If the soil feels dry a couple inches down, continue watering. If it feels moist you should be good to go.
Water the plants well each day (depending on rainfall amounts) until the transplants are well established. You will know the transplant is doing well when you begin seeing new growth on the bell pepper plant. It should generally take about a week to ten days.
After the plant has become established you should supply at least an inch of water per week. You can also do the finger check, like described above, to see if the soil is dry or moist, and water depending on the results of the check.
You want the soil to be consistently moist, but not soggy. Add a layer of mulch around the plants to help preserve soil moisture and suppress weeds.
You can give them a small sprinkle of organic fertilizer about three weeks after transplanting them into the garden. An organic tomato fertilizer works well for peppers since they are in the same plant family as tomatoes, and have the same nutrient requirements.
You should be able to start harvesting bell peppers anywhere from 55 to 75 days from transplanting depending on what varieties you are growing.
One cool thing about growing bell peppers is they can be found in a variety of great looking colors, such as red, purple, orange, yellow, and green.
A very popular variety is California Wonder. It is a large, green bell pepper that will turn red if you leave it in the bush a bit longer. It's one of my favorite bell peppers.
Growing a couple bell pepper plants of each color will give you a burst of color in your vegetable garden, and also your meals. They can be added to salads, stir fry, and sandwiches.
If you are interested in growing a few in your vegetable garden, here's an easy guide on how to plant bell peppers.
How to Plant Bell Peppers
Planting bell peppers is pretty easy and straightforward. This method of planting can really be used for any type of pepper, whether it's a bell, jalapeno, or habanero.
First, prepare the soil where you intend to plant the bell peppers by adding compost and working it in six to twelve inches deep. You can add well-aged manure, earthworm castings, or leaf mold for organic matter.
If you are planting bell peppers of many different colors arrange them in an alternating pattern to give them an interesting look once they have started producing fruit. I like to lay my pepper plants out onto the bed to get an idea of the arrangement before planting.
Once you have the arrangement you like, simply dig a planting hole that is as deep as the container the bell pepper transplant is in.
You want the soil line of the container to be the same height as the soil line of your garden. If the soil line of the transplant is a bit higher, that's fine, but you don't want the transplant too deep.
Remember, a bit higher is fine, but too low is not good.
As you can see in the above photo I placed this bell pepper transplant a bit higher than the soil line of the garden. I can now mound soil around it.
Again, avoid mounding the soil up higher than the existing soil the bell pepper plant is in from the container.
With the first bell pepper planted, simply repeat the same process for all of your pepper plants (if you are growing more than one).
Once you have them all planted water them well saturating the soil. You may want to stick your finger a couple inches down into the soil to check how well the soil is watered. If the soil feels dry a couple inches down, continue watering. If it feels moist you should be good to go.
Water the plants well each day (depending on rainfall amounts) until the transplants are well established. You will know the transplant is doing well when you begin seeing new growth on the bell pepper plant. It should generally take about a week to ten days.
After the plant has become established you should supply at least an inch of water per week. You can also do the finger check, like described above, to see if the soil is dry or moist, and water depending on the results of the check.
You want the soil to be consistently moist, but not soggy. Add a layer of mulch around the plants to help preserve soil moisture and suppress weeds.
You can give them a small sprinkle of organic fertilizer about three weeks after transplanting them into the garden. An organic tomato fertilizer works well for peppers since they are in the same plant family as tomatoes, and have the same nutrient requirements.
You should be able to start harvesting bell peppers anywhere from 55 to 75 days from transplanting depending on what varieties you are growing.
