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Back to basics -
Peppers

Peppers are great fun and easy to grow.
Follow our back to basics guide and you'll be enjoying fiery pizzas and sauces, or mild tasty dishes with the distinctive hint of sweet pepper by midsummer.

Chilli and sweet peppers are such a diverse bunch; they are colourful crops and the assortment of shapes and sizes is a treat to behold in the greenhouse or on the open plot. The flavours are just as diverse, ranging from mild and sweet to eye-wateringly hot so there is sure to be something to suit everyone's tastes among the hundreds of varieties available from seed catalogues and specialists.

Propagation

Peppers are much easier to grow successfully than some other greenhouse crops such as aubergines and cucumbers and since they are self-fertile are virtually guaranteed to set a good crop. In the KG greenhouse last year, despite a very poor summer there were no problems with fruit setting and of course even if a lack of sunshine means that the fruit is late to ripen, peppers can be enjoyed unripe. There is also very little, if any training, unlike cucumbers and tomatoes which need support and regular attention.

Peppers do, however, require a reasonably long growing season to produce best results and sowing now will give them that.
Sow seeds in seed or cell trays (modules) using fresh multi-purpose or seed compost. Since peppers, particularly the chillies, can be quite prolific, why not sow just a few seeds of each variety; each has its own unique flavour and it can be great fun to try lots of different ones to be able to pick fruit in a range of shapes and colours.

Fill your tray and water the compost well before sowing your seeds on the surface. Cover with 6mm (1⁄4in) of sieved compost, fine sand or vermiculite before spraying over with a fine mist of water or watering with a watering can fitted with a fine rose to wet the surface. If you wish you can add a copper-based fungicide to the water such as Murphy Traditional Copper Fungicide to prevent damping-off disease.
Label your tray and place in a heated propagator or on a heated bench set to 15-20C (60-68F). Cover with a propagator lid until the seedlings germinate, but remove it once most of the seedlings are through to prevent stretching and move the tray to the greenhouse bench or a sunny windowsill to grow on at a lower temperature – 10C (50F) is ideal.

 

Growing on

Once the plants are well established and the roots starting to fill the compost in the cells they can be moved on into 10cm (4in) pots filled with potting compost. By this time they may benefit from staking; give each a split cane and secure it with a soft wire ring or some soft string.

Space the plants out on the bench as they develop so that each has as much light as possible and maintain watering, allowing the surface of the compost to dry out between each watering. Pot on into 15-20cm (6-8in) pots once the smaller containers are full of roots, but before the plants become potbound and suffer a growth check.
Plants do not require pinching or training since once they start to flower the stems tend to branch naturally, however if plants do start to stretch the growing points can be removed once they are 30cm (12in) tall.
As the fruit develops, plants can become top heavy and this is a particular problem with large sweet peppers. Change the split cane for a bamboo one or similar if necessary to keep plants upright.

For more see this month's issue, available to buy online!

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