10 Helpful Tips for Growing Peppers

Peppers are perfect for home gardening because they’re easy to grow! Even beginners can grow this popular vegetable as long as the correct planting instructions are observed.

To assist you in growing the best peppers at home, we’re sharing with you these 10 useful tips from A Healthy Lifetime for Me. These tips work wonders, so be sure to use them when you start planting!

10 Tips for Growing Peppers

1. Plant where they will get at least 10 hours of direct sunlight.

2. Leave about 18-20″ space between each plant to allow for air to circulate. Hot pepper cultivars need less room in between plants than sweet varieties.

3. Stake or cage taller varieties so that the stems do not break in strong winds or due to a heavy fruit load.

4. Make sure your pepper plants receive at least an inch of water a week. Use a gallon of water daily during extreme heat and drought. Keep soil evenly moist for good growth.

5. Peppers need well-draining soil that is rich and loamy, but avoid too much nitrogen in the soil. Too much nitrogen can cause plenty of leaves and little to no peppers. Your soil should have a pH between 6.0 and 6.5.

6. Add about 1″ of organic mulch around base of the plant to help retain soil moisture and keep soil temperatures nice and warm.

7. Pinch off early blossoms. This will encourage larger-sized peppers and a higher overall yield.

8. To deter cutworms, place a cardboard collar around each stem, pushing it at least an inch into the ground.

9. Always cut peppers from the plant leaving a small stub of stem attached. Pulling causes damage to the plant.

10. You can harvest peppers when immature, but flavors and vitamin content will improve as they ripen on the plant.

Article Source: A Healthy Life for Me