Capsicum annuum
Sweet pepper
Common names: Bell pepper, Capsicum
Photo: Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen · Public Domain · Source
Description
The sweet pepper loves warmth and sun and rewards you with crisp, sweet fruits in green, yellow and red. In a pot on the balcony or in the greenhouse it ripens most reliably. Blocky cultivars such as ‘California Wonder’ are robust and productive.
Care instructions
Raise it from late February (week 9) warm on the windowsill and plant it out only after the ice saints (mid-May, week 20). Water evenly with lukewarm water and feed the medium feeders regularly. Support the plants, because when fully laden the shoots snap off easily.
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
humus-rich, well-drained, loamy, nutrient-rich
Feeding
Heavy feeder
Months
Apr–Aug
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
- Cuttings
Companion planting
Good neighbors
asparagus family (Asparagaceae)
particularly well establishedAsparagus and tomato benefit from each other. The tomato keeps the asparagus beetle away, and the asparagus repels threadworms that harm the tomato.
For example AsparagusFunkieBluebellMuscariHyacinthAmerican Agave
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
mint family (Lamiaceae)
particularly well establishedYou will find that basil next to tomato and pepper improves taste and keeps whiteflies and aphids away.
For example LavenderThymeRosemarySageHyssopBohnenkraut and 30 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
borage family (Boraginaceae)
Borage attracts pollinators and is supposed to keep tomato pests away from the nightshade family.
For example BoragoCommon comfreyPhaceliaForget-me-notNatternkopfSwamp Forget-Me-Not and one more species in the catalogue
Source: organic greenhouse companion planting practice
Rather not
amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae)
Onions slow down the growth of nightshade family plants next to potatoes and tomatoes; the classic crop-rotation rule also applies in the bed side by side.
For example GarlicOnionLeekChivesDaffodilRocambole and 12 more species in the catalogue
Source: basic crop-rotation rule
daisy family (Asteraceae)
Sunflowers release substances into the soil that inhibit potato tuber growth, and they also compete for water and nutrients.
For example Tagetes patulaCalendulaSunflowerCommon coneflowerFall AsterIceberg lettuce and 56 more species in the catalogue
Source: basic crop-rotation rule
gourd family (Cucurbitaceae)
You should avoid planting potato and cucumber together because they share disease pathogens such as leaf and brown rot and stand in each other's way as strong feeders.
For example CucumberPumpkinCourgettepickling cucumberButternutHokkaido and 14 more species in the catalogue
Source: basic crop-rotation rule
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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Varieties
8 varieties‘California Wonder’
You grow *‚California Wonder’*, a robust classic among block peppers, proven for almost a hundred years.
‘Corno di Toro Rosso’
you will find the Italian bullhorn pepper, named after its long, curved fruits that resemble a horn.
‘Roter Liebesapfel’
An old tomato pepper with flat, round, ribbed fruits that really do recall a small tomato.
‘Lombardo’
An Italian frying pepper with long, thin-walled, slightly wavy fruits that you harvest by preference green and young.
‘Neusiedler Ideal Elite’
An early, compact pointed pepper from the Austrian Seewinkel, ideal for pots and balconies.
‘Roter Augsburger’
An old German pointed pepper that wins people over in harsher locations with its early ripening and sturdiness.
‘Snack Yellow’
A modern mini snacking pepper (F1 hybrid) that carries small, handy fruits in abundance.
‘Yolo Wonder’
A proven further development of the old blocky pepper, valued for its dense, protective foliage and its good tolerance to tobacco mosaic virus.
Notes from real gardens
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From the magazine
Peppers and chillies: raising, heat and the right variety
Peppers and chillies are almost the same plant, the difference is the heat. Both need lots of warmth and a very early start. Here is how the raising succeeds from February, and how to find the right variety between the mild sweet pepper and the fiery habanero.
Feeding Heavy Feeders: How to Fertilise Fruiting Vegetables Right
Tomato, pepper, courgette and squash are the hungriest residents of the bed. How to feed them potassium instead of nitrogen and read leaf colour as your gauge.
Pre-growing on the windowsill: sturdy young plants, not leggy floppers
Tomatoes, peppers and chillies need a head start only the windowsill gives. Why most seed-raising fails not at germination but at going leggy afterwards, and how bright instead of warm raises sturdy young plants.
The windowsill becomes a nursery: your garden in February
There's still frost in the air, but in February the season quietly gets going: on the windowsill you start your tomatoes and peppers, the early potatoes chit, and on mild days the first tough seeds can even go straight outside.