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
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.
Diseases & pests
7 relevantFrom the knowledge base, automatically linked by affected species. How to spot and prevent them is covered in full in the lexicon.
Aphidoidea
You will find that aphids are the most common sucking pests in your garden.
More on AphidsCalcium-Mangel
Flower-end rot is not a disease caused by a pathogen, but a deficiency symptom. Growing fruits lack calcium at the fruit tip.
More on Flower-end rotTetranychus urticae
The two-spotted spider mite appears above all in dry heat in the greenhouse and sucks on the underside of the leaves, which makes the leaves first pale and speckled, then dull bronze coloured, before…
More on Two-spotted spider miteThysanoptera
Thrips are tiny, elongated insects that become particularly active on warm, muggy days, which is why they are also called thunderflies.
More on Thrips (thunderflies)Tuta absoluta
The tomato leafminer (Tuta absoluta) is a small moth whose caterpillars feed inside the leaves and fruit of tomatoes and their relatives.
More on Tomato leafminerVerticillium dahliae
Verticillium wilt is a soil borne fungal disease that enters through the roots and blocks the plant's vascular tissue.
More on Verticillium wiltTrialeurodes vaporariorum
The whitefly is a heat loving sap sucker that appears above all in the greenhouse and on container plants: larvae and pupae sit on the undersides of the leaves, and when the plant is knocked the…
More on WhiteflyVarieties
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
What other gardeners have written down about this variety, anonymous and voluntary.
No notes shared yet. Will you be the first to write one down?
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.