How To Grow Sweet Peppers

Learning how to grow sweet peppers is not as difficult as you might think, provided you follow a few simple rules.
Sweet peppers need a lot of warmth and so are often grown under glass, although they will grow outdoors in warmer districts. I garden in a fairly warm area, but I still like to grow them under glass, certainly until the sun gets high in the sky.
Seed can be sown in a propagator in February, much as you would sow tomato seed. I take a 3" pot, fill threequarters full with a seed compost and give it a gentle soak.
Then sow the seeds about nine or ten to the pot. Cover with a little more compost, firm gently, give a little more water and place in the propagator. You could also place the pot on a kitchen windowsill, but bottom heat is preferable.
When the seeds have germinated and are about an inch or two high I transplant them into 3" pots (one to a pot) using a good compost such as John Innes No.2, although I prefer to use a 50/50 mix of John Innes No.3 and sedge peat or general purpose compost; this gives a more open mix.
Grow the plants on under glass. When they are about 5" - 6" high you can plant them out in the greenhouse border or a cold frame. Some gardeners pinch out the tops, but I don't. Water well.
When the first fruits have set, you can give a feed every two weeks or so using a standard tomato fertiliser.
If using a cold frame, you can remove the top light when the plants reach it, by which time the sun will be at full strength. Keep the plants well-watered and pick the fruits when they have reached the size you desire.
Peppers freeze very well (but only if you're going to use them for cooking, of course; they would be useless for a salad!).
Just cut off the stalk end, take out the core and all the seeds and cut into strips. Bag up and freeze. I usually find I have enough peppers in the freezer to last me the whole year.
Now you can see how to grow superb sweet peppers and how easy it really is, you'll want to do so every season.

About the Author
Jack West is a garden writer who has been growing for over forty years. His main interests are growing food and flowers for the house. Very recently he has discovered an amazing new way of making garden compost which is far, far better for plants than traditional methods! This is truly groundbreaking (sorry) stuff! Get the red-hot info here:-
http://kmeister.turnwill2.hop.clickbank.net/

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