Growing peppers

Space individual plants 12 to 18 inches apart.
Before planting, add some general purpose fertilizer and compost to the soil.
For highest yields, provide extra calcium and phosphorus. Garden lime (calcium carbonate), bone meal or ground up eggshells will add calcium to the soil. Bone meal, fish meal, or well rotted manure are a good way to add more phosphorus.
Peppers do especially well in raised beds or very large containers, where the roots will feel more heat. They grow slowly in cool soil, so it is best to transplant them into the garden when the weather has stabilized.
If you want to give them a little extra protection at first, see my tip on the tomato page for surrounding the plant with a temporary “mini greenhouse”.
Place a stake next to each pepper plant (or surround them with a cage). Pepper plants seem sturdy at first, but as fruit develops they get very heavy and are likely to fall over. (I know this from personal experience and am determined it will not happen in my garden this year!)
Peppers prefer temperatures of 65 to 85 deg. F. for setting fruit.
Many peppers can be harvested at different stages. See the individual pepper variety descriptions below to get an idea. It’s your garden. Harvest them when they taste good to you!
PLEASE NOTE: The plants on my farm table have NOT been hardened off. They are straight from the greenhouse.
You can do one of the following:
1. Expose them gradually to outdoor conditions over a week
-OR (as I do)-
2. Plant them immediately and give them protection from excess sun, wind, and rain for a week or two.

Below listed are the pepper varieties being offered in 2025.

Billy Goat

Billy Goat Pepper is a hot pepper that reminds me of the Caribbean style peppers. If you like your peppers relatively hot, this Chinese variety would be the perfect for seasoning, cooking, sauces, flakes and powder. Plants are very productive, producing 1.5 inch peppers that turns from green to bright red when fully ripened. Nice pepper aroma. Plants are about 3 feet tall and peppers are about 30,000-40,000 Scoville Units. (Renaissance Farms)

Capperino

Exclusive! Hot cherry for stuffing and pickling, F1 hybrid.

Fruits have a moderate heat level and avg. 1 1/2" in diameter—just perfect for stuffing. Most fruits are round to slightly flattened. Very popular in Italy. Medium-size plants. Matures in 60 days to green; 85 days to red ripe. (Johnny’s Selected Seeds)

Chinese 5 Color

Chinese 5 Color Pepper is a uniquely colored variety that literally changes to 4 different colors before fully ripening to its final 5th color, red. Have a look at my images and you will see the beauty of this pepper as it goes through its stages. A tasty variety, it packs medium heat and would be perfect for cooking in soups and stews. Would also make great pepper powder or flakes. Plants have dark /purple colored foliage and production is good. Be patient, as these plants take a little longer to mature. Once they start producing, they never stop. It’s almost November here (in Indiana) and these are literally loaded with peppers of all different colors. (Renaissance Farms)

Cozumel

53 days. This very early Caribe-type pepper produces attractive and tasty, 4 inch long blonde fruit that matures through a sunset of rosy orange tones to a final red color. Thick walled and juicy, the flavor develops from mildly spicy to fruity balanced with tingly fire. F1 hybrid. (Territorial Seed)

Karmen Pepper
Karmen sweet pepper was a real hit with everyone here. Perfectly sized fruits grew on 2.5-3 feet tall plants and ripened a little later in the season. The wait was totally worth it. Very prolific variety, sweet and and fruity. Needless to say, I ate many in the garden. Crunchy, thick fleshed and has a multiplicity of uses. Cut these up for your fresh salads, have them as a stand-alone snack, use them in your cooking or for plating. Nice rich red color when fully ripened. Open pollinated. (Renaissance Farms)

Lemon Starburst

This pepper is one of my favorite varieties. Known for its bright yellow color and distinctive starburst shape. With a sharp, citrusy flavor and habanero level heat, it features thin, crisp walls that make it perfect for hot sauces, salsas, or adding a unique twist to your culinary creations. The thin walls provide a delightful crunch and allow for quick drying or roasting. (PDX Peppers)
(Seeds provided by Katrina. Thank you!)

Mellow Star

Traditional Japanese shishito pepper, F1 hybrid.

Avg. 3 1/2-4" heavily wrinkled fruits are thin walled, mild (no heat) when green and slightly sweet when red. Popular in Japan where its thin walls make it particularly suitable for tempura. Also very good roasted, in stir fries, or sautés. In Asia, fruits are always cooked green but they also may be used red. Thinly sliced, the red fruits are excellent in salads and coleslaw. Large, upright plants produce good yields over an extended harvest period. (Johnny’s Selected Seeds)

Pizza Pepper
80 days. Jalapeño type. If you like the flavor of hot peppers but no so much fire, Pizza Pepper will be a hit. It is the heaviest, most thick-walled pepper we have ever seen. This means big pepper wedges with just a hint of zing. The 3 to 4 inch pendulous, cone-shaped peppers on 14 to 18 inch tall plants are most flavorful when green, and sweetest when red. Early and prolific. Open pollinated. (Territorial Seed)

Primero Red
80 days. The earliest ripening habanero, and also somewhat more gentle, heat-wise, than typical, very hot habanero varieties. Primero Red ripens right around the time of many bell peppers and produces very generous yields of these delightfully fruity peppers. The fruit averages 2-3 ½ inches long and 1-1 ½ inches wide, ripening from green to red with moderately wrinkled skin. F1 hybrid. (Territorial Seed)

One of the Best Producers in our Garden (Susan on 11 March 2023) “Can't say enough good things about this pepper The plants were strong and healthy all summer long. Each produced so many peppers I had a hard time keeping up with them; fresh eating, pickling, freezing, drying. The fruit had thick walls for a habanero, less wrinkles and larger size. Gorgeous on the plant; jewel like colors were outstanding going from a lemon yellow to orange then scarlet red. The skins were smooth, shiny and blemish free and they stored for an unbelievably long time in the refrigerator. The canopy of leaves sheltered the fruit well so I was harvesting these peppers even after a light frost in the fall… I highly recommend this pepper.”

Pumpkin Spice Jalapeno

Produced by New Mexico State University, the Pumpkin Spice Jalapeño is a heavy producer of delicious peppers. (PDX Peppers)
(Seeds provided by Katrina. Thank you!)

Scotch Bonnet yellow pepper

When I want pepper sauce for seasoning my meats, soups and most foods, I use Scotch Bonnet Peppers. For me, this variety makes the best, middle of the heat chain sauce. I also use it to temp down some of the hotter varieties. By combining them with varieties such as Trinidad Scorpion, Ghosts and Carolina Reaper, my sauces are just right for seasoning or spreading over foods. When making these hot sauces I mix 3 Scotch Bonnets to 1 super hot. That makes the heat and flavor perfect for me! Scotch Bonnets have a Scoville unit rating of 80,000 to 400,000. So they do pack some heat. On that same scale, Jalapeño have a score of 5,000, with Ghost peppers 1,041,427 and Carolina Reaper 1,641,000. So if you don’t like super hot heat, this variety may be a good choice. Prolific plants.
Caution. If you are not used to chili peppers this one can be out of your league, so please be careful. (Renaissance Farms)