Please review my Cosmos European tour as it never got put on the new reviews list! Going to be a mum...
Please review my Cosmos European tour as it never got put on the new reviews list! Going to be a mummy in May!x
Member since:26.04.2006
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Growing Sweet Peppers
I took a gap year out and the communities I seen along the way grew a lot of their own food, which inspired me to grow some vegetables of my own. I decided to be adventurous and grow peppers. They are quite hard work but worth it in the end when you are cutting off the delicious peppers to eat. Sweet peppers are in the same family as tomatoes and potatoes. They produce large fruits, which can be yellow, green and red depending on how ripe it is.
From February/March onwards you can scatter seeds thinly onto moistened compost. Keep this compost moist but not soaked. Cover the seeds with about half a centimetre of compost, then glass and newspaper. Turn the glass daily to prevent condensation dripping onto the seedlings.
I have successfully germinated seeds with just newspaper over them in a unheated greenhouse. It will take 7 to 12 days for germination to happen. In my experience this may be because I do not have a heated greenhouse it can take up to two weeks to see the seedlings. Sweet peppers need high temperatures and humidity to grow well.
As soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle prick a single seed out and put them into 3 inch peat pots. Feed them to maintain steady growth. It is possible to grow these plants outside in mild sheltered areas with the aid of cloches or tall-sided cold frames.
Personally I have not tried this and find it easier to stick to using the greenhouse as I find it easier. You can plant them out from the end of April to June, really after the risk of frost has passed. These plants really don't like the frost and will not survive in frosty conditions. When planting out you will need to transplant the plants as they now will be bigger into 9 inch pots and space them 18 inch's apart each way so each plant has the best chance of getting enough light and growing properly. At this stage water and liquid feed once a week.
Now your plants should be growing well and once they are 6 inch tall you will need to remove the growing point (this is the leaves at the top of the plant that are clumped together). This will leave 3-4 branches and will encourage the plant to branch. At this point it is best to support and tie them to bamboo canes if necessary.
At this stage onwards you will have to look out for pests and bugs. Some common ones are spray aphids, whitefly or red spiders. If you check the leaves you can remove them manually and if the problem persists you can use sprays to kill or remove them. The main problem I have is slugs eating the leaves. I had to buy slug pellets and made sure I got ones that did not harm my cat, as he is silly enough to eat them. Even so I try to keep the cat away from the plants and pellets. I tried egg shells to start off with but to be honest they weren't very effective and the slugs ate a lot of my plants and even ate some of my peppers quite badly.
Now this is the fun part and this is harvesting the fruits. From July onwards they can be harvested. The fruits will be large, green and glossy. If you leave the pepper for a few extra weeks it will turn red. Some people prefer red peppers but it is just a matter of taste. To remove the peppers from the plant make sure to cut them with something sharp so you don't damage the plant. Then eat your delicious organic pepper, which you have grown.
It takes a considerable amount of work to grow pepper plants from seed and it takes a long time before they bear any peppers, however I feel that it is worth the time and effort. Seeds only cost roughly £1.50 and you can half lots of plants from a packet. You will just need to have the space to grow them all.
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