Top 5 Peppers To Grow

As they say, variety is the spice of life and with these easy to grow pepper plants, you not only get variety, you can also get a lot of spice!

While tomatoes are usually considered the staple fixture of any garden, many gardeners have found that some peppers are even easier and nearly maintenance free.

Whether you have a huge garden, visit here or just a few containers, these five pepper plants aren’t just easy to grow, they’re delicious and can be added to nearly any meal!

Bell Peppers (Capsicum)

Bell peppers are one of the most versatile and usable peppers due to their sweet and mild taste. Bell peppers are also very easy to grow and maintain, and don’t require any special care other than regular watering and plenty of sun.

• Bell pepper plants thrive in moist soil, so try to water about 1 to 2 inches of water a week. You’ll know you’re watering too much if the stems and peppers are soft and squishy.
• Fertilizer bell peppers using phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium, so use an organic fertilizer or Azomite to provide these nutrients.

Bell Peppers (Capsicums)

A little Epsom salt (high in magnesium) is also a great fertilizer for bell peppers.

Bell peppers are unique in that the more mature the pepper gets, the sweeter the flavor, giving you full control over what you want. As the pepper gets older, it will go from green to red, yellow, or orange. Some even turn purple! However, it can take 100 days for a pepper to turn red, so have patience. Once you’re ready to pick a bell pepper, don’t pull it. Use scissors or pruners to clip it from its stem so you don’t damage the plant.

Banana Peppers (Paprika)

Banana Peppers are grown in quite the same way as bell peppers. They come in many varieties, ranging from hot to sweet. The hot ones can get as hot as a habanero, so don’t take a huge bite unless you’re daring!

• Like bell peppers, banana peppers require 1 to 2 inches of water a week and full sunlight.
• Banana Peppers appreciate a fertilizer rich in phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium.

If you aren’t familiar with selecting fertilizer, try a 5-10-10 solution (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium).

Like most peppers, banana peppers change colors, going from green, to yellow, to red, with yellow being the best time to pick. A good rule to remember is that a sweet pepper will get sweeter as it matures, while a hot pepper gets hotter.

Banana Peppers (Paprika)

Jalapeno Peppers

Because Jalapenos have a very long growing time, taking as long as 120 days to produce peppers, you’ll want to start these indoors or buy already established plants.

• Like the other pepper plants, Jalapenos are no different and require full sun and 1 to 2 inches of water a week, so try to keep the soil moist on those really hot days.
• Use a high nitrogen, low phosphorous fertilizer when the plant is in its vegetative stage and a low nitrogen, high phosphorous when the plant is blooming.
• As they age, jalapenos turn from green to red but most people pick them when they’re dark green.

After harvesting, make sure you don’t touch your eyes or mouth and wash your hands immediately!

Jalapenos

Tabasco Pepper (Chilli)

The tabasco chili pepper is famous for its use in Tabasco sauce. On the Scoville scale, which measures how hot a pepper is, Tabasco peppers rank around 30,000–50,000 (Jalapenos are around 3,500–10,000). As Tabasco peppers mature, they turn from yellow, green, orange, and reach full maturity at red, which is when they’re usually picked. Make sure you plant these hotties in full sun and water every other day. When harvesting, use pruners and wear gloves!

Tabasco Peppers (Chilli)

Mariachi Pepper

Mariachi peppers are relatively new to the pepper world, created from hybrid breading. They’re relatively mild (about 500 on the Scoville scale), and produce very colorful cone shaped peppers, ranging from a pale creamy yellow to a very bright red. As mariachi peppers get more popular, more and more gardeners are realizing just how easy they are to grow and maintain. Follow the same rules as you did with the other four peppers and you’ll be golden with the mariachis as well.