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How To Grow Sweet Peppers in a Container

There are some vegetables that do not require a lot of space to thrive. One such vegetable is the sweet pepper which is one of the easiest vegetables that you can plant. Caribbean people add sweet peppers to anything and everything from salad to pasta to seasonings to rice.

How to Grow Sweet Peppers

There are two main ways that you can grow sweet peppers. One way is to start from scratch and sow some seeds or you can buy some seedlings and plant them.

Here’s what you will need to grow sweet peppers in a container:

  • A fairly large container with good drainage at the bottom – This can be a pot or half of a garbage can.
  • Stones or gravel – These prevent the soil from running out of the container.
  • Soil – Preferably 1/2 potting soil and 1/2 regular soil (you can use potting soil if you don’t have access to regular soil).
  • Fertilizer – I don’t have a preference, but choose an all-purpose fertilizer that would work for more than one type of crop.
  • Sweet pepper seeds or seedlings
  • A small trowel (when I first started, I used an old dinner fork :) )
  • Water – I prefer to use a spray bottle or plastic bottle because I can control the flow of water a lot better.

Let’s get started!

1. Mix the potting soil, regular soil and the fertilizer together using your trowel.

2. Place some stones at the bottom of the container.

3. Add your soil mixture to the container and carefully wet the soil and continue to mix, not disturbing the stones at the bottom.

4. Dig a couple of holes and put your seeds in and cover them with soil. (Some people wait a few days before planting, but I go straight ahead and plant my seeds or seedlings as soon as I’ve finished wetting the soil). Because the sweet pepper seeds are so small, I usually throw about four or five into one hole and many times only a few of them grow. If you’re planting seedlings, dig about a few holes and place them strategically in the container and cover the roots.

5. Wet your seeds and seedlings as soon as you have finished planting.

Make sure to water your plants on a daily basis. I used to wet my seedlings twice a day – on mornings and on evenings. You should also monitor your plants for pests such as caterpillars, white flies and aphids.

Happy planting!