How to Plant Sweet Peppers

Overview

Sweet peppers grow successfully in most home gardens. Many gardeners happily fill their garden plots with a variety of different sweet and hot peppers for harvesting later in the summer. For best results, plant sweet peppers outside in the ground after the overnight temperatures stay at least 55 degrees F. Prepare a sunny garden spot for sweet pepper plants with a rich, well-draining soil and you are sure to harvest a bountiful pepper crop.

Step 1

Prepare the garden area by working the soil with the spade. Loosen the soil down to a depth of at least 8 inches. Place a 1-inch layer of compost onto the top of the soil and work this into the soil well.

Step 2

Plan the location of the holes for the pepper plants. Make each hole 1.5 feet apart along the rows. Keep 3 feet of space between the rows.

Step 3

Sprinkle 2 tbsp. of fertilizer on the spot where each hole will be and mix the fertilizer into the soil well.

Step 4

Dig each hole 4 inches deep and 3 inches wide. Fill each hole with water and allow the water to soak into the soil completely.

Step 5

Remove the sweet pepper plants from the temporary pots and place each plant into the prepared holes so that the plants will be at the same level they were in the pots. Replace the dirt into the holes around the pepper plant roots, making an indented area immediately around the plant stalk to help to retain water in this area.

Step 6

Water the sweet pepper plants well. Keep the pepper plants watered regularly to avoid wilting.