Patio Hot Pepper Garden

1. Planting: Plant your peppers after the danger of frost has passed and nighttime temperatures are consistently 60 degrees or higher.  Peppers like being warm, so planting too early will cause stress and weaken your plants. Plant your peppers where part of the stem is below ground as you would tomatoes. Once you've planted your pepper, give it a good watering. Place your pepper plant in the middle of the grow bag and the companion herbs towards the side of the grow bag. 

Your garden will thrive with at least 6-8 hours of direct sun every day and enjoy cool evenings, as long as the temperature doesn't dip below 50 degrees. If the weather is forecasted to be over 90 degrees or below 50 degrees, we recommend moving your garden inside for brief periods.

After planting, remember to pinch off the first flowers to help the plants focus their energy on getting bigger and establishing a healthy root system.

2. Watering: Get in the habit of checking on your garden every morning until you get a feel for how often your garden needs to be watered. Always take advantage of rainwater by letting nature do the work for you.  Peppers need about 2 inches of water per week in the growing season. If you’re in an extremely hot climate or a drought, they may need as much as a gallon of water per day. Your kit includes mulch—place the mulch at the base of the pepper plant to help retain moisture and keep the soil temperature balanced.  Wait until the soil temperature is warm before adding the mulch.

3. Fertilizing: Your Patio Pepper Garden Kit includes all the plant nutrients you need throughout the season. Remember to mark your calendars for the 30 day and 60 day feeding schedule.

4. Harvesting: You can begin enjoying your peppers 60-75 days after planting, and your herbs will be ready for their first harvest 14-21 days after planting. Up to 60% of the herb can be harvested at one time. Harvest your herbs early in the morning, before the heat of the day for the best flavor. Depending on your taste, you can harvest your peppers anytime from the green point to a more mature point, which is most often red, but sometimes a rich golden orange. Peppers taste sweeter the more mature they are at harvest time. When you harvest your peppers, always cut them from the plant with clean garden shears or a hand pruner.

5. Pruning: Pruning peppers encourages stronger stems and branching and can result in improved yields. Early season pepper plant pruning should be done when the plant is at least a foot tall. Most pepper plants have an overall ‘Y’ shape and branches then create smaller and smaller ‘Y’s off of the main stems. Cut back smaller branches, including any suckers. Suckers are branches growing from the crook where two other branches form a ‘Y’. Be careful not to damage the main ‘Y’ of the plant, as this is the backbone of the plant. Damaging it will cause the plant to perform poorly. 

Pruning herbs keeps them growing strong. Pruning, or cutting off leaves and parts of the herb stems will signal the plant to continue growing and keep your garden thick and lush. Regular harvests will also keep you in tune with how your garden is thriving. Pruning can be accomplished by pinching with your fingers for the smaller stems or using clean shears for heavier work.  

6. Pollination Info: Pepper plants are self-pollinating, which means that a single plant can set fruit by itself. Self-pollinating plants still need wind, bee’s wings, or some other stimulus to release the pollen. Your pepper garden is an outdoor garden, so the pollinating should happen naturally.

Let your plants feed the pollinators. Peppers and herbs are among the best plants for the bee population. Bees are valuable pollinators and carry on the cycle of nature.  With the decline in the honeybee population, identifying one or two of your herbs to be pollinator plants is a welcome idea. Bees are attracted to plants that flower in full sun, so your herbs that thrive in the sun and produce tiny flowers are a wonderful way to attract the pollinators.