The demand for organic vegetables from your own garden continues to rise. Especially with Mediterranean vegetables, questions arise as to whether and how you can grow and grow peppers yourself, for example. If you don't want to buy young plants, simply remove the seeds from fully ripe, red pods.

Prepare the pepper seeds to pull yourself

If you want to grow peppers and germinate them yourself, you should pay attention to the typical characteristics of the plant. Because they are not native plants, the climate in particular can cause them problems. Peppers need more time, warmth and light than other fruiting vegetables.

The colored supermarket peppers are not different varieties, but different degrees of ripeness. Therefore, make sure that the seeds you pull and sow yourself come from a fully ripe, red pod. Once removed from the fruit, the pips must be cleaned, dried and stored until spring. From March you can prepare the seeds you have kept for sowing.

Grow your own peppers - everything you need

A window sill on the south side is the ideal location for sowing the peppers, or you can support the seed with plant light during the germination period. Besides patience you need:

  • seed
  • Mini greenhouse (€7.95) or foil
  • Peat or yoghurt cups
  • Germination substrate or potting soil
  • seed soil
  • bamboo sticks
  • fertilizer

Seedlings sprout from seeds

Those who garden according to the moon use the waxing phase of the moon until the full moon at the beginning of March. Because this time should be devoted to sowing fruit plants such as tomatoes or peppers that develop above ground. From seed to seedling in just a few steps:

  • soak dried pepper seeds for 1 day
  • Stick only one seed per cup about 1 centimeter deep into moist soil, cover and press down lightly.
  • Place the pots in the mini greenhouse or under foil on a window bench.
  • Important: Ventilate daily to prevent mold growth.
  • At a constant, warm, humid temperature of 25° degrees, the first seedlings will sprout after 2 to 3 weeks.

From seedling to many colored pods

From a height of 10 centimeters it is time to prick out the young plants. To do this, carefully plant the peppers with the complete root ball in pots or in the bed. In addition to heat, it now requires a little more care, lukewarm watering and fertilizer.

Growing your own peppers in a greenhouse is faster and more reliable than outdoors. Plants are protected from wind and weather under glass. This will make the peppers bloom faster. Harvest of the first fruits in the greenhouse is from July. Outdoor peppers in the garden or on the balcony can be harvested from August to the end of October.

tips and tricks

Paprika not only enriches the menu, but thanks to its wonderful flowers, is also suitable as an ornamental plant for the garden or balcony.

Category:

Vegetable garden