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When planting peppers in containers, just how big does the container need to be?
We start our peppers in Styrofoam cups (that we reuse many times – just be sure to wash them out well). I like to let them get nice and rootbound before transplanting them into larger pots. Sometimes, we plant the peppers right into the ground in the greenhouse.
These peppers above have been transplanted from the Styrofoam cup right into the ground.
These peppers have been transplanted from the cups into 2 gallon pots. Lots of room there to grow nice and big!
I like to have a few on the porch, because pepper plants are so beautiful when they’re nice and healthy. These are smaller than 2 gallon pots, but still lots of room for them to grow.
Fruiting peppers in the greenhouse. We run drip hose around the plants and put the watering on a timer, which saves us a lot of time every day. This year ALL the peppers will be in pots, as we will need room in the Greenhouse to grow pole beans.
You can see that peppers can be put into containers of all sizes. Since peppers crave sun and heat, be sure to put them outside in those conditions. If you’ve got a concrete retaining wall, walkway or patio, put a few pots of peppers on the concrete. They will love and appreciate the extra heat being soaked up by the sun hitting the concrete.
One year, I ran out of room putting peppers in the ground in the greenhouse. I had a few Styrofoam cups with pepper plants left over, which I left on the table. I just watered the cups every day while I was checking out the rest of the veggies. Here’s a picture of the end result!
There’s 3 peppers on each of those plants and they even turned colour! So, you see, you don’t need to plant peppers in huge pots!
This year, we are determined to harvest a lot of peppers that we can sell at the Farmer’s Market. The leftovers will be preserved by dehydrating, pickling and maybe even turning into jelly. If you’re also growing lots of peppers (or you find a great deal at a farm stand) you may want to look through this book. Filled with over 200 Pepper recipes, you’ll find appetizer, soup, salad recipes and more.
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