Gardening 101: Bell Peppers

Bell peppers, also called green peppers, are easy to grow, even if you only have a small raised garden bed, a sunny spot in a flower bed, or a large pot on the porch. The ease of storing extra peppers for later use is a real bonus.

You may recall that last year was my first year taking over the bulk of the gardening duties from my husband. Well, I wouldn’t say my first year as top gardener around here is going to get me the title of “top” anything.

But I am learning lots of things. I’m a shortcut kind of girl when it comes to gardening…don’t ask me about ALL the technical bits. I prefer some simplified advice: how deep to dig and how wide to plant. Stuff that gets me in the dirt today, not reading scientific tomes on the acidity and possible pitfalls. Trial and error, that’s more my style. With some intervention from my husband, shaking his head or gasping in horror – he likes all the detailed bits.

I believe if we learn from each other, we save time, money, and frustration.

In a time such as this, with people at home, looking for ways to be self-sustainable, I encourage you to consider vegetable gardening. Whether you’re a stickler for detail or a plant it and see what happens kind of person, I believe that you can succeed at this! Because my husband is one and I’m the other, and we’ve both dealt with success and loss in the garden. The only way you fail is if you don’t try at all.

Back to the bell peppers…

Planting, Productivity, & Hardiness

I had bell peppers galore.

Although I had a few people tell me that they had trouble growing them, this was the easiest, most carefree plant in my garden last year.

I started with good soil in my newly built raised beds.

I planted 4 ‘regular’ sweet bell pepper plants (Better Belle) and 4 mini bell pepper (Sweetie Pie) plants. I bought young plants from a local nursery, where they were sold in packs of 4. I planted one of the mini pepper plants in a pot on my porch, as a trial for container gardening.

Going into a new gardening season, I will probably plant only the regular sized peppers. I didn’t notice a greater yield with the mini peppers. However, it’s always good to try varieties out for yourself, and see what you prefer.

Planting a pepper plant is not complicated. I used a small hand trowel to dig a hole, filled the hole with water, pulled the pepper plant out of the pack and deposited it in the hole. Then I pulled the dirt back into the hole, packing it around the roots of the plant.

Plant them securely, adding plenty of dirt to the hole to support the plant. They will grow fairly big and may try to fall over under the weight of the peppers. I didn’t worry about them too much, and straightened them up (careful not to break any part of the plant!). Usually picking the peppers helped in standing them back up. It’s o.k. to even let them droop, but vegetables touching the ground will rot faster, so you may have to pick the vegetables sooner rather than later.

You can ‘stake’ them up, like tomatoes, but I didn’t feel the need to do that.

I also planted them closer than the recommended distance. I know this from the gardeners in the family. If you truly spaced all the plants the full recommended distance, you would need a very big garden! However, having said that, make sure you give them some room between plants and don’t plant them right on top of one another.

While the recommended distances were 18-24 inches apart for the Better Belles and 36 inches apart for the Sweetie Pies, all of mine were approximately 16-18 inches apart. And one mini bell pepper plant had a large flower pot all to itself.

The one planted in the container required more of my time and attention. It needed water frequently, and I’m sorry to say it didn’t get as much water as it would have liked. Nonetheless, it held on to life and produced peppers, just not as many as the ones in the raised beds. I watered the ones in the beds a time or two, but for the most part, they managed without my intervention.  As a matter of fact, when times got tough and rain was scarce, the eggplants dropped their leaves and gave up the ghost, but the pepper plants held on and kept producing peppers. Impressive.

If you want to read some more tips on planting and growing green peppers, check out this informative Burpee article.

Facts & Health Benefits

Did you know that all green peppers will change color if left long enough? We had several turn red on the plant while others held on to their green color longer.

Apparently a green pepper is not quite ripe, or that’s what I read. Anyway, we consumed most of ours in their green stage. I can’t say I noticed a huge difference in the ones that turned red – I didn’t think they were sweeter, and the green ones seem crisper to me.

I do think the different colors look impressive in recipes or on a vegetable tray.

According to this Healthline article, green peppers improve eye health and help prevent anemia, and contain 7 vitamins and minerals as well as numerous antioxidants.

Eating Bell Peppers

Bell peppers have a fairly mild flavor, making them a great addition to just about any recipe. Soups, chili, spaghetti sauce, and scrambled eggs are some of the most obvious dishes to which you could add some diced pepper. They are also easily added to the filling fixings of burritos or tacos.

Honestly, peppers may be added to just about any casserole or sautéed recipe because the flavor is not over-powering.

My family likes sautéed mushrooms, onions, and peppers along with grilled or sautéed chicken breasts.

Stuffed bell peppers are also a favorite of ours, and easy to make. Cut the pepper in half and remove the rinds and seeds. ‘Stuff’ with any ingredients of your choice and either bake in the oven or slow cook in the crock pot. The ‘stuffing’ might be leftovers from another meal:  I usually stuff my (uncooked, raw) peppers with a mixture of cooked hamburger, cooked rice, tomato sauce (or any kind of tomatoes you have), a little salt, minced onion & garlic to season, then put them in the crock pot for 6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high. Add shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese to the top if you’d like, during the last half hour. My grandma used to make stuffed peppers, using pieces of bread instead of rice, and baking them in the oven rather than a crock pot.

Bell peppers may be eaten raw: with dip, on salads, as an addition to a pasta salad, or add a few slices to your sandwich. I’m not crazy about them on a sandwich, but I often add a few because they don’t have a strong flavor and they’re good for me.

Just the other night, I sautéed some diced peppers, straight out of a bag from the freezer from last year’s harvest. I added them to a big bowl of hash browns, crumbled browned sausage, and scrambled eggs (from our chickens!). It was a hardy meal, a la Waffle House, and the green and red diced peppers added color and flavor to what would have otherwise been a rather bland looking entrée. My family decided to wrap the leftovers up in tortillas for breakfast burritos the next morning.

Freezing Bell Peppers

The simplest way to store peppers is to freeze them.

And here’s the best part: it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. There is no pre-cooking or extensive prep work involved.

All you have to do is wash them, cut them open and remove the seeds, then chop, slice or dice them however you like. Put as many as you would use in a recipe into a plastic freezer bag (make sure it’s for freezing and not just a storage bag), squeeze all the air out, seal securely, and pop them in the freezer until you need them.

You can even just cut them in half, remove the seeds, and freeze them like that for stuffed pepper recipes later.

Grow a Garden, Reap the Benefits

It’s definitely worth it to grow your own vegetables. The vegetables taste better. The health benefits are many: not only are the vegetables healthier, but the lifestyle and time spent outside contribute to your health as well. Then there’s the satisfaction of growing your own food and the confidence knowing the quality of that food.

Bell pepper plants are an easy and satisfying addition to your gardening endeavors. Even if you only have a patio or a small garden or raised bed, they will yield lots of return for your time and space.

You might also enjoy:

• Get in the Dirt: an encouragement to start your own vegetable garden
• Making a List: Garden Preparations: getting ready before you actually start buying, digging, and planting!
• For the Love of Chickens: another way to self sustain and provide your own food – healthy eggs! Here are three recommended backyard breeds that are literally in my yard. And some thoughts on a rooster.