It's already time to start sowing chili peppers. As seed germination is slower and the time before fruit ripeness is longer, the end of March is the perfect time to dream of summer.
The secret is in the heat and the burning sun
Peppers (which are mild peppers) or chili peppers (which are hotter and spicy) are gourmet and finicky vegetables. All varieties of peppers need only one thing: sun, and more sun. These are plants that love heat and need it to develop all the flavor potential they contain.
Seedlings
From sowing, it is optimal to maintain the soil around 26° to 30° Celsius to maximize germination. Seedlings need all the light you can give them. Chillies and peppers wilt easily.
Transplanting and fertilizer: patience is essential
When the plants have two true leaves, you can transplant them into a potting soil that is a little richer in compost. Choose 4-inch pots to transplant them once before transplanting them outdoors.
Before acclimatizing them to life in the great outdoors
Before planting them outside, the soil must be well warmed, that is to say around 15 degrees Celsius. When spring is cool and late, the plants sown in March are already large without being able to take them out. It is better to pinch the terminal bud to slow them down than to take them out in the cold. If you have transplanted your peppers or chili peppers and a cool night is forecast, you can install hoops and P19 canvas to protect them at night.
Once your plants have been transplanted to the garden, as soon as they are growing, fertilize twice per season (in spring and summer), sprinkling 150 to 200 grams of Bio-jardin fertilizer (4-3-6) at the base of each plant. Avoid fertilizers that are too rich in nitrogen: they promote wilting indoors and push plants to only produce leaves outdoors.
Their preferred conditions
Chillies and peppers like very rich soils and regular deep watering, because producing so many sweet and juicy fruits is very demanding. We must encourage the growth of a root system deep in the soil with abundant and prolonged watering at low flow rates. A healthy root system allows you to better resist drought and not suffer as much from apical rot which is favored by variations in water supply.
Furthermore, leave enough room for air to circulate around the plants to prevent foliage diseases at the end of the season.
If you live in a region where the growing season is shorter, it may be interesting to choose varieties that produce earlier so that your fruits reach full maturity. Another option would also be to grow them in pots to be able to group them together, come fall, under a shelter or greenhouse which will extend the growing season.
From harvest to table
Chillies and peppers are edible at all stages of their life, but the more ripe they are, the better they are.
Peppers can be eaten in all sauces: as raw vegetables, in salads, in stir-fries, in soups, stuffed, in sauces. Tasting several varieties one by one allows you to discover a world of flavors that you cannot imagine with the usual grocery store pepper.
These fruits will keep for around ten days in the refrigerator, in a half-opened airtight container. For longer storage, it is also possible to dry them, marinate them or freeze them.
