Vegetables · Warm
Pepper
Solanaceae
At a glance
- Plant spacing
- 50 cm
- USDA zones
- 5a–11a
- Frost-sensitive
- yes
- Growth duration
- 18 weeks
Which beds suit?
- Sun (prefers)
- full sunAlso okay:partial shade
- Soil (prefers)
- raised-bed mixAlso okay:loamy
- Drainage (prefers)
- normalAlso okay:very free-draining
Seed & start
Pre-culture recommended
Start indoors / cold frame first, transplant into the raised bed later.
Stachi's tip
Pepper wants heat, heat, more heat. In temperate raised beds, only in the warmest spot. Black mulch or heat-collecting stones help. In a cool year, a cocktail variety is more reliable than the big block peppers.
The plant's year: sowing, transplanting, harvest
Sowing
Transplanting
Harvest
Good neighbours
Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
Avoid these neighbours
No known conflicts.
Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
Good pre-cultures
These plants improve the soil / free the slot early:
Sources
- Kreuter, Bio-Garten
- Kosmos Gartenkalender
- LLM-Baseline-Intercrop
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-09 yieldKg
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 family-zehrer
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 sun-soil-drainage
Where these figures come from
- Timing
- Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
- Spacing
- Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
- Companion planting
- Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
- Crop rotation
- Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
- Yield
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Sources: Kreuter, Bio-Garten · Kosmos Gartenkalender · LLM-Baseline-Intercrop · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-09 yieldKg · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 family-zehrer · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 sun-soil-drainage
Articles about this plant
Peppers and chillies in September: harvest now, ripen indoors, or overwinter the plant?
The nights are getting cooler and your raised bed still has green peppers and chillies hanging on. Now's the time to decide what to do — including whether it's worth overwintering the plant.
Before the summer storm: why you should get to your beds today
Friday is not a normal weekend — storm warnings for Saturday. If your raised bed is in the shade: harvest right now. Ripe fruits that turn brown after hail won't do you any good.
Bell peppers in the raised bed: why they're still green in August — and what helps now
Mrs Schneider is standing in front of her raised bed and every single pepper is still green. End of August. What is she doing wrong? Nothing at all. But there are a few things that make a real difference right now — and a point after which waiting no longer makes sense.
Aubergines in the raised bed: how to tell when they're ready to harvest
Frau Schneider is waiting for her aubergines. They're large and dark purple. But she's leaving them on the plant because she thinks bigger is better. That's exactly the moment when aubergines start to turn bitter.
Peppers in the raised bed: why the fruits are still green in July — and what actually helps
Peppers need patience — and a few specific things that make the difference in midsummer. Why the fruits are still green, what helps them turn red faster, and when to just harvest them green.
Raised bed while you're on holiday: who waters when you're gone
Two weeks away in high summer, and the bed sits in full sun. No plan, and you come back to hay. One hour of prep, and you come back to tomatoes. The low-tech tricks that actually last — plus the things you must not do before you leave.
Related plants
Products mentioned in this post
- Plantura organic tomato seed set (10 varieties)Open-pollinated, good germination — robust for raised beds.
- Organic tomato seed set, 14 varieties
- Organic heirloom tomato seed set (Demeter, 12 varieties)
- Organic vegetable seed set, 10 varietiesCucumber, tomato, beetroot, broccoli, carrot, chard & more.