Sweet Pepper F1 Phoebus 

Sweet peppers come in a good range of fruit colours when mature - red, orange, yellow and even purple. This makes them an excellent ornamental vegetable to grow - even in mixed flower borders or in pots on the patio. Although they tend to crop better when grown under cover - such as in a greenhouse or grow frame - sweet peppers are reliable croppers outside in warm, sunny summers. 

 

Grow your own 

 

Difficulty – Easy 

 

Sow - February-April 

 

Plant Out - May-June 

 

Harvest – July-October 

 

Seed Packet - aprox 20 Seeds 

 

Sow from mid-February to early April indoors in pots or seed trays of seed compost. You will need to keep the temperature around 18-21°C (65-70°F), so use a propagator or place on a warm windowsill, with plastic bags over the pots to keep the heat and moisture in. 

 

Young plants are available from garden centres in spring as an alternative to sowing. 

 

You can grow peppers in containers or in growing bags or in open ground, as long as it is a sheltered, sunny spot (at the base of a wall for instance). 

 

Transplant into 7.5-9cm (3-3.5in) pots when two true leaves have formed. 

 

Further transfer plants to 30cm (12in) pots of good compost once the roots fill the 9cm (3in) pot in late April (if growing in a heated greenhouse), mid-May (if in an unheated greenhouse) or late May if growing outside. 

 

Pinch out the growing tips of chillies when they are about 20cm (8in) tall to encourage bushiness; sideshoots (the shoots forming between the main stem and leaves) can be further pinched back if you want lots of smaller fruit. 

 

You may need to stake and tie plants in if they produce lots of heavy fruit. 

 

Water regularly and feed with a high potash liquid fertiliser once the first fruit has set. 

 

Pick the fruit as required when it is green, swollen and glossy. Alternatively, keep the fruit on the plant to turn red; this affects both flavour and heat. However, leaving fruit on to mature does reduce yield.