Mixed Color Pepper Seeds (20 Seeds)

Mixed Color Pepper brings together a cheerful range of sweet bell peppers that ripen into glossy shades of red, yellow and orange on the same plant family. These are the classic blocky, thick-walled sweet peppers, with crisp, juicy flesh and a mild, almost fruity taste that turns noticeably sweeter the longer the fruit is left to colour up. Picked green they add crunch and freshness; left to ripen they reach their full colour and rich sweetness. The mix is wonderful fresh in salads, sliced for stuffing, roasting and grilling, and the bright colours also make the plants an attractive, ornamental addition to a sunny balcony or home garden.

Planting

Sweet peppers are a warm-season crop, so it pays to get a head start indoors. Sow the seeds about 0.6 cm deep in a sterile seed-starting mix, roughly 8 weeks before you plan to move the young plants outdoors. Warmth is the key to good germination: keep the soil at 27-32°C and seedlings usually emerge in about 7-10 days, while cooler soil makes them sprout very slowly — peppers need at least 18-21°C to germinate at all. Once true leaves appear, thin or prick out the seedlings to about 5-7.5 cm apart. Transplant outdoors only after all frost has passed, once nighttime lows stay above 10°C and the soil has warmed to around 18°C. Give each plant plenty of room, spacing them about 30-46 cm apart in rows 61-91 cm apart; compact types can go a little closer at around 30 cm. Choose a spot in full sun — peppers perform best above 15°C, while temperatures above 30°C reduce fruit set and nights below 10-13°C slow growth.

Fertilizing

Peppers reward steady, balanced feeding rather than heavy nitrogen. Too much nitrogen produces bushy, leafy plants that set little fruit, so go easy on it. At transplanting time, water the young plants in with a high-phosphorus starter solution to help them settle. Once the first flush of peppers has set, give a supplemental side-dressing, applying phosphorus and potassium according to a soil test. If you are growing in containers, feed weekly with a high-potassium liquid fertiliser from the moment flowering begins to keep the plants productive.

Care

Consistent moisture is what keeps peppers healthy and fruiting well. Aim for about 2.5 cm of water per week when rain is lacking, ideally through drip irrigation rather than overhead watering, and keep the soil evenly moist — uneven watering causes flowers and buds to drop and leads to blossom-end rot. Watch for common pests such as aphids, cutworms, tomato hornworms, tarnished plant bugs and flea beetles, and stay alert to diseases like bacterial spot, Phytophthora and mosaic viruses, as well as physiological problems such as blossom-end rot and sunscald. Start picking when the green fruit are about 8-10 cm long, firm, glossy and full-sized, or leave them on the plant longer to ripen into red, yellow or orange for a sweeter flavour. Harvest the first fruits promptly with shears to encourage more to set; full maturity runs roughly 60-90 days from transplanting, depending on the variety.

Best time to plant in Egypt

Peppers are frost-sensitive and need soil above about 18°C to transplant, with air temperatures of 15-30°C for the best fruit set; above 30°C and on hot dry winds the flowers simply drop. In the Nile Delta and Lower Egypt, start seed in a nursery or greenhouse in January-February and transplant the young seedlings in March-April once frost risk has gone and the soil has warmed, for harvest from late spring into early summer before the peak heat. For a fall ("Nili") crop, sow in July-August and transplant in late August-September to harvest in the cooler autumn months. In the North Delta, simple low tunnels or greenhouses also allow protected winter production, transplanting in autumn and cropping through the mild winter. In the warmer governorates of Upper Egypt such as Assiut, Sohag and Aswan, shift spring planting a little earlier — transplant in February-March — so flowering finishes before the very hot months, and favour the autumn and winter slots over summer, when temperatures routinely climb past 35-40°C and abort the blossoms.