Imported Sweet Green Pepper Seeds (20 Seeds)

The imported sweet green bell pepper is the kitchen all-rounder every home grower loves. Picked while still green, the blocky, glossy fruits have crisp, juicy walls and a clean, mild-sweet flavour with none of the heat of hot peppers. They shine raw in salads, sliced into wraps, stuffed and baked, charred on the grill, or simmered into your favourite dishes. Left a little longer on the plant the same fruits ripen on to red, yellow or orange and turn even sweeter, so a single planting can give you two flavours from one variety.

Planting

Peppers are a warm-season crop, so it pays to give them 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 outside. Warmth is everything for germination: keep the mix at 27-32°C and the seeds usually sprout in about 7-10 days, while cooler soil makes them very slow. 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, when nighttime lows stay above 10°C and the soil has warmed to around 18°C. Set plants about 30-46 cm apart in rows 61-91 cm apart, and choose a spot in full sun, where peppers perform best above 15°C.

Fertilizing

Go easy on nitrogen, as too much produces bushy, leafy plants that set little fruit. At transplant time, water the young plants in with a high-phosphorus starter solution to settle the roots. After 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 once flowering begins.

Care

Steady moisture is the secret to good peppers. Aim for about 2.5 cm of water per week when rain is lacking, ideally with drip irrigation rather than overhead watering, and keep the soil evenly moist, since uneven moisture triggers flower and bud drop and blossom-end rot. Watch the temperature too: heat above 30°C reduces fruit set, and nights below 10-13°C slow growth. Keep an eye out for common pests such as aphids, cutworms, tomato hornworms, tarnished plant bugs and flea beetles, and for diseases including bacterial spot, Phytophthora and mosaic viruses; blossom-end rot and sunscald are disorders to manage as well. Harvest green peppers when they are about 8-10 cm long, firm, glossy and full-sized, or leave them on the plant to ripen to red, yellow or orange for a sweeter flavour. Pick the first fruits promptly with shears to encourage more to set; most varieties mature roughly 60-90 days from transplant.

Growing in Egypt

Egypt's climate suits peppers across several windows. In the Nile Delta and Lower Egypt, start seed in a nursery or greenhouse in January-February and transplant the 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 through the cooler autumn months. In the North Delta, simple low tunnels or greenhouses allow protected production right through the mild winter. In warmer Upper Egypt (Assiut, Sohag, Aswan), shift spring planting earlier and transplant in February-March so flowering finishes before the very hot months, and favour the autumn and winter slots, since mid-summer temperatures routinely exceed 35-40°C and cause blossoms to drop.