Colorful Pepper Seeds 10 Seeds

This colorful sweet pepper mix brings a whole rainbow to one packet: blocky, thick-walled bell peppers that ripen through a range of shades from glossy green to vivid red, sunny yellow and warm orange. Left on the plant to fully color up, the flesh turns crisp, juicy and noticeably sweeter, with a mild, fruity flavour and no heat at all. The bold colours make these peppers as decorative as they are delicious, equally at home sliced raw into salads, stuffed and baked, roasted, or simply added to a stir-fry for a splash of colour. A single planting gives you a multi-colour harvest, which makes this mix a favourite for home gardens and bright market displays alike.

Planting

Peppers are a warm-season crop, so start them indoors from seed about 8 weeks before you plan to transplant outdoors. Sow about 0.6 cm deep in a sterile seed-starting mix. Warmth is everything for good germination: keep the soil at 27-32°C and seeds usually sprout in about 7-10 days, while cooler soil makes them germinate very slowly. Once true leaves appear, thin or prick out the seedlings to about 5-7.5 cm apart. Move plants outdoors only after all frost has passed, nighttime lows stay above 10°C, and the soil has warmed to around 18°C. Space the transplants about 30-46 cm apart, in rows roughly 61-91 cm apart, and give them a spot in full sun.

Fertilizing

Go easy on nitrogen — too much produces big, leafy, bushy plants that set little fruit. At transplanting, water the plants in with a high-phosphorus starter solution to get roots established. After the first flush of peppers has set, side-dress with supplemental fertilizer, 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 to support steady fruit development and rich colour.

Care

Give plants full sun; they perform best above 15°C, while temperatures above 30°C reduce fruit set and night temperatures below 10-13°C slow growth. Aim for about 2.5 cm of water per week when rain is short, ideally with drip irrigation rather than overhead watering, and keep the soil evenly moist — uneven moisture leads to flower and bud drop and to blossom-end rot. Watch for common pests such as aphids, cutworms, tomato hornworms, tarnished plant bugs and flea beetles, and for diseases like bacterial spot, Phytophthora and mosaic viruses; blossom-end rot and sunscald are physiological disorders to guard against. You can pick peppers green when they are about 8-10 cm long, firm and glossy, but leaving them on the plant to ripen to red, yellow or orange gives the sweetest flavour and the full colour mix. Pick the first fruits promptly with shears to encourage more to set; most plants reach maturity roughly 60-90 days after transplanting, depending on variety.