May 16, 2026
Plant Plenty of Peppers (So You Can Pick A Peck!)
Peter Piper picked a peck of peppers. Well, a “peck” measures out to about 8 dry quarts, or one-fourth of a bushel, or around 9 litres. Any way you pick ‘em, that’s a lot of peppers! There are so many different varieties, too, from sweet bells to “ooh that’s got some heat” and all the way up to melt-your-tongue spice levels. No matter your flavour preferences, all pepper plants require the same general care for optimal harvests:
Seeds or Starter Plants?
When it comes to growing peppers from seed, timing and warmth are key factors. Most varieties will need at least 8 weeks of indoor growing time, which means you should start in mid- to late winter. They also need lots of sun and heat; using a seedling heat mat and grow lights will help with germination but some varieties are harder to sprout than others. Then there’s the misting and thinning and hardening off. To give you an idea, Belgian starts seeding hot pepper varieties in mid-February and that’s with greenhouse growing conditions!
Growing from starter plants takes away all those seeding steps – you just need to wait until the weather warms up before planting them outside! Day and night temperatures will have to be at least 10°C, but for heat-loving peppers maybe give them an extra week or so to ensure those cool nights are gone for good. Buying potted peppers from a garden centre also opens up the colour and flavour possibilities! Bring home a rainbow of peppers to enjoy!
Give Them Light!
Sunlight is the easiest part of growing peppers – the more the better! They are sun loving plants and will gladly soak up every minute of sunshine. Ideally, they’ll need 6 to 8 hours of light per day; a south- or west-facing area with bright afternoon sun offers full sun and higher energy levels compared to east-facing (weaker morning) sun.
Water: Evenly Moist but Not Wet
Watering peppers is a balancing act, as they like to stay evenly moist but can’t sit in water. They can handle the occasional dry period in summer if there’s a deep drink in the very near future. Plus, spicier varieties like to stay on the drier side compared to their sweet cousins – long story short, check your plants every day! Aim for morning showers to give their roots time to absorb the moisture before the afternoon/summer heat can evaporate it. Once their flowers and berries start to appear, sweet/bell varieties may need more frequent watering.
Note: Your watering schedule will depend on a lot of factors. Sunlight and wind exposure will dry out your plants faster. A wet summer will affect both sunlight hours and moisture levels; you may need to relocate your plants to protect them from gutter overflows and excess rainfall. Raised beds and containers will dry out quicker than growing in garden beds, as garden soil has more moisture retention especially if you mulch.
Soil: In-Ground or In Pots?
Peppers are fantastic in both containers and garden beds, which means everyone can enjoy growing them from apartment dwellers to farmsteads and everything in between. Garden beds will need very good drainage, so keep them out of plots with heavy clay. When planting in containers and raised garden beds ONLY use good quality potting soil!
They also love heat from top to bottom, so along with hot sun for their leaves they’ll need warm soil for their roots. Raised beds and containers will warm up quicker than garden plots, while garden beds will hold moisture longer during long summer days.
What about Scoville units?
Scoville units are used to measure heat levels (aka spiciness) according to a pepper’s capsaicin levels. The hotter the pepper, the higher its capsaicin and the higher its Scoville rating. All peppers are ranked using this measurement, from bell peppers at zero Scoville units all the way up through jalapeno (over 2,000 units) to Carolina Reaper that tops 2 MILLION Scoville units! There are newer and hotter pepper varieties coming out every year, and each one will have its own Scoville measurement.
Scoville Fun Fact #1: Originally called the Scoville Organoleptic Test and invented by pharmacologist Wilbur Scoville in 1912. His original method of using human taste testers is still used today!
Scoville Fun Fact #2: Dairy is still widely acknowledged as the best way to cool down spicy food, thanks to its levels of casein that breaks down capsaicin.
So Really, Which One Is Best?
All of them! There are so many sizes, colours, and spice levels to choose from! But since you asked, here are some of our favourites:
For Snacking / Salads / Cooking
Arica (Red Bell)
Chocolate Beauty Bell
Gypsy
Mardi Gras Fun (Orange, Red, or Yellow)
Orange Blaze
Prism
Roulette
Sweet Canyon Red
For Stuffed Pepper recipes
California Wonder (Green Bell)
Red Baron (Red Bell)
Early Summer (Yellow Bell)
For Pickling
Hungarian Hot Wax
Sweet Banana
For Fiery Heat (Scoville units = SU)
Carolina Reaper – over 2 million Scoville units
Trinidad Scorpion – over 1 million SU
Ghost (Bhut Jolika) – over 1 million SU
Scotch Bonnet – up to 350,000 Scoville units
Armageddon – around 1.3 million SU
Habanero (Red or Orange) – up to 350,000 SU
Jalapeno – between 2,000 and 8,000 SU
Sriracha – up to 2,500 SU
Super Chili – 50,000 SU
Skyline Red Thai – up to 100,000 SU
Cayenne – 30,000 SU
Tabasco – 2,500 to 5,000 SU
Dragon Roll – mild but smoky at 200+ SU
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