Green pepper seeds need to be started indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost. Only warm weather areas can seed green peppers directly into the garden. Picking green peppers during their growing season, from late summer until the weather turns cool again, encourages production of the plants. Green pepper seeds are slow to germinate, but with plenty of warmth and water, you'll be rewarded with a tasty addition to your dinner table.
Instructions
1. Put the seed starting mix into a bucket. Use the watering can and trowel to water and mix the soil until it's moist but not waterlogged.
2. Set the cell flats into the solid trays, then fill the cell flats with the moist soil. Cell flats are planting trays with individual cells for seeds and drainage holes. The cells should be at least two to three inches deep and two inches wide. Use cell flats that have between 20 and 40 cells to avoid crowding the growing seedlings. The solid trays catch the water that drains out of the cell flats when you water the pepper seedlings.
3. Use the piece of wood to scrape extra soil off the top of the cell flat. Plant one to two green pepper seeds one quarter inch deep per cell.
4. Place a plastic dome or plastic wrap over the cell flats. Put a skewer into each corner of the flat, lay the plastic wrap over the skewers, and tuck the edge of the plastic under the flat. Poke holes in the plastic if there are none to allow air to circulate around the germinating seeds.
5. Place the flats in a warm room free of drafts. The ideal air temperature should be between 70 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Remove the plastic cover as soon as the seeds begin to sprout from the soil. Set flats in an area of the house that gets full sun all day, such as a window sill.
7. Set the green pepper seedlings outside in the sun for two to three hours a day when the pepper plants are six weeks old. At the end of the first week alternate setting them in the sun and shade. During the second week leave them outside day and night as long as there isn't a freeze. Pepper seedlings can tolerate temperatures as low as 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Transplant the green pepper seedlings into the garden in an area that sun. All danger of frost should be passed and soil should be warm, at least 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Space green pepper seedlings 18 to 24 inches apart with rows 24 to 36 inches apart.
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