Peppers, whether hot or sweet, are easy to grow for the home gardener and small market farmer. Most of the best pepper varieties that are available for home gardeners and market farmers aren't even available at grocery stores, so if you want to taste them you'll have to grow them yourself!  It is no wonder that our heirloom pepper plants are some of our hottest selling spring products. There are a few secrets to growing great peppers; here are a few pepper growing tips from the staff at Stargazer Perennials Farm and Nursery:

• Don't set out your transplants too soon! Peppers are warm-season vegetables and should not be set out until nighttime temperatures are consistently above 60-65 degrees. This is often two or three weeks after you set out your tomatoes.
• Grow peppers in well-drained soil, ideally in raised beds. Phytophthora blight will devastate your pepper crop in poorly drained soil. Also, raised beds warm up sooner in the spring.
  
• The trick to growing larger, nicely shaped peppers is to space the plants out as much as 16-24" apart. Closer spacing will increase your yield, but the peppers will be smaller and will all ripen at pretty much the same time. Widely spaced pepper plants will produce large, shapely fruits over a longer period. This is especially important if you sell your peppers at a farm stand or farmers market: Healthy looking, nicely shaped peppers will fly off your display, but you'll be taking the runts back to the farm with you.
• We're often asked how we grow peppers with such vibrant shades of purple, red, orange and green. The secrets to good color and better flavor are adequate, even watering promoted by plastic, paper or natural mulch, and using a  low nitrogen organic fertilizer. Save the Miracle-Gro for the petunias (or better yet, throw it out altogether) and try our Down To Earth All Purpose organic fertilizer.
• On your large bell-type or ancho-type peppers, prevent sun scald and maintain rich color by covering your crop with 20-30% shade cloth, but not until the fruit has started to form. Let pollination and fruit set get well underway in full sun before shading.

Try these tips and you'll easily grow a beautiful crop of tasty, richly-colored heirloom peppers!