DibbleGrowing peppers: from seed to harvest
Peppers love warmth but sulk in extreme heat. Start seeds indoors about 10 weeks before planting out, and wait until the soil is warm and nights stay mild before you transplant. Where summers are fierce, favor the milder months so the fruit sets.
Planting dates for peppers by zone
| Zone | Start seeds indoors | Sow or transplant | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 3 | March 29 | June 7 | August 21 |
| Zone 4 | March 25 | June 3 | August 13 |
| Zone 5 | March 14 | May 23 | July 21 |
| Zone 6 | March 8 | May 17 | July 24 |
| Zone 7 | February 24 | May 5 | July 8 |
| Zone 8 | January 30 | April 10 | June 12 |
| Zone 9 | January 9 | March 20 | May 21 |
| Zone 10 | February 26 | May 7 | June 1 |
| Zone 11 | April 6 | June 15 | March 8 |
Each date is the start of the best window from the same climate engine the Dibble app uses, run at typical places in each zone. Dibble tunes them to your garden's own location and lets you adjust frost dates for your own yard.
Companion plants
Good neighbors for Pepper:
Better kept apart:
Family and rotation
Pepper is in the nightshades family. Heavy feeders and disease-prone. Rotate so nightshades don't return to a bed for 3 years. Learn about crop rotation.
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Questions
When should I plant peppers?
It depends on your zone. Pepper is a tender crop, so the timing follows your last spring frost. Look up your zone in the table below for exact start, sow, and harvest dates, or open Dibble and set where your garden is to get your own calendar.
How long does it take to grow peppers?
About 70 days from transplant to the first harvest, with a picking window of roughly 60 days after that.
What grows well with peppers?
Good companions include Basil, Onion, Carrot, Marigold. Keep it away from Fennel, Bean (bush).
Plant at the right time this season
Dibble builds your calendar in under a minute. Free to start, no account needed.