Grow Short-Season Peppers!
For those of us in short-season climates, it's great to grow the fastest growing peppers so you can harvest lots of peppers sooner than later. Even if you live in areas with longer growing seasons, these are also great to grow as they come to harvest sooner – and who doesn't want peppers sooner? Also, be sure to check out our Short-Season Tomatoes »If you have a short gardening season, then you should grow short-season vegetables for the best success. Sandia Seed has the fastest-growing pepper varieties, check out all of our favorite Short-Season Pepper seeds:
#1 Earliest Short Season Pepper:
Sweet Chocolate Bell Pepper
Perfect for short season gardening, these tasty 3-4" chocolate-colored bell peppers are ready to be picked in as little as 57 days after starting seeds. These are sweet and tasty to snack on right in your organic garden, or chopped and tossed in a salad, stir fries, gazpacho, make stuffed peppers, slice for sandwiches, you name it!
#2 Short Season Pepper:
Shishito Pepper
A customer and chef favorite, the sweet Shishito Pepper has amazing flavor, and produces early with continual harvests for short or long seasons – make sure to pick them often to keep them coming all summer long. The plants are loaded with these peppers. Stir fry them in a cast iron skillet with a little sesame oil, garlic and salt, and you have a gourmet side dish or appetizer! You'll be cooking with these faster as you can harvest Shishitos in as little as 60 days.
#3 Short Season Pepper:
Lemon Spice Pepper
Looking for good short season hot peppers? Check out our bright Yellow Jalapeno, which grow fast to harvest in as little as 65 days. These yellow jalapenos are HOT with 30,000 Scovilles – not your typical jalapeño. Enjoy in any of our salsa recipes, as jalapeno poppers, over tacos, in burritos... shall we go on?
#4 Short Season Pepper:
Early Jalapeño
The Early Jalapeno is another great pepper for short seasons and cooler climates. Hence it's name, it's one of the earliest peppers – just 65 days to harvest. The jalapeños can vary in their Scoville heat unit rating: from 5,000-30,000 so these can be torchers! The jalapeno plants produce all season long.
#5 Short Season Chile Pepper:
Mild Hatch Green Chile
Grow this short season New Mexican Green Chile! These are famous around the world for being extremely tasty! Once you taste fresh-roasted chile, you'll always want to grow Hatch chiles in your garden, no matter where you live - even in short season climates. So be sure to check oout our fastest growing green chile, the Mild Hatch Green Chile which has mild heat and matures at around 70 days. Grow several plants – the more the merrier! It's fun to have a lot to roast, but you can also just roast a couple at a time over a gas-powered stovetop or on the grill next to your other veggies or burgers. We love putting these on top of pizza, burgers, sandwiches, wraps, added to salsa... you name it, green chile is good on it!
#6 Short Season Chile Pepper:
Hot Hungarian Wax Pepper
The Hot Hungarian Yellow Wax Pepper is another great Short Season Pepper as it's ready to harvest in as little as 68 days! Very productive even in cool weather. This pepper originated from Hungary in 1941 and is also known as Hot Banana Wax. For milder peppers with less heat, harvest early when pale green-yellow. As the pepper matures to red it gets hotter. Great for pickling!
#7 Short Season Chile Pepper:
Mild Hatch Green Chile
Banana Peppers start harvesting at 75 days, making them great peppers for short season climates because they produce so quickly. They have very little heat, 0-500 Scovilles, and are sweet and crunchy, perfect for our Pickled Banana Peppers Recipe »
#8 Short Season Chile Pepper:
Orange Jalapenos
Our Orange Jalapenos are also great short season peppers, ready for harvest in around 65 days. Grow these jalapeno plants and your jalapeño appetizers will be bright and extra, extra hot! It has thick flesh and spicy flavor like the Early Jalapeño, but 3x more heat.
#9 Short Season Chile Pepper:
Giant Marconi peppers
Giant Marconi peppers are great for short-season gardening as well as they are ready to harvest in just 62 days! These are Italian sweet peppers that live up to their name, producing large 8” long fruits.
#10 Short Season Chile Pepper:
Sweet Cherry Peppers
Sweet Cherry Pepper are another tasty short-season pepper that will grow fast in your garden. In just 73 days, you'll be enjoying these sweet, round, bright red peppers. Their thick flesh and a tangy flavor when ripe, and they grow on compact plants that will produce fruit all season long. This is another great short season pepper for for pots and containers!
Short Season Peppers in Pots
Growing these peppers in pots is a great way to have the ability to move them indoors or into a protected space to protect them from late spring or early autumn cold weather and storms. Remember, peppers like it warm, so if temperatures below 45˚ F are predicted overnight, it's helpful to move them indoors where they can stay cozy until morning.
If you want to grow short-season peppers in your garden, grow any of these fastest growing peppers for the best success. It's best for gardeners in short seasons to start them early indoors, keep them warm and plant them in full sun.
Read more tips on
How to Grow Chilli Plants Faster »
We also have
Short-Season Tomatoes »
