Red Bell Pepper

Capsicum annuum

vegetable

A red bell pepper is simply a green bell left on the plant to fully ripen, turning from green through to deep red as it sweetens and develops its richest flavor and highest vitamin content. Sweet and crisp with no heat, blocky and thick-walled, it is excellent raw, roasted, or sauteed, and takes a few extra weeks on the plant to color up.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Basil — Repels aphids, thrips, and spider mites
• Sweet Alyssum — Attracts hoverflies that control aphids
• French Marigold — Deters nematodes and aphids
• Onions — Masking scent helps repel aphids

❌ Keep away from

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Aphids →

  Draw hoverflies and ladybugs with alyssum; rinse colonies off

• Sunscald →

  Keep healthy leaf cover and avoid heavy pruning that exposes fruit

• Blossom-end rot →

  Maintain even soil moisture and adequate calcium

🌾 Harvest & storage

For red peppers, leave the fruit on the plant after it reaches full size and wait the extra two to three weeks for it to ripen from green through to full red, cutting with a short stem. The wait reduces total yield since the plant sets fewer new fruit while ripening a load, so many gardeners pick some green and let others color.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Red bell peppers are very low in calories and one of the richest vegetable sources of vitamin C, supplying several times the daily value, plus generous vitamin A as beta-carotene and vitamin B6, all of which build up as the pepper ripens fully red.