Did you know that your garden can produce thousands of pepper types?
It is indeed the case. Just the tip of the iceberg, as it were, since you might only be able to identify a few peppers, such as bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, and banana. Gardeners have created a vast number of pepper types in a variety of colors, shapes, tastes, and spice degrees over time.
You must decide whether you want sweet or hot peppers when selecting your favorite peppers to cultivate. To help you decide what to cultivate this year, let’s look at some of the greatest of each!
Best Sweet Pepper Varieties
Don’t try to grow just one of the greatest pepper types in your garden; instead, try growing a few. There’s a pepper for everyone on this list, from super hot to sweet and mild.
The Scoville scale for sweet peppers is less than 1,000. These don’t make you feel like your mouth is on fire, but they do have a little spice to them.
1. Bell Boy
Bell Boy peppers are 4.5-inch-square meaty, sweet peppers. Most of the walls have four lobes and are thick. Maturity is achieved in around 70 days, from green to red. These plants are small and have a propensity to grow in containers.
2. California Wonder
California Wonder is a good choice if you want a meaty, sweet pepper. The peppers are vivid crimson, glossy, and 4 inches broad when they are fully developed after 68 to 89 days. The walls of California Wonder peppers are thick and have three to four lobes.
This pepper plant can grow up to three feet tall. With plenty of leaves, they grow quickly. California Wonder is a non-hybrid plant that’s resistant to tobacco mosaic virus. It’s an open-pollinated variety rather than a hybrid.
3. Corno di Toro
This pepper is a sweet pepper with a little spice and is sometimes known as Yellow Bull’s Horn. They aren’t sweet enough to be a sweet pepper, but they aren’t hot enough to be a hot pepper.
At full maturity, the peppers are eight inches long and two inches broad. They taper down, are long, and curve at the tip, giving them the appearance of a bull’s horn. Depending on the cultivar, Corno di Toro peppers reach a vivid golden yellow or crimson color in 68 to 70 days.
This is one of the greatest heirloom, open-pollinated pepper types, and it’s a traditional Italian favorite.
4. Early Pimento
Pimento peppers change from green to red in just 60 days and are shaped like hearts. They have large yields and are one of the first pepper types.
Early Pimento peppers are a favorite of home gardeners. They’re good for fresh eating, but their solid meat makes them ideal for canning. These peppers produce consistently and are resistant to most diseases, making them a good choice for growing in a hybrid environment.
5. Golden Bell
Golden Bell peppers mature from light green to brilliant yellow-gold, as the name suggests. These sweet peppers grow up to four inches broad with three to four lobes and take 70 days to mature.
Just 21 inches tall, the plants are robust and compact. The peppers get a lot of protection because of the large leaves. Container gardens are ideal for this hybrid plant.
6. Gypsy
Gypsy peppers are wonderful; this type of pepper is particularly noted for its sweetness, juiciness, and flavor. Three to four inches long, the peppers are wedge-shaped with a slight curve. Gypsy peppers reach maturity after 65 days, with thin walls that turn orange or red.
Since the plants only grow to be 12 to 20 inches tall, this hybrid plant performs well in containers. They expand widely and generate a plentiful, consistent harvest despite their size.
7. Jupiter
Jupiter peppers grow to be around five inches broad and mature in 66 to 72 days. When mature, they turn vivid red and have thick walls ideal for canning or roasting. Most peppers have four lobes, and the flesh is delicious.
The Jupiter pepper variety is a hardy species that offers large harvests. The plants grow up to three feet tall and form thick canopies of foliage that cover the fruits inside. Heirloom peppers are open-pollinated.
8. Sweet Banana
Sweet Banana peppers must be grown in every garden. These six-inch-long, 1.5-inch-wide tapering peppers are slender and cylindrical. When ripe, Sweet Banana peppers develop a rich, mild flavor that changes from waxy yellow to red.
If you want a compact plant, Sweet Banana pepper is one of the best pepper varieties. The plants grow to be 18-22 inches tall when mature. These plants are extremely fruitful, producing a massive crop throughout the whole summer despite their smaller size.
9. Sweet Chocolate
These peppers don’t taste like chocolate, despite their name. The peppers acquire their dark red or brown chocolate color as they mature, which is why they’re known as “chocolate peppers.” Sweet Chocolate peppers look a lot like normal green bell peppers, but the chocolate color is impossible to resist. They begin as green, so wait for them to change!
Best Hot Pepper Varieties
From 1,500 Scoville units and above, hot peppers have a rating. The Carolina Reaper, the hottest pepper on the planet, has a Scoville unit rating of 2.2 million!
10. Anaheim
The Anaheim peppers are a kind of chili pepper that grows from dark green to crimson red when mature, and they are most people’s favorite. These peppers have medium-thick walls and are tapered to a point, measuring seven to eight inches long and 1.5 inches wide.
When mature, this is one of the finest pepper types for stuffing. While stuffed with meat or cheeses, Anaheim peppers are delicious, but they’re even better when canned, dehydrated, roasted, or fried.
If you have a hot summer, these plants can be grown practically anywhere in California or the Southwest. The plants grow to be 30 inches tall and are hardy.
11. Cayenne
Cayenne peppers are well-known, and we wouldn’t have hot sauce without them! They’re unusual, measuring up to seven inches long while being only 1/2 inch wide. Cayenne peppers are thin, pointed, and often curled.
These peppers start off dark green but brighten to red when matured. It takes up to 75 days to reach maturity. If you grow cayenne peppers, try making homemade hot sauce, but you also can dry or pickle the peppers.
Cayenne pepper plants may grow up to 24 inches tall. You should definitely try growing these plants in your garden because they have huge yields.
12. Habanero
If you like hot peppers, you need to grow habanero peppers at home. You often find these at the grocery store along with other pepper varieties, but growing them at home tends to yield hotter peppers within 75 days.
Habanero peppers grow up to four feet tall and are extremely prolific. The peppers are tiny, but the plants produce huge yields. These are fantastic if you want an easy-to-raise hot pepper; the plants are simple to care for. They’re ideal for making a spicy but delicious hot sauce at home.
13. Hungarian Yellow Wax
If you want to make pickled pepper rings or cowboy candy peppers, Hungarian wax peppers are the ultimate canning pepper. These peppers are up to seven inches long and 1.5 inches broad. Full maturity produces thick, medium-thick walls and a change from waxy yellow to red.
Because of their size, Hungarian wax peppers are also great for stuffing. The plants grow to be two feet tall and produce fruit for weeks. Unlike other hot pepper cultivars, they grow well in colder climates and are suitable for pickling and canning. Even after canning, Hungarian wax peppers maintain their firmness. That crunchy flavor everyone enjoys will be yours.
14. Jalapenos
The jalapeño pepper is without a doubt the most well-known hot pepper. Jalapeños are typically hot, although a few new hybrid variants are heat-less. While mature jalapeños appear bright red rather than the typical dark, glossy green you see in the shops, it takes up to 80 days for these peppers to mature.
Jalapeño peppers are three inches long and broad, with a diameter of up to 1.5 inches. Because most of these peppers have a bit of a kick, they are traditionally used in Mexican or Southwestern cuisine.
These plants are quite prolific, growing to be three feet tall. Jalapeños are expected to give excellent yields, so keep them safe! Pickle, roast, and make hot sauce with these peppers. They’re fantastic!
15. Scotch Bonnet
Scotch Bonnet peppers take 90 days to mature and are one of the slowest growing pepper types. One thing to note about them is that they require a long time to develop. If you reside in the north, they must be started indoors; they take time to develop and acquire their hot taste.
Because the plants grow to a height of two feet, they are ideal for containers. If you also grow sweet peppers, growing super-hot peppers in containers is recommended. Your delicious peppers may not be as delicious if they cross-pollinate!
16. Serrano Chili Pepper
Are you looking for a scorching pepper? Serrano Chili peppers are another option. These tabasco-like peppers are only 1/2 inch wide and 2.5 inches long, yet they pack a powerful punch in a little package. Serrano peppers ripen from dark green to brilliant red and are slender with a pointed tip.
The average mature height of Serrano Chili Pepper plants is three feet. In hot regions like Mexico, they’re dynamic and thrive. Serrano peppers take up to 90 days to mature, as opposed to the 60 days required for other chili peppers, but once they’re ready, they’re ideal for pickling or making sauce.