Organic Pepper Xaro

Sweet Pepper: Xaro
Capsicum annuum
Approximately 150-250 seeds per g

Peppers divide into sweet and hot. Sweet peppers are usually either blocky, bell peppers, or long. Most pepper fruits start as green and ripen to
yellow, orange, red or purple. Red peppers tend to be the sweetest and also contain the most vitamin C.
Originating from South America, where they have been grown for thousands of years, sweet peppers are best grown here in a polytunnel or greenhouse.
The plants are fairly short, growing to about 60- 75 cm. Peppers have white star shaped flowers usually with 6 petals are followed by the immature fruits.

Xaro is a large, pointed, red pepper similar to Zazu and Kyra. The plant is very strong and productive. The tasty fruits yield well and can grow up to 22cm long.

How to grow:
Sow seed in good organic compost in trays or modules from January until March at a temperature of 18 – 21°C.
A heated propagator is best if you have one as it maintains day time and night time temperatures. Once the first true leaves appear and the plants are large enough to handle transplant them into 8 cm pots. Pot up as necessary until you are ready to plant them. Plant them into the greenhouse or polytunnel border or into good quality growbags. Growbags are a useful means of growing some crops but not very practical. The shallowness of the compost makes it difficult to water and support the plants. See how we grow in growbags for some useful tips. Liquid feed as necessary and harvest the peppers when large enough. Green peppers are more piquant or let them ripen to the variety’s colour for a sweeter flavour.

Pests and diseases:
Green house crops can be effected by aphids and red spider mite. We offer biological controls to use against these pests.

How to cook:
Peppers are very versatile in the kitchen, you can eat them raw in salads or as crudities. You can roast them with other mix veg, put them in ratatouille, chilli and lasagne or you can stuff them with different fillings.