Easily Turn Your Store-Bought Produce Into A Flourishing Pepper Plant

Did you know that when you cut into a pepper and toss all the seeds, you may be missing out on an opportunity for free food? TikTok gardener, joesgarden, does, and he wants to show you how to make the most of your bell pepper seeds. Instead of tossing them into the compost bin or – gasp! – into the trash can, he suggests you pull out the seeds and plant them. Clearly, since you're already chopping peppers for a meal, you must like them, right? Well, here's a way to make more. So many more.

It's so easy to spend big bucks on plants for your garden every year. This way, you can start seeds instead of buying plants, saving you some cash. While the chance of cross-pollination (the combination of two types of peppers) is never zero, it is pretty low for these self-pollinating plants. This makes even store-bought peppers a good candidate for saving seeds to plant in your garden.

Here is the key to success when saving seeds from store-bought peppers: they have to be ripe. This means they have to reach their final stage of maturity. Most fully mature peppers are red, although some are purple, orange, or yellow. The downside of this hack is that you cannot know for sure if a store-bought pepper is mature unless it is red. So, to grow your own, it is best to stick with seeds from red bell peppers. For the best chance of germination, the seeds should be dry or almost dry.

You can plant your seeds directly in your garden after the last chance of frost has passed. To get a jump on the season and start your seeds indoors, you can create a mini greenhouse out of a clear plastic container, as shown in the video. Plant your seeds, water well, and put them in a warm sunny spot or under a grow light. If you are growing in a mini greenhouse, leave the cover off after the seeds have sprouted to avoid rot. Once the seedlings are about 6 inches tall, move them into a container or your garden space in a sunny spot. Let them grow and enjoy the harvest!