How to Grow Peppers in an Eastern Exposure

Push a garden stake into the ground or secure it upright in a planter in the center of the area where you plan to grow your peppers. Check the stake every hour from sunrise to sunset to see if the sun is hitting it directly.

Count the number of hours during the day in which the stake was in sun. If the stake was hit with direct light for six hours or more, then growing your peppers shouldn't be a problem. If the sun hit the stake between four and six hours, you will be able to grow your peppers; however, production may be reduced from the plant's full potential. Don't plant peppers in this location if it receives less than four hours of direct sun.

Loosen the soil in the garden area and mix in 4 to 6 inches of compost into the soil. Fill a pot with potting soil if you'll be growing the peppers in containers and place the pot where it will receive the most eastern light.

Dig a hole into the ground or containers equal in size to the pots your seedlings are in with a hand trowel. Slip the existing pots from your pepper seedlings and set them into holes in the ground spaced every 2 feet. Place one seedling into each pot.

Insert a garden stake into the ground behind each seedling on its western side. Firm the soil around the root ball of the seedlings and the stakes to hold them in place. Tie the main stem of each seedling to the stakes every foot as they grow taller.

Water the seedlings regularly early in the morning to avoid leaving wet soil after noon, when the sun will not be evaporating the excess moisture. Provide water two to three times each week, using larger amounts of water when fruits appear.

Incorporate 2 inches of compost into the upper layer of soil around your peppers, whether in the ground or in containers, every month to feed your plants. Supplying regular nutrients should allow your plants' only deficit to be the lack of prolonged sun.