How to Grow Scotch Bonnet Peppers Outside

Pack your peat pots with potting mix and place a Scotch Bonnet seed just 1/4-inch deep in the top of each pot. Water the seeds and place them in a full-sun, low wind location under a garden cloche in early spring to get your Scotch Bonnet seeds started earlier. The cloche will help keep the seeds warm and protected outdoors.

Work around 3 to 4 inches of compost or aged manure into the top soil of the garden where you want to eventually plant the Scotch Bonnet peppers. This will give the soil the germination time (up to 6 weeks) and a few weeks over to properly incorporate the compost or manure before you transfer the seedlings.

Water the pots daily to keep them from drying out, but avoid overwatering or making the pots soggy. They should be slightly damp, not soggy.

Transplant the seedlings into 4-inch diameter seedling pots once the second set of leaves has emerged -- around 2 to 3 weeks after germination. The whole peat pot can be planted into the larger seedling pot to avoid disturbing the delicate roots.

Keep the seedlings in their full-sun position and under the cloche to maintain a warm and protected environment and to keep out pests. Once the young pepper plants begin to show roots through the bottom of the seedling pots, it's time to put them in the garden soil.

Dig a hole around an inch wider and as deep as the seedling pot is tall in the garden soil. Support the base of the Scotch Bonnet pepper in one hand as you tip the seedling pot over and gently remove it from the plant.

Sit the plant into the prepared hole and carefully fill in the soil and pat it down to secure the plant in position. Water the soil well and put the cloche over the newly transplanted pepper. The plants should be about 18 to 24 inches apart in the garden.

Water daily, or if there is very hot weather, twice daily. Keep the plants under a cloche for as long as they will fit. Scotch Bonnet peppers are slower to flower and fruit than other popular chilies, like the cayenne, so expect to wait a couple of months before seeing budding activity on the bush.

Harvest the peppers when green for a tarter chili, or wait for them to redden or go whitish gold for the full-bodied flavor.

Winterize Scotch Bonnet peppers in cold climates under a cloche or burlap to avoid frost damage.