[Pimento]

Please can anyone recommend a good early, fairly prolific sweet pepper to grow in my northern greenhouse? I haven’t tried peppers often and haven’t so far had a great deal of success. Thanks in advance!

[Subversive_plot]

Sweet banana peppers are a great choice. Fantastic fresh, but also useful in cooking.

Another long pepper with a broad shoulder is Corno di Toro. I'm not experienced with these, but friends rave about them, so I'm  ordering seeds this year.

[New shoot]

Real Seeds have a few very early ones that originated in Eastern Europe where they are bred to get going and produce in a short summer, so do well in the UK 

The ones I have tried are Amy and Lipstick.  Both very good and very early.  Obviously I am further south than you, but they say early March is soon enough to sow and still get a crop.

https://www.realseeds.co.uk/sweetpeppers.html

[Pimento]

Thanks very much, SubPlot and New Shoot - that’s really helpful! Hadn’t heard of Sweet Banana and I’d looked at what Real Seeds have, so good to know you’ve had success with those varieties. I’ll try a couple of all your recommendations and see what happens! I’ve got very limited space this year so thought I’d try and expand my repertoire instead of the usual toms.

[Lardman]

I've also grown Lipstick and Kaibi Round from realseeds under glass here without issue. Nothing like the size of supermarket peppers and took a while to get going but they cropped fine.  I had also tried California Wonder for a few years without much success.

[Pimento]

I've also grown Lipstick and Kaibi Round from realseeds under glass here without issue. Nothing like the size of supermarket peppers and took a while to get going but they cropped fine.  I had also tried California Wonder for a few years without much success.

Thanks very much, Lardman. I see there’s also one called King of the North. I’m wondering if it’s worth trying that one, too, to see if it does what it says on the tin…

[hasbeans]

Some of the new chilli/sweet pepper hybrids or the heatless habaneros are worth trying.

[AnneB]

I too have grown Lipstick and Kaibi in my unheated greenhouse here in Yorkshire.  I start the seeds off in a heated propagator in mid to late February.  When they have grown a bit I put mine inside a small flyaway plastic greenhouse that is inside my main unheated greenhouse to grow on.   That way they get enough light but the cold is kept at bay, but if you have somewhere light indoors that would do just as well.  Then when it warms up and the plants are big enough I plant into pots.
Other peppers I have had success with include some from Simpson's Seeds include Indired and Pusztagold, plus Corno di Toro Rosso and Corno di Torro Giallo.
I think the other thing is rather than variety is how you grow them on.  They do not need watering copiously as tomatoes do and leave enough space between plants so they do not succumb to rot - this is hard when you want to grow so many different types.

[Pimento]

Thank you - very helpful, HasBeans and AnneB. Are there any you can recommend, HasBeans?

Anne, I have a south-facing mini cold frame which is brilliant for growing things on - cosy enough with plenty of light, but not so warm things get too leggy. 😊

[Mr Dog]

I'm in West Yorks and Palermo from seeds taken from fresh peppers bought at the German discount supermarkets have worked well for me for several years. Sweet when green too.

[Pimento]

Great tip Mr Dog, thank you! 😊

[jaydig]

Sweet banana peppers are a great choice. Fantastic fresh, but also useful in cooking.

Another long pepper with a broad shoulder is Corno di Toro. I'm not experienced with these, but friends rave about them, so I'm  ordering seeds this year.

I agree with the Corno del Torno choice.  It's the only pepper that has ever managed to ripen for me in the Midlands.

[Pimento]

I’m definitely ordering this one, Jaydig! And a couple of others….

[jaydig]

I’m definitely ordering this one, Jaydig! And a couple of others….

Just to say that with sweet pepper seeds of all descriptions the best germination rates I've ever had is when I've simply sowed the seeds from inside fresh ones I've bought for salads/cooking. The long, bull's horn ones and the blocky, multi coloured ones all do very well from fresh seed, and it's a lot cheaper than buying the packet seed.
Last year, my young granddaughter brought me a zip-lock bag full of seeds she had carefully saved from the one's they used at home "For nanny to grow some more". I had to keep them for six months before sowing, but they came up like weeds and grew quickly to make good plants.  They were a bit of a surprise though because I really didn't know what she'd saved seed from, so had to wait for each plant to produce fruit before I knew if it was a "normal" pepper or one of the long types.  She was thrilled to be able to go into the greenhouse and pick some of her "special" peppers to take home.

[Pimento]

How lovely! That’s what it’s all about.