How to Grow Sweet Pepper 'King Arthur'
Capsicum annuum 'King Arthur'
Sweet Pepper 'King Arthur' is a reliable warm-season variety prized for its flavorful fruit and disease resistance to tobacco mosaic virus. Gardeners value this moderate-difficulty plant for its compact size and ability to thrive in containers or garden beds once soil temperatures rise.
📷 Wikipedia: Capsicum annuumStarting Sweet Pepper 'King Arthur': indoors or direct sow?
🌾 Sow directly in the garden — Sweet Pepper 'King Arthur' is not usually started indoors.
Do not transplant seedlings outdoors until all danger of frost has passed and soil temperatures are consistently warm enough for pepper growth.
Soil, care & harvest
Prepare your soil by ensuring it has a pH between 6.0 and 7.0, mixing in compost for nutrients. Since peppers are frost-sensitive warm-season crops, start seeds indoors 8-10 weeks before the last spring frost or direct sow after the ground warms significantly. Plant seeds about 1/4 inch deep; they typically germinate within 10 to 21 days under warm conditions.
Space plants 18 to 24 inches apart in full sun, providing at least six hours of light daily. While these peppers do not require trellising due to their small stature, keep soil consistently moist with 1 to 1.5 inches of water weekly. Apply mulch around the base to retain moisture and feed the plants regularly during the growing season.
Watch for aphids, spider mites, pepper weevils, and cutworms; inspect leaves often and use insecticidal soap or hand-pick pests as needed. Prevent bacterial spot, anthracnose, and pepper mild mottle virus by practicing crop rotation and avoiding overhead watering. Harvest the fruit 70 to 75 days after planting when colors deepen and flavor peaks.
When to Plant Sweet Pepper 'King Arthur'
Planting windows vary by USDA hardiness zone. Look up yours by ZIP code.
| Zone | Start Indoors | Direct Sow | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 | May | — | September – August |
| Zone 2 | April – May | — | September |
| Zone 3 | April | — | August – October |
| Zone 4 | March – April | — | August – October |
| Zone 5 | March | — | August – October |
| Zone 6 | March | — | July – September |
| Zone 7 | February – March | — | July – September |
| Zone 8 | February | — | June – August |
| Zone 9 | January | — | May – July |
| Zone 10 | January | — | May – July |
| Zone 11 | January | — | April – June |
| Zone 12 | January | — | April – June |
| Zone 13 | January | — | April – June |
Companion Plants for Sweet Pepper 'King Arthur'
✓ Good companions
Repels aphids, spider mites, and thrips while potentially improving pepper flavor
Help break up soil for pepper roots and don't compete for the same nutrients
Repel nematodes, aphids, and whiteflies while attracting beneficial insects
Act as trap crop for aphids and cucumber beetles while repelling squash bugs
Repel aphids, thrips, and other soft-bodied insects that damage peppers
Deters pests like aphids and spider mites with its strong aromatic oils
Attracts beneficial insects like hoverflies and parasitic wasps that control pepper pests
Share similar growing conditions and pest management, can be grown together efficiently
✗ Keep away from
Can harbor verticillium wilt which easily spreads to peppers and causes plant death
Produces juglone toxin that causes wilting and stunted growth in peppers
Compete heavily for nutrients and may stunt pepper growth through root competition
Releases allelopathic compounds that inhibit growth of peppers and most vegetables
Nutrition Facts
Per 100g serving (USDA FoodData Central)
