Best time to plant capsicum in Melbourne
Capsicum annuum
Also called bell pepper, sweet pepper
Sow capsicum in Melbourne in Sep to Nov.
In Australia capsicum means the mild fruit known elsewhere as bell or sweet pepper, from a nightshade plant native to the Americas. Fruit is eaten raw or cooked and ripens from green to red, yellow, orange or chocolate depending on variety. Hot forms of the same species, Capsicum annuum, appear here under chilli.
When to sow in Melbourne
Melbourne, VIC is in the cool zone. Its months for capsicum apply here without a frost adjustment.
Matches local guides.
Your local conditions can shift any months shown here, so treat them as a guide.
Frost in Melbourne
Frost usually arrives in Melbourne around mid June and finishes by late August. In about 1 year in 10 it comes as early as late May or as late as late September, so frost-tender crops are planned around those dates.
From the average of its 2 Bureau of Meteorology stations, 1991 to 2020, counting a night at 2°C or lower as a frost. Frost hollows and hillsides can shift these dates by weeks, so ask the growers at your garden too.
On a shared plot: suits a plot
Finishes in a season and stays within its space, so it suits most plots.
Growing details
- How to start
- Raise seedlings, then transplant
- Sowing depth
- 5mm
- Plant spacing
- 45cm
- Row spacing
- 100cm
- Height
- 50cm
- Germination
- 5-21 days
- Time to harvest
- 70 days
- Frost
- Frost tender
- Sun
- Full sun
- Life cycle
- perennial, grown as an annual in cool climates
These are typical figures, and varieties differ. Your seed packet takes priority.