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| Top bowl - shishito peppers |
Shishito peppers are yummy and suprisingly they grow well in Edmonton gardens. I have not seen shishito pepper plants for sale as bedding plants, so we grow ours from seed. Shishitos are a mostly mild, smoky pepper, valued as a grilled appetizer,
but about one of ten is
hot. That's part of the fun of eating them.
Our shishito seeds were purchased from
West Coast Seeds. The peppers are a good size, mostly mild with a tremendous yield per plant. The pepper plants are hardy, too. No staking required.
Plant seeds early (late February or early March) in 4 inch pots. Grow seedlings under lights - 12 hours light/day. For sturdier plants blow a gentle fan across them for an hour or so each day. Pepper plants are quite beautiful. Deep green, strong glossy leaves on well shaped plants with sweet little white flowers.
Plant the bedding plants out into the garden when warm, - late May in Edmonton, in a
sunny place. They like the warm morning sun. Our shishitos do well in raised beds. Water as needed.
No need to prune these gorgeous plants. Pick the peppers often when still green. Picking encourages plants to produce more. We grew about 8 plants and ate shishito peppers from early July to September. We had too many. The large bowl pictured above is the final harvest this year of shishito peppers.
For a tasty appetizer, stir fry, or air fry whole green peppers. Add a dipping sauce on the side (peanut sauce is yummy). Reminder: although Shishitos are a mild pepper, one out of ten peppers could be
HOT. Beware!
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| Start shishito plants early under lights (top left) |
