Peppers
Padron
Blistering pepper, pick young and often.
- Indoors
- 8 wk (mid Mar)
- Outside
- Transplant after frost
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July; steady water drives the flush
- Harvest
- Jul to frost, small green
Care
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July and August, about weekly in spring and fall. A long soak at the base until the top few inches are wet, then let it dry before the next. Steady water drives the flush; let it swing dry and you trade picking weeks for recovery.
- Sow
- 2 seeds a quarter inch deep per cell, cut the weaker at the soil line when true leaves show. Set plants 18 inches apart in the bed.
- Start inside
- Mat at 80 to 90F, sprouts in 7 to 8 days. Under the lights the moment they break ground, 14 to 16 hours; off the mat at the first true leaves. Outside after mid May, once nights hold 50F.
- Feed
- A shovel of compost or castings worked in at planting carries the bed most of the season. A medium feeder, so a light side-dress at fruit set keeps the flushes coming without pushing leaf.
- Ready
- Pick relentlessly at 1 to 2 inches; anything left past three turns fiery and stalls new set. Cut, do not pull.
- Trouble
- Pods left past three inches turn genuinely hot and stall the plant: pick often. Aphids on new growth: a hard water spray. Brown leaf spots: bacterial leaf spot, strip affected leaves and keep the foliage dry.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 5–7 gal bag.
- Water
- Daily in July and August; bags dry far faster than a bed. 30 to 40 sec on the shower dial until it runs from the seams.
- Feed
- Top-dress monthly; every watering leaches the bag.
- Sow
- One plant per bag.
Galicia's tapas pepper, picked at thumb size from July to frost and blistered by the plateful. The draw is the roulette: a padron plate carries genuinely hot pods more often than shishito, especially late in the season.
Growing
The schedule is standard pepper: seeds in mid March, transplant to the bed, or a 5 to 7 gallon bag, after mid May. Pick relentlessly at one to two inches, since pods left past three build real heat and slow the plant down. It shrugs off cool nights better than most chiles, which suits a Beacon June. By September one plant produces faster than two people can politely eat.
Varieties
Pimiento de Padron is the original Spanish strain; most US seed just says Padron and behaves the same.
In the kitchen
Hot oil, blister, flaky salt, and a bowl for the stems. September pods run noticeably hotter, which is either a warning or the appeal.