Garden Reflections - Solanaceae
We now come to my favorite family of vegetables (though botanically they are all fruits). I grow many different varieties of solanaceae and my garden wouldn't be complete without them
Eggplant
We eat a lot of eggplant in our house. We love it grilled whole for baba ganoush. We pan fry thick rounds for eggplant parmesan. We love it sauteed with fresh zucchini, onions, peppers and tomatoes in ratatouille. We even slice it into strips, bread it and deep fry for eggplant fries
I had major problems with my eggplant seedlings this year. A very wet spring allowed disease to flourish in the greenhouse and no amount of babying could save them. I ended up buying plants from my local nursery. Next year I'm planning to put in around a dozen plants. I'll be taking preventive measures to ensure that disease doesn't even have to chance to start
Peppers
I usually grow 15-20 pepper plants each year. I grow sweet peppers to roast and freeze and for drying
And I grow chilies for hot sauce and drying. I've grown super hot chilies for the last decade but this year I decided to tone down the heat a little. As I get older I am less able to handle the hotter peppers and anything hotter than a cayenne really messes up my stomach
My pepper seedlings had the same issues with disease that my eggplant did this year. I managed to salvage three plants, two of which were overwintered from 2017, and I bought a few plants from the nursery. My peppers produced 8 1/2 pounds of fruit this year
Tomatoes
If I could only grow one thing it would be tomatoes. I am passionate about tomatoes. For the past 8 years I have been developing my own open pollinated variety of cherry tomato. I also grow a Roma type that I discovered growing outside the kitchen of a defunct Mexican restaurant, and a large beefsteak variety that came to me from Greece by way of Australia, besides many others
I grew 66 plants in 26 varieties this year. About half of my plants were grown in my local community garden, along with a few carrots. I intended for all the produce from this plot to go to food lifeline, but I didn't know how much more this plot would outperform the one at my house. My 32 home grown plants produced 76 pounds. Not great, even taking into account that 10 of those were cherry varieties. In contrast, the 34 plants in the community garden plot produced a whopping 475 pounds! I was blown away! I ended up donating around 250 pounds to the food bank and the rest were enjoyed fresh or processed into various sauces
Of the 26 varieties that I grew this year, half were ones that I hadn't grown before. I liked five of those well enough to grow them again this year
Due to the outstanding production of tomatoes in the community garden, I promised my husband that I would grow no more than 32 plants next year. In exchange, I'll get to rent four plots in the community garden next season to see if I'll get better production from other crops
Tomatillos
I grew Verde and Purple tomatillos this year. We usually make salsa verde and freeze a bunch for tomatillo chicken over the winter.
I planted two plants in 15 gallon totes and had another volunteer come up in one of the beds. The plants did not like the containers, probably because they dried out too quickly and got too warm during this years drought. The volunteer plant did much better but came up too late in the season to produce much of anything. My tomatillos only produced a little under 7 pounds of fruit. Thankfully, I still had several pounds in the deep freezer from last years bumper crop
Next year I plan on planting my tomatillos in the ground since they seem to do much better with their roots at a cooler temperatures
This year my solanaceae produced nearly 569 pounds of fruit
Eggplant
We eat a lot of eggplant in our house. We love it grilled whole for baba ganoush. We pan fry thick rounds for eggplant parmesan. We love it sauteed with fresh zucchini, onions, peppers and tomatoes in ratatouille. We even slice it into strips, bread it and deep fry for eggplant fries
I had major problems with my eggplant seedlings this year. A very wet spring allowed disease to flourish in the greenhouse and no amount of babying could save them. I ended up buying plants from my local nursery. Next year I'm planning to put in around a dozen plants. I'll be taking preventive measures to ensure that disease doesn't even have to chance to start
Peppers
 |
| Quadrato D'asti Giallo 2015 |
I usually grow 15-20 pepper plants each year. I grow sweet peppers to roast and freeze and for drying
 |
| Carolina Reaper 2017 |
And I grow chilies for hot sauce and drying. I've grown super hot chilies for the last decade but this year I decided to tone down the heat a little. As I get older I am less able to handle the hotter peppers and anything hotter than a cayenne really messes up my stomach
My pepper seedlings had the same issues with disease that my eggplant did this year. I managed to salvage three plants, two of which were overwintered from 2017, and I bought a few plants from the nursery. My peppers produced 8 1/2 pounds of fruit this year
Tomatoes
If I could only grow one thing it would be tomatoes. I am passionate about tomatoes. For the past 8 years I have been developing my own open pollinated variety of cherry tomato. I also grow a Roma type that I discovered growing outside the kitchen of a defunct Mexican restaurant, and a large beefsteak variety that came to me from Greece by way of Australia, besides many others
 |
| Tomatoes in the community garden |
I grew 66 plants in 26 varieties this year. About half of my plants were grown in my local community garden, along with a few carrots. I intended for all the produce from this plot to go to food lifeline, but I didn't know how much more this plot would outperform the one at my house. My 32 home grown plants produced 76 pounds. Not great, even taking into account that 10 of those were cherry varieties. In contrast, the 34 plants in the community garden plot produced a whopping 475 pounds! I was blown away! I ended up donating around 250 pounds to the food bank and the rest were enjoyed fresh or processed into various sauces
Of the 26 varieties that I grew this year, half were ones that I hadn't grown before. I liked five of those well enough to grow them again this year
Due to the outstanding production of tomatoes in the community garden, I promised my husband that I would grow no more than 32 plants next year. In exchange, I'll get to rent four plots in the community garden next season to see if I'll get better production from other crops
Tomatillos
 |
| Skeletal tomatillo husk October 2017 |
I grew Verde and Purple tomatillos this year. We usually make salsa verde and freeze a bunch for tomatillo chicken over the winter.
I planted two plants in 15 gallon totes and had another volunteer come up in one of the beds. The plants did not like the containers, probably because they dried out too quickly and got too warm during this years drought. The volunteer plant did much better but came up too late in the season to produce much of anything. My tomatillos only produced a little under 7 pounds of fruit. Thankfully, I still had several pounds in the deep freezer from last years bumper crop
 |
| Beautiful contrast of color on purple tomatillo plant |
Next year I plan on planting my tomatillos in the ground since they seem to do much better with their roots at a cooler temperatures
This year my solanaceae produced nearly 569 pounds of fruit
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