112 Tomato, Eggplant and Pepper Plants

I admit it, I way over planted this year. I thought the seeds weren't germinating because the tray got too hot, so I replanted the seeds and then added some other varieties and now have one-hundred twelve plants with more still popping up. Ah well, rookie mistake.

So exciting! Some of the tomato plants are beginning to form their first set of true leaves which are so frilly compared to their cotyledon leaves. A few red tomato varieties have been added, plus a few of the tried and trues like Brandywine. Most of the 27 varieties of tomatoes are ones I have never planted before. The Wapsipinicon Peach and Kellogs Breakfast are looking a little sad, maybe they don't like the cold in the shop and will perk up when they get out into the sun. Next week the temperatures are supposed to get up into the 60's and 70's (15-21 Celsius), so I'll probably start the inside and outside plant shuffle to harden off the seedlings. The tomatoes won't be going into the ground until the end of April when the weather should be consistently warm.

The only eggplants available in this part of the country is the ubiquitous Black Beauty, so I'm trying to grow some unusual types for fun. 11 varieties of eggplant have been potted up into their individual cups, and so far only one variety has failed after sprouting.

Three types of peppers have finally germinated: Hungarian hot wax, Santa Fe, and jalapeno peppers have finally emerged from the seed starting tray. None of the serranos, anaheims, or sweet peppers sprouted even with re-seeding.

Last year was abysmal in the garden, almost a total failure due to birds and rabbits eating most of my seedlings and the excessive heat, the only things that did truly well was the okra and green beans. Here's to hoping this year will be better and provide us with tremendous yields. Like in 2010, which I like to call the Year of the Tomato where everyone had so many tomatoes a person couldn't give them away, okra grew to 7 feet tall (2 meters), and peppers abounded.

Starting Vegetable Plants from Seed

The seeds have finally been planted in the 72 cell seed starter tray on Sunday, March 3rd. Looks like Golden King of Siberia won this year as the fastest sprouting tomato in just four days. As you can probably tell I'm using coconut coir as the starting medium as well as bottom heat, in my experience peat pellets seem to inhibit the sprouting of peppers.

This year the tomatoes have been narrowed down to 21 varieties with some yellow, orange, green, black, red, and bicolor fruits plus one mystery variety from a friend. Last year I remember waiting for some tomatoes to ripen on the vine, but when the orange tomatoes started to rot I finally realized the orange tomatoes were never going to turn red. Please don't laugh too hard at my mistake. I had only grown reddish tomatoes previously and it must have slipped my mind that Djena Lee's Golden was planted out, which happens to be an excellent tomato nice and fruity with tart citrus overtones.

Tomato varieties:
Djena Lee's Golden Girl - smallish orange tomatoes, fruity tart flavor with citrus overtones
Cosmonaut Volkov - first to produce tomatoes last year, good juicy tart flavor
Prudens Purple
Black Krim
Moneymaker
Mortgage Lifter
Aunt Ruby's German Green
Wapsipinicon Peach
Kellogs Breakfast
Pilcer Vesy
Golden King of Siberia
Berkley Tie Dye
Big Zebra
Cour Di Bue
Purple Calabash
Paul Robeson
Cherokee Purple
Black from Tula
Ananas Noire
Hill Billy Flame
Brandywine - saved seed from 2 years ago, lots of nice big pink tomatoes with a lovely classic flavor
Mystery Tomato - from a friend

Jalapeno, serrano, and anaheim hot peppers were begun with an eye towards canning salsa in the summer. A couple of bell peppers and banana peppers were also started but I am not holding my breath since the seed is fairly old from 2009.

There were some problems with the eggplants last year between the flea beetles and obscenely hot temperatures that came on fast and settled in for 3 months, so none of the plants produced fruits. Hopefully the floating row cover that I ordered off Ebay will provide protection from the flea beetles at least.

The eggplants are being limited to just 12 varieties:
Aswad
Pandora Rose
Bangladeshi Long
Thai Round Green
Thai Long Green
Thai Long Purple
Malaysian Dark Red
Mazu Purple
Ping Tung
Cambodian
Applegreen
Melanzana

Germinated Tomato Starts

The Malaysian Dark Red eggplant are just forming their first true leaf.

The Aconcagua sweet peppers are also starting to form their true leaves.

The dainty Calabrese broccoli

Tray of tomato sprouts and sparsely germinated Calabrese broccoli.

Tomatoes are growing quickly.

Tomatoes tomatoes galore. About fifteen varieties were planted in peat pellets:

• Costoluto Genovese
• Ingegnoli Gigante Liscio
• Pantano Romanesco
• San Marzano Lungo #2
• Break O Day
• Granny Cantrell German Red
• Jersey Giant
• Riesentraube
• Large Red Cherry
• Beefsteak
• Cosmonaut Volkov
• Brandywine
• Burpee Beefsteak
• Djena Lee's Golden Girl
• Red Grape

In eight days all the tomatoes have germinated except for the Large Red Cherry and the Beefsteak, which makes for over forty tomato sprouts.

Only two Calabrese broccoli have sprouted out of the twenty peat pellets that were planted, if the rest haven't sprouted in three days I'm going replant the broccoli with fresher seed.

The eggplant and tomato will need to be transplanted this week into their own individual cups.

Starting Hot Peppers

Started serrano, anaheim and jalapeno peppers, as well as grape and mystery tomatoes.

After starting tomatoes in peat pellets there were a few mystery tomato seeds left on the counter which were potted up in paper pots along with my favorite peppers for salsa which include serrano, jalapeno and anaheim. Mixing the three varieties of peppers makes for a complex and rich salsa which is processed and jarred for future posterity. The secret to a sweet and thick salsa is the addition of tomato paste and cooking the salsa so the flavors meld.

I went ahead and started some grape tomatoes which are a favorite for salads. The seed starting mix may have been a mistake, since it contains peat moss which can inhibit the germination and growth of peppers. Normally I just use common house plant soil which tends to be corse and contain a great deal of bark dust.

Sprouting Eggplant and Peppers

Eggplant and peppers starting to come up.

The first peppers to peak up out of the soil are the spicy Santa Fe Grande peppers.

Malaysian Dark Red eggplant peaking up out of the soil.

More Malaysian Dark Red eggplant straightening up towards the light.

The Green Raveena eggplant were the very first plants to sprout.

Replaced the cover that came with the Burpee Self Watering Planting System with plastic wrap.

Styrofoam shipping containing planted with Carantan leek seeds.

The lid from the styrofoam shipping container makes a perfect tray.

Peat pellets planted with Calabrese broccoli and fifteen varieties of tomatoes.

The eggplants and peppers are starting to come up from the soil after being planted fourteen days ago. Which is actually pretty good considering the house is unheated during the day and it can drop to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Out of the seven varieties of peppers planted only the spicy Santa Fe Grande peppers have sprouted from seed purchased at Baker Creek Seed Co. Peppers are notoriously difficult to start but bottom heat and a planting medium that doesn't include peat moss seems to help. Peat moss truly seems to inhibit the sprouting of peppers, perhaps it's the high acidity. The Burpee self watering planting system uses a coconut alternative planting medium, which seems to be working well as I've only needed to water once in two weeks but I had to press the soil down firmly into the container to make sure it came into contact with the bottom watering mat. I also replaced the biodegradable clear cover that came with the Burpee system with plastic wrap which could be tucked under the container, otherwise it kept flying off with any breeze from a closing door. The plants were just moved into a warm corner of the bathroom under a bright lamp, hopefully this will hasten the growth of the rest of the sweet peppers and eggplants which can take a month to sprout.

Green Raveena was the first eggplant to sprout and it is a F1 hybrid started from seed purchased from Pinetree Seeds. Flea beetles wreak devastation on my eggplants every year which means very low yields of eggplants. Last year not a single fruit was born from three plants and the plants stayed pitifully tiny. So in an effort to get large beautiful harvests of eggplants and to outsmart the flea beetles the plants have been started very early which will require transplanting to larger pots, I will be trialling five varieties including one F1 hybrid, dill and basil will be planted around the plants, and newspaper will be laid at the base of the plants.

At work we get many items shipped in styrofoam coolers, so I thought it would be excellent to use them to start Carantan leeks in and the lid made a great tray for little fiber pots filled with seed starting mix. The styrofoam containers would probably make great planters or grow boxes too.

I went ahead and planted fifteen different varieties of tomatoes today in peat pellets: Costoluto Genovese, Ingegnoli Gigante Liscio, Pantano Romanesco, San Marzano Lungo #2, Break O Day, Granny Cantrell German Red, Jersey Giant, Riesentraube, Large Red Cherry, Beefsteak, Cosmonaut Volkov, Brandywine, Burpee Beefsteak, Djena Lee's Golden Girl, and Red Grape tomato.